Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[PhantomPermit]

HO lying about the status of ceremonies. They can't send unless your council is ready to accept.
You invitation might be ready but can't be sent.

[aswadi]

received letter today as well (approval date 19th October)

The home office reference number is the same on both letters

Thanks

any luck with people booking for westminster council?

They seem pretty swamped. Managed to get booked in for end of next week, but they are going through emails 1 by 1 and calling them up to arrange the booking so taking much longer than usual.

ok thanks, did they give you a call after you send them an email? i have emailed them twice but no response yet so suppose will wait

The number they give you for the registrars office is a call centre outside of London that is of limited use (e.g. they didn't seem to know that they do virtual ceremonies you cannot book via the online tool). However, that call centre can put you directly through to one of the people working in the registrars office, but more often than not all lines are busy / no one picks up so they ask you to try again later. In the end I managed to speak to a registrar office employee directly and they were as helpful as you could possibly hope for. Still, if you are not in a rush I'm sure they will reply to your email in due course. I confirmed on the phone specifically that they will keep certificates for 6 months from the date of invitation on the letter.

[CULLINAN]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

[Kay100]

Hi all

I think I spoke to soon. I got home today from work and saw my citizenship letter. It is similar to the email I received back in Oct but advising what I should do next.

I tried to book it online straight away but it won’t let me because the council couldn't find my details. I will ring them tomorrow to find out.

We are finally 2 steps closer to the BP.

Thank you all

After sending an email to my local council, reply thus

“ I can confirm we have received your paperwork from the Home Office but at present we are waiting to schedule in more dates for the Citizenship Appointments.

I will keep your email and once I know the new appointment dates – whether they are in person or virtual – I will contact you.

In the meantime, we do ask that you bear with us in the unprecedented times.

Kind Regards"

UPDATE

Just got a call from my council and I have been booked in to have my ceremony done on Monday. Virtual it is.

Phew!!

[MALCOM2]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

Congratulations cullina all the best for the future.

[CULLINAN]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

Congratulations cullina all the best for the future.

Thank you. You too.

[Frou01]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

Congrats. Finally.

You might get your certificate tomorrow can can type in straight away your passport application.

[CULLINAN]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

Congrats. Finally.

You might get your certificate tomorrow can can type in straight away your passport application.

Thank you

[Aragon1]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

Congrats mate.. Hope you'll stick around and help out.

Looks like invitations for Nov approvals are currently progressing. Hope they'll be send out in the coming weeks.

[jgirgis85]

Anyone here from Kent Council?

I received my invitation letter from home office yesterday only to find out that all ceremonies in Kent are cancelled. Although their website state that the service is still working and the date on the status page says updated on 11 of Jan but their phones and email auto reply says that everything was cancelled from the 7th :

Thank you for contacting the Citizenship team at the Kent Register Office.

Following the government announcement of 4th January 2021 we have cancelled citizenship ceremonies on 7th January 2021, and await further guidance regarding future ceremony dates.

We will contact all affected customers with further information as soon as possible.

We are dealing with a high volume of enquiries at this time and you may prefer to email rather than call us with your enquiry. Thank you for your patience and support at this time.

The date on my invitation letter is the 30th of December and it says I have to call my council within 21 days of the date on the letter but it doesn't look like they are going to even reply to my emails at this time. So what should I do?

Anyone else in the same situation with Kent Council? also did anyone manage to speak to them over the phone?

I live in Dartford, Kent

I have recieved my invitation letter BUT when I contacted the council they siad they havent recieved my certigicate yet.

Many thanks for your email. We have not yet received your certificate from the Home Office. Once we have, we will send you a letter inviting you along to a ceremony. Until then, we are unable to offer you a date as we do not have your details on record.

Thank you

Thank you for sharing, I emailed them today and received the exact same message as well.

[jgirgis85]

Anyone here from Kent Council?

I received my invitation letter from home office yesterday only to find out that all ceremonies in Kent are cancelled. Although their website state that the service is still working and the date on the status page says updated on 11 of Jan but their phones and email auto reply says that everything was cancelled from the 7th :

Thank you for contacting the Citizenship team at the Kent Register Office.

Following the government announcement of 4th January 2021 we have cancelled citizenship ceremonies on 7th January 2021, and await further guidance regarding future ceremony dates.

We will contact all affected customers with further information as soon as possible.

We are dealing with a high volume of enquiries at this time and you may prefer to email rather than call us with your enquiry. Thank you for your patience and support at this time.

The date on my invitation letter is the 30th of December and it says I have to call my council within 21 days of the date on the letter but it doesn't look like they are going to even reply to my emails at this time. So what should I do?

Anyone else in the same situation with Kent Council? also did anyone manage to speak to them over the phone?

Don't worry. The 21 days is not relevant, particularly if there are no ceremonies. You need to attend the ceremony within 6 months of being invited. https://www.gov.uk/citizenship-ceremonies

That's a relief thank you for the clarification

[Hello5]

I was approved on 9th November and same reply

When did you apply?

I think you are unnecessarily emailing them too soon

[London249]

I was approved on 9th November and same reply

When did you apply?

I think you are unnecessarily emailing them too soon

I applied on 18 February 2020 .

[Hello5]

I was approved on 9th November and same reply

When did you apply?

I think you are unnecessarily emailing them too soon

Fair enough I think yours will be anytime now

I applied on 18 February 2020 .

Fair enough I think yours will be anytime now, I was approved same day but applied in september

[Jefymum]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

Congratulations.... received ceremony invitation on 13th Jan...emailed them same day. Lady called me back next day saying my certificate has not yet been received...so fingers crossed it's not too long.

[CULLINAN]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

Congratulations.... received ceremony invitation on 13th Jan...emailed them same day. Lady called me back next day saying my certificate has not yet been received...so fingers crossed it's not too long.

Thanks.. I guess it will arrive by today/Monday..the invitation letter says to wait 2 working days after for the certificate to reach the council.. Good luck..

[raij]

Hello all
This from cardiff council when am asked them about situation:
Virtual ceremonies are not something we are currently offering, we will review the situation again following the next welsh government announcement at the end of the month.
Any one from cardiff still waiting.

Hi guy's
I m with Cardiff council as well
I got same answer
We are so unlucky as all other councils are doing virtuall ceremonies but Cardiff council is just stop everything
Plz update guys if you have any news for Cardiff council
Thanks

i am with cardiff too , thats what they said to me too

Hi guy's
I m with Cardiff council as well
I got same answer
We are so unlucky as all other councils are doing virtuall ceremonies but Cardiff council is just stop everything
Plz update guys if you have any news for Cardiff council
Thanks

i actually wrote to my coucilour suggesting that cardiff should do the online ceremonies . Maybe you could write as well ? the more of us do that then maybe just maybe council will take a note

[bgamba]

I was approved on 9th November and same reply

When did you apply?

I think you are unnecessarily emailing them too soon

I strongly agree with you. I was also approved on 9th Nov and there is no point of contacting HO now. We all know that HO is processing October approvals. So why bother them with NOV ceremony quiries.

[CULLINAN]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

Forgot to mention the details:

Virtual ceremony took 6 minutes.

The registrar gave me an option to come and collect the certificate after virtual ceremony. I collected right after within 20 minutes after virtual ceremony. The envelope was sealed and said “delivered by hand.” I was provided with TWO certificates.
1) Home Office official naturalisation certificate with registrar sign and date.
2) Certificate by the London Mayor of Hounslow with Registrar signature and date also (welcoming to become a British Citizen).

I applied for my British Passport today and posted documents to HMPO also. Return my ILR BRP also. Off to the British Passport thread now.

Good luck everyone.

[Sanaazim]

Hello does anyone know Ealing council are conducting ceremonies privately or virtually

[russn]

Hello does anyone know Ealing council are conducting ceremonies privately or virtually

I just got a reply from them saying that they are not doing any virtual ceremonies. I think they are still doing private ones but the queue is long apparently...

[Sanaazim]

Hello does anyone know Ealing council are conducting ceremonies privately or virtually

I just got a reply from them saying that they are not doing any virtual ceremonies. I think they are still doing private ones but the queue is long apparently...

Thanks for reply are u waiting for ceremony and if u don’t mind what was ur date of approval

[russn]

Hello does anyone know Ealing council are conducting ceremonies privately or virtually

I just got a reply from them saying that they are not doing any virtual ceremonies. I think they are still doing private ones but the queue is long apparently...

Thanks for reply are u waiting for ceremony and if u don’t mind what was ur date of approval

No probs. I applied on Aug 31 and got the approval email on Oct 27. Still waiting for my invitation letter and the Council still hasn't got my certificate.

[Jefymum]

Hounslow Council:

Update: Attended my virtual ceremony today. £125.

Forgot to mention the details:

Virtual ceremony took 6 minutes.

The registrar gave me an option to come and collect the certificate after virtual ceremony. I collected right after within 20 minutes after virtual ceremony. The envelope was sealed and said “delivered by hand.” I was provided with TWO certificates.
1) Home Office official naturalisation certificate with registrar sign and date.
2) Certificate by the London Mayor of Hounslow with Registrar signature and date also (welcoming to become a British Citizen).

I applied for my British Passport today and posted documents to HMPO also. Return my ILR BRP also. Off to the British Passport thread now.

Good luck everyone.

Wow congratulations thanks for sharing. Just curious to know when you received the ceremony invitation?

[CULLINAN]

Thank you. 18th Dec.