Just received an email ... "Thank you for returning the completed application form for Professional Membership. We are contacting your referees and upon receipt of satisfactory responses your papers will be presented at a meeting of the Membership Committee. These meetings generally take place at the end of each month. Following the meeting we will inform you whether or not your application has been successful. ... "
Is this normal procedure ? I don't remember reading anything on their website about such delays.
The main delay with applications is waiting for the referees. If you can contact them and get them prepared for the request it will speed things up no end.
The ICB gets applications where referees take 2-3 months to reply. Unfortunately there is nothing the professional body can do about it.
Writing to referees normally takes 2-3 working days from receipt of application, after referees are received a decision is normally made within a week.
So yeah seems normal, although the ICB does have more membership committee meetings.
It is definitely worth checking with your referees that they have received the request, as my application got delayed by a month in the summer, as one of my referees didn't get the original request. It was promptly re-sent by IAB and it all went through at the next meeting.
