ESC

Click the "allow" button if you want to receive important news and updates from immigrationboards.com


Immigrationboards.com: Immigration, work visa and work permit discussion board

Welcome to immigrationboards.com!

Login Register Do not show

Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

A section for posts relating to applications for Naturalisation or Registration as a British Citizen. Naturalisation

Moderators: Casa, push, JAJ, ca.funke, Amber, zimba, vinny, Obie, EUsmileWEallsmile, batleykhan, meself2, geriatrix, John, ChetanOjha, archigabe

Locked
mamin1982
Newly Registered
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2020 9:49 am
Pakistan

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by mamin1982 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 9:56 am

Hello

My application was approved on 3rd June, Received Invitation on 30 Sep (Date on invitation letter is 17 Sept). Its now one month since letter was printed but my council has not yet received my Citizenship certificate. can anyone please guide me what should i do now?

Regards

baybars1
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by baybars1 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 9:58 am

Now that we have reached mid-July approvals with ceremony invites, let's take stock of the timeline projections. Better-than expected performance with respect to letter-sending timeline for some recent approvals has prompted me to the previous scrap point estimate for the arrival date of the invite and replace it with an empirically established range. The idea is to give a greater weight to more recent information.

Approved on -- Letter date - - - Letter arrival, date range------------
22/06/2020 - - - 28/09/2020 - - - from 05/10/2020 - - - to 19/10/2020
29/06/2020 - - - 01/10/2020 - - - from 08/10/2020 - - - to 22/10/2020
01/07/2020 - - - 02/10/2020 - - - from 09/10/2020 - - - to 23/10/2020
09/07/2020 - - - 07/10/2020 - - - from 14/10/2020 - - - to 28/10/2020
15/07/2020 - - - 09/10/2020 - - - from 16/10/2020 - - - to 30/10/2020
22/07/2020 - - - 14/10/2020 - - - from 21/10/2020 - - - to 04/11/2020
29/07/2020 - - - 16/10/2020 - - - from 23/10/2020 - - - to 06/11/2020
01/08/2020 - - - 19/10/2020 - - - from 26/10/2020 - - - to 09/11/2020
08/08/2020 - - - 22/10/2020 - - - from 29/10/2020 - - - to 12/11/2020
15/08/2020 - - - 27/10/2020 - - - from 03/11/2020 - - - to 17/11/2020
19/08/2020 - - - 28/10/2020 - - - from 04/11/2020 - - - to 18/11/2020
29/08/2020 - - - 03/11/2020 - - - from 10/11/2020 - - - to 24/11/2020
01/09/2020 - - - 04/11/2020 - - - from 11/11/2020 - - - to 25/11/2020
08/09/2020 - - - 06/11/2020 - - - from 13/11/2020 - - - to 27/11/2020
15/09/2020 - - - 11/11/2020 - - - from 18/11/2020 - - - to 02/12/2020
22/09/2020 - - - 16/11/2020 - - - from 23/11/2020 - - - to 07/12/2020
29/09/2020 - - - 18/11/2020 - - - from 25/11/2020 - - - to 09/12/2020
01/10/2020 - - - 19/11/2020 - - - from 26/11/2020 - - - to 10/12/2020
08/10/2020 - - - 24/11/2020 - - - from 01/12/2020 - - - to 15/12/2020
15/10/2020 - - - 27/11/2020 - - - from 04/12/2020 - - - to 18/12/2020
22/10/2020 - - - 01/12/2020 - - - from 08/12/2020 - - - to 22/12/2020
29/10/2020 - - - 04/12/2020 - - - from 11/12/2020 - - - to 25/12/2020
01/11/2020 - - - 04/12/2020 - - - from 11/12/2020 - - - to 25/12/2020
08/11/2020 - - - 09/12/2020 - - - from 16/12/2020 - - - to 30/12/2020
15/11/2020 - - - 14/12/2020 - - - from 21/12/2020 - - - to 04/01/2021
22/11/2020 - - - 16/12/2020 - - - from 23/12/2020 - - - to 06/01/2021
29/11/2020 - - - 21/12/2020 - - - from 28/12/2020 - - - to 11/01/2021
01/12/2020 - - - 22/12/2020 - - - from 29/12/2020 - - - to 12/01/2021
08/12/2020 - - - 25/12/2020 - - - from 01/01/2021 - - - to 15/01/2021
15/12/2020 - - - 29/12/2020 - - - from 05/01/2021 - - - to 19/01/2021
22/12/2020 - - - 01/01/2021 - - - from 08/01/2021 - - - to 22/01/2021
29/12/2020 - - - 05/01/2021 - - - from 12/01/2021 - - - to 26/01/2021
02/01/2021 - - - 07/01/2021 - - - from 14/01/2021 - - - to 28/01/2021
08/01/2021 - - - 12/01/2021 - - - from 19/01/2021 - - - to 02/02/2021
15/01/2021 - - - 15/01/2021 - - - from 22/01/2021 - - - to 05/02/2021

baybars1
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by baybars1 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 10:03 am

mamin1982 wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 9:56 am
Hello

My application was approved on 3rd June, Received Invitation on 30 Sep (Date on invitation letter is 17 Sept). Its now one month since letter was printed but my council has not yet received my Citizenship certificate. can anyone please guide me what should i do now?

Regards
That's a long delay. Maybe there is a genuine glitch that caused them to skip your certificate in the queue. Try asking your council to raise the issue with Citizenship Ceremonies Support Team of the Nationality Group within the Home Office, write to them yourself, or both.

Jojo19
Junior Member
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2019 6:05 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Jojo19 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 10:31 am

lmannova wrote:
Tue Oct 13, 2020 5:49 pm
Jojo19 wrote:
Tue Sep 29, 2020 7:25 am
Is there anyone here from Greenwich council?
If so any updates from them?

Been waiting since June. Applied in Mar approved in June and still waiting for my invitation letter
Hi, I am am from Greenwich council.

Did you receive your invitation letter already?

My approval was on 20th July but I am worried they suspended the ceremonies for now..

Hi, I got my invitation yesterday. Called Greenwich counsel and the next ceremony is the 1st week of December so their backlog is crazy.

Private ceremony is 150 pounds. I had to pay and would have mine next week.

Good luck

Sochi08
Newly Registered
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:32 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Sochi08 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 12:45 pm

Sochi08 wrote:
Mon Oct 12, 2020 10:44 pm
Runner12345 wrote:
Mon Oct 12, 2020 8:06 pm
Sochi08 wrote:
Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:48 am
Runner12345 wrote:
Sun Oct 11, 2020 2:54 pm


Thank you! I hope you receive your letter tomorrow! Just to add: you are not allowed to forward the link, so you cannot have guest dialing in from elsewhere. Also thanks to baybars1 from me, for helping us get some comfort on anticipated timelines!

Finally!!! I got the Almighty invitation Letter🥳
Got the invite this morning dated 22/9/2020
The model is really spot on was expecting it on the 10/10 and 12/10 and it came 👏 now waiting for Southwark to respond to my email. Thanks to everyone on this forum and good luck to all still waiting hopefully it wouldn’t be long anymore 🙏
Yeah! Glad to hear this! I found them fairly responsive on email, so good luck!

Thanks 🙏 yes they responded to my email strangely asking for a photograph of my invitation letter 😏 then saying my ceremony will be this week but will get back to me tomorrow with date and time, couldn’t be much happier( for the part that says this week and tomorrow I get to know the day and time) My council is Southwark

My timeline again
Applied online 25th of March 2020
Biometric done 8th June 2020
Approved via email 12th June 2020
Invitation received 12th October 2020
Ceremony will be booked tomorrow

Finally you all I’m officially a British! Had my zoom ceremony this morning 🥳🥳🥳 good luck to all still waiting and to everyone who made the journey less stressful thank you 🙏 see you all in the passport section

baybars1
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by baybars1 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 1:31 pm

Sochi08 wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 12:45 pm
Finally you all I’m officially a British! Had my zoom ceremony this morning 🥳🥳🥳 good luck to all still waiting and to everyone who made the journey less stressful thank you 🙏 see you all in the passport section
Congrats! Passport booklet should be less dramatic and far quicker an affair, plus you get the benefit of decent online tracking on PO website, which you don't get for citizenship applications.

IrobotZ
Junior Member
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2019 5:22 pm
China

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by IrobotZ » Thu Oct 15, 2020 2:30 pm

Update on my case

Approved:29/06/2020

Invitation received today, 15/10/2020

date on my invitation letter:28/09/2020

Called my council and they told me they did not get my certificate :shock:

The lady ask me to call them again next Thursday.

Hopefully things will not gone south anymore.

I will keep my case updated

Good luck to all.

Chuga
Newly Registered
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2020 9:43 pm
Cuba

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Chuga » Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:18 pm

Baybars1- honestly mate you are very very helpful, for someone to go out of the way and complete that formula its really great. With times like these and uncertain, poor HO communication etc . You give so many people some sort of assurance. I will keep you updated on mine , Approved on late August so not anytime soon will i have my invitation letter.

On a + side - Once we finished with ceremony, the passport process isn’t as bad :) it took my mate about a week and 3 days.

qwisnia
Newly Registered
Posts: 19
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2020 9:31 am
Poland

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by qwisnia » Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:20 pm

Hi guys,

this forum has given me an enormous support during the whole process of applying for the citizenship as well as waiting for the decision. Thank you for that!

May I ask if anybody else is in a similar situation as me? I have received decision on 10th June 2020, however no invitation letter yet, although all estimates suggest that it should have arrived. I'm from Cambridgeshire. I have called council, there were not willing to give me much information, just suggested calling HO and the person from HO was not interested to tell me anything except that I should be happy that I got the decision.

Regards,
K.

Sochi08
Newly Registered
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2020 7:32 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Sochi08 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:36 pm

baybars1 wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 1:31 pm
Sochi08 wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 12:45 pm
Finally you all I’m officially a British! Had my zoom ceremony this morning 🥳🥳🥳 good luck to all still waiting and to everyone who made the journey less stressful thank you 🙏 see you all in the passport section
Congrats! Passport booklet should be less dramatic and far quicker an affair, plus you get the benefit of decent online tracking on PO website, which you don't get for citizenship applications.

Thanks to you baybars for all your hard work really appreciate you 🙏 you’re right I ‘av seen so myself. Thanks once again

raij
Junior Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2020 4:32 pm
Poland

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by raij » Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:39 pm

qwisnia wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:20 pm
Hi guys,

this forum has given me an enormous support during the whole process of applying for the citizenship as well as waiting for the decision. Thank you for that!

May I ask if anybody else is in a similar situation as me? I have received decision on 10th June 2020, however no invitation letter yet, although all estimates suggest that it should have arrived. I'm from Cambridgeshire. I have called council, there were not willing to give me much information, just suggested calling HO and the person from HO was not interested to tell me anything except that I should be happy that I got the decision.

Regards,
K.

Hey in same situation , got my email 3rd of june , no invite from h.o , i am emailing weekly my local register office , and no paperwork as yet arrived , so i am still waiting , they did not sadly tell me with what month they are dealing with atm , but told me that home office sends them handful of invites weekly :( tried phoning h.o. and got told same thing as most people " the backlog is aimed to be cleared by end of this month" - considering how much it all costs , seems to me as no one gives a "monkey" about dealing with us once money is collected .
all i have now is my daily postman wait in hope something will arrive

nnn15
Member
Posts: 193
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:55 am

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by nnn15 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 5:14 pm

raij wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:39 pm
qwisnia wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:20 pm
Hi guys,

this forum has given me an enormous support during the whole process of applying for the citizenship as well as waiting for the decision. Thank you for that!

May I ask if anybody else is in a similar situation as me? I have received decision on 10th June 2020, however no invitation letter yet, although all estimates suggest that it should have arrived. I'm from Cambridgeshire. I have called council, there were not willing to give me much information, just suggested calling HO and the person from HO was not interested to tell me anything except that I should be happy that I got the decision.

Regards,
K.

Hey in same situation , got my email 3rd of june , no invite from h.o , i am emailing weekly my local register office , and no paperwork as yet arrived , so i am still waiting , they did not sadly tell me with what month they are dealing with atm , but told me that home office sends them handful of invites weekly :( tried phoning h.o. and got told same thing as most people " the backlog is aimed to be cleared by end of this month" - considering how much it all costs , seems to me as no one gives a "monkey" about dealing with us once money is collected .
all i have now is my daily postman wait in hope something will arrive
Same for me here... With the difference that my council is very helpful! They confirmed they didn't have my certificate and said the HO told them they intend to clear the backlog until the end of November which is a month beyond the timelines communicated on the phone helpline.

raij
Junior Member
Posts: 78
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2020 4:32 pm
Poland

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by raij » Thu Oct 15, 2020 5:19 pm

nnn15 wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 5:14 pm
raij wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:39 pm
qwisnia wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:20 pm
Hi guys,

this forum has given me an enormous support during the whole process of applying for the citizenship as well as waiting for the decision. Thank you for that!

May I ask if anybody else is in a similar situation as me? I have received decision on 10th June 2020, however no invitation letter yet, although all estimates suggest that it should have arrived. I'm from Cambridgeshire. I have called council, there were not willing to give me much information, just suggested calling HO and the person from HO was not interested to tell me anything except that I should be happy that I got the decision.

Regards,
K.

Hey in same situation , got my email 3rd of june , no invite from h.o , i am emailing weekly my local register office , and no paperwork as yet arrived , so i am still waiting , they did not sadly tell me with what month they are dealing with atm , but told me that home office sends them handful of invites weekly :( tried phoning h.o. and got told same thing as most people " the backlog is aimed to be cleared by end of this month" - considering how much it all costs , seems to me as no one gives a "monkey" about dealing with us once money is collected .
all i have now is my daily postman wait in hope something will arrive
Same for me here... With the difference that my council is very helpful! They confirmed they didn't have my certificate and said the HO told them they intend to clear the backlog until the end of November which is a month beyond the timelines communicated on the phone helpline.
a moth beyond ? This is not good at all :/

korben555
Newly Registered
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2020 7:03 pm
Ukraine

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by korben555 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 5:22 pm

First of all- don't you think, guys that this platform IS actually doing HO work ?
For so advanced country as UK is- and so little is done to inform its citizens ( well, almost citizens ) on the final stage of the veeeeery stressful process ?
And lucky ones- did you receive that letter in paper form or email ?
I have a funny situation that I am abroad and there is no one, to check my post box...
Anyway, thanks everyone for posting and updating !!!

baybars1
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by baybars1 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 6:49 pm

korben555 wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 5:22 pm
First of all- don't you think, guys that this platform IS actually doing HO work ?
For so advanced country as UK is- and so little is done to inform its citizens ( well, almost citizens ) on the final stage of the veeeeery stressful process ?
And lucky ones- did you receive that letter in paper form or email ?
I have a funny situation that I am abroad and there is no one, to check my post box...
Anyway, thanks everyone for posting and updating !!!
Ceremony invitation almost always arrives by post, although some members of this forum have mentioned that it had arrived by email.

As for the other matter, it is clear that they can't be bothered because very few people are experiencing major practical issues in their day-to-day lives, as they already have ILR,s which give them the right to live and work in the UK.

Of course, if you can demonstrate that a further delay in the process of acquiring the British Citizenship will cause you real hardship, the Home Office may let you jump the queue.

An example of such hardship would be if you cannot prove your right to work having received a job offer in the UK because your foreign passport has expired and you can't get a renewal processed any time soon because of the pandemic, or if you need to be a British Citizen to take up certain type of employment or to stand in an election. Stuff like that.

024601
Newbie
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2020 2:29 pm
Bulgaria

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by 024601 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 8:24 pm

baybars1 wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 6:49 pm
korben555 wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 5:22 pm
First of all- don't you think, guys that this platform IS actually doing HO work ?
For so advanced country as UK is- and so little is done to inform its citizens ( well, almost citizens ) on the final stage of the veeeeery stressful process ?
And lucky ones- did you receive that letter in paper form or email ?
I have a funny situation that I am abroad and there is no one, to check my post box...
Anyway, thanks everyone for posting and updating !!!
Ceremony invitation almost always arrives by post, although some members of this forum have mentioned that it had arrived by email.

As for the other matter, it is clear that they can't be bothered because very few people are experiencing major practical issues in their day-to-day lives, as they already have ILR,s which give them the right to live and work in the UK.

Of course, if you can demonstrate that a further delay in the process of acquiring the British Citizenship will cause you real hardship, the Home Office may let you jump the queue.

An example of such hardship would be if you cannot prove your right to work having received a job offer in the UK because your foreign passport has expired and you can't get a renewal processed any time soon because of the pandemic, or if you need to be a British Citizen to take up certain type of employment or to stand in an election. Stuff like that.
That is very true but I would have also expected since we are required to pay nearly £2000 for the "luxury", the least they can do is keep us informed. We don't want too much, all we want to know is where they are at with the backlog and with printing the certificates. This information can be provided anywhere on their website or Twitter maybe? Whenever someone asks them any questions they either don't respond, or give a very shady answer that basically doesn't answer anything. Even my MP couldn't get a clear answer from them!

It is true that not having a citizenship doesn't really affect our lives but it also kind of does. I have put several things on hold in my life because I want to get the new passport and the new citizenship, so I don't have to change my details midway. Nobody takes you seriously if you say "oh I'm a citizen...I just have no proof of it apart from an email from the HO that my application was accepted". Not to mention the stress. I can't talk about the others but the more I wait, the more stressed I get. I always used to imagine what I'd wear for the ceremony, what I'd do with my hair etc. but now, frankly, I just want this over and done with so I can get on with my life.

baybars1
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by baybars1 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 11:34 pm

024601 wrote:
Thu Oct 15, 2020 8:24 pm
That is very true but I would have also expected since we are required to pay nearly £2000 for the "luxury", the least they can do is keep us informed. We don't want too much, all we want to know is where they are at with the backlog and with printing the certificates. This information can be provided anywhere on their website or Twitter maybe? Whenever someone asks them any questions they either don't respond, or give a very shady answer that basically doesn't answer anything. Even my MP couldn't get a clear answer from them!

It is true that not having a citizenship doesn't really affect our lives but it also kind of does. I have put several things on hold in my life because I want to get the new passport and the new citizenship, so I don't have to change my details midway. Nobody takes you seriously if you say "oh I'm a citizen...I just have no proof of it apart from an email from the HO that my application was accepted". Not to mention the stress. I can't talk about the others but the more I wait, the more stressed I get. I always used to imagine what I'd wear for the ceremony, what I'd do with my hair etc. but now, frankly, I just want this over and done with so I can get on with my life.
I hear you. I really do. It's bad that there are almost zero updates coming directly from the Home Office. There is no way to justify that. On the other hand, I don't see how to change that.

mdiqbal
Junior Member
Posts: 60
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 7:18 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by mdiqbal » Fri Oct 16, 2020 9:06 am

Hello all kind people,

I completely understand the stress and hope of us. My council's website is mentioning "If after three months of being approved you have still not had a Home Office Invitation Letter feel free to contact us". Hence, indicatively we may expect to get our invitation letter afterwards!!

Minimum 5 times they highlighted not to contact with them until we have the letter handy. Additionally, I can't get it why they're saying "Please try to avoid contacting us or the Home Office to hurry up your certificate, as you may be stretching resources and further delaying the processing of citizens applications".?? What is stretching resources!!??

Ref: https://www.haringey.gov.uk/births-deat ... itizenship

Tirinti
Junior Member
Posts: 57
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:49 pm
Mood:

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Tirinti » Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:16 am

mdiqbal wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 9:06 am
Hello all kind people,

I completely understand the stress and hope of us. My council's website is mentioning "If after three months of being approved you have still not had a Home Office Invitation Letter feel free to contact us". Hence, indicatively we may expect to get our invitation letter afterwards!!

Minimum 5 times they highlighted not to contact with them until we have the letter handy. Additionally, I can't get it why they're saying "Please try to avoid contacting us or the Home Office to hurry up your certificate, as you may be stretching resources and further delaying the processing of citizens applications".?? What is stretching resources!!??

Ref: https://www.haringey.gov.uk/births-deat ... itizenship
Let me explain you. I work as a software developer and sometimes I had to work with managers who frequently ask if the requested feature is already implemented. It doesn't help and actually it delays the proces because instead being focused od development I have to explain that it isn't yet implemented. I bet it is the same with printing certificates. If many people are interrupting the process with their calls and emails, the process will take longer and there might be mistakes made because officer had to answer the call in the middle of important task.
On the other hand they should inform people about the progress. They can give applicant information about their position in the que and post weekly statistics how many certificates has been printed. This way they would have a lot less calls and emails.

nnn15
Member
Posts: 193
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:55 am

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by nnn15 » Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:34 am

Tirinti wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:16 am
mdiqbal wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 9:06 am
Hello all kind people,

I completely understand the stress and hope of us. My council's website is mentioning "If after three months of being approved you have still not had a Home Office Invitation Letter feel free to contact us". Hence, indicatively we may expect to get our invitation letter afterwards!!

Minimum 5 times they highlighted not to contact with them until we have the letter handy. Additionally, I can't get it why they're saying "Please try to avoid contacting us or the Home Office to hurry up your certificate, as you may be stretching resources and further delaying the processing of citizens applications".?? What is stretching resources!!??

Ref: https://www.haringey.gov.uk/births-deat ... itizenship
Let me explain you. I work as a software developer and sometimes I had to work with managers who frequently ask if the requested feature is already implemented. It doesn't help and actually it delays the proces because instead being focused od development I have to explain that it isn't yet implemented. I bet it is the same with printing certificates. If many people are interrupting the process with their calls and emails, the process will take longer and there might be mistakes made because officer had to answer the call in the middle of important task.
On the other hand they should inform people about the progress. They can give applicant information about their position in the que and post weekly statistics how many certificates has been printed. This way they would have a lot less calls and emails.
If they just added a function to check the status of the application online they would get a lot less calls and emails.

Luciantod
Newly Registered
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jan 17, 2020 11:10 am
Romania

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Luciantod » Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:22 pm

So I got my acceptance email on the 1st of June and got my Citizenship invitation Saturday the 3rd of October. On the letter it says it has been sent on the 19th of September. It also took a few days (around 5) for the council of Coventry to have me in their system in order to actually be able to book the group ceremony. Good luck guys and girls.

tauqeer81
Newbie
Posts: 31
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2020 11:16 am
India

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by tauqeer81 » Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:37 pm

Luciantod wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:22 pm
So I got my acceptance email on the 1st of June and got my Citizenship invitation Saturday the 3rd of October. On the letter it says it has been sent on the 19th of September. It also took a few days (around 5) for the council of Coventry to have me in their system in order to actually be able to book the group ceremony. Good luck guys and girls.
Hi,
When is your group ceremony? are they not doing Zoom or private ceremony?
I am also in Coventry council and waiting for the invitation (approved 11 Sept).

baybars1
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by baybars1 » Fri Oct 16, 2020 1:54 pm

nnn15 wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:34 am
If they just added a function to check the status of the application online they would get a lot less calls and emails.
For those approved, they could perhaps distinguish among;
  • approved, ceremony invite awaiting printing, queue number 12345
    ceremony invite printed
    ceremony invite sent by 2nd class post
and have another timeline for the certificate:
  • certificate to be printed, queue number 12345
    certificate printed
    certificate sent to local authority by special delivery
However, the Home Office are unlikely to go with that because it does not seem that their queuing system works all that well. Yes, I have modelled for a median timeline, but the volatility around the median is significant, based on just under 50 approvals between mid-May and mid-July for which the data are available on this forum.

Furthermore, the model does not even capture those where discrepancies are the greatest, i.e. people whose ceremony invites are way overdue based on the median, simply because I do not know how much overdue those invites are going to be once they have arrived.

Another complications is that some August and September approvals have received their invites already, but that is because they are not true August and September approvals. Instead, their applications would have been decided upon before the Lockdown started and it is only the relevant approval communications that had been delayed.

Therefore, the best one can do is consider the projected timelines based on what the Home Office has promised (as 12 weeks from the communicated approval date or by the end of October, whichever is later) and also considering the information posted on this forum. If the delay is longer than 12 weeks after the end of October, there are grounds to escalate. Until then, it is a waiting game.

Tirinti
Junior Member
Posts: 57
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:49 pm
Mood:

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Tirinti » Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:49 pm

baybars1 wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 1:54 pm
nnn15 wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 10:34 am
If they just added a function to check the status of the application online they would get a lot less calls and emails.
For those approved, they could perhaps distinguish among;
  • approved, ceremony invite awaiting printing, queue number 12345
    ceremony invite printed
    ceremony invite sent by 2nd class post
and have another timeline for the certificate:
  • certificate to be printed, queue number 12345
    certificate printed
    certificate sent to local authority by special delivery
However, the Home Office are unlikely to go with that because it does not seem that their queuing system works all that well. Yes, I have modelled for a median timeline, but the volatility around the median is significant, based on just under 50 approvals between mid-May and mid-July for which the data are available on this forum.

Furthermore, the model does not even capture those where discrepancies are the greatest, i.e. people whose ceremony invites are way overdue based on the median, simply because I do not know how much overdue those invites are going to be once they have arrived.

Another complications is that some August and September approvals have received their invites already, but that is because they are not true August and September approvals. Instead, their applications would have been decided upon before the Lockdown started and it is only the relevant approval communications that had been delayed.

Therefore, the best one can do is consider the projected timelines based on what the Home Office has promised (as 12 weeks from the communicated approval date or by the end of October, whichever is later) and also considering the information posted on this forum. If the delay is longer than 12 weeks after the end of October, there are grounds to escalate. Until then, it is a waiting game.
You created your model based on assumptions, because you don't know their workflow. While I won't be surprised it is actually chaotic, I hope they have their system and all the volatilities comes from rules we don't know. I'm quite sure it is very easy task to create software that will order queue according to rules and allow case workers to pick next one and send it to printing and then dispatch and on the other hand give the feedback on their website. But even if they cannot do that they can at least put some statistics on their website how big is the que, how many certificates are has been printed each week, how many applications has been approved each week. Any information publicly available would reduce disturbance by calls and mails. But as I said earlier, just because there is no information available, we shouldn't hammer them with questions as this is not helping at all. At least some people have found this forum and we have some information, but there are thousands applicants not knowing anything and many of them are trying to contact and get some info.

baybars1
Member
Posts: 183
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by baybars1 » Fri Oct 16, 2020 4:31 pm

Tirinti wrote:
Fri Oct 16, 2020 2:49 pm
But as I said earlier, just because there is no information available, we shouldn't hammer them with questions as this is not helping at all.
Oh, don't you worry about that. The call centre staff are so uninformed and detached from the actual casework that I am 100% certain that you will not be interfering with printing of the certificates by reaching out to those guys. In fact, I would go so far as to say that they all work for contractors to whom Home Office has outsourced customer enquiries, not least because they would refer to the Home Office as a third party.

As for emails, those are mainly dealt with by automated replies and a proper answer to a case-specific question may be provided only after a couple of months, as has been reported by some members on this forum.

In sum, the Home Office customer service hardly exists, at least for people who are merely aspiring to become citizens. However, if you are already a citizen and need your passport renewed, it is a totally different level of service, talking from first-hand experience. I renewed my British passport in September this year and when I called up the PO to get the reference number for the delivery, the person who answered my query was able to log into my case and retrieve the information on the spot.

After they had given me the info, I felt dumb for having called though, because they use TNT and the passport application reference number, generated when you apply online, is also the reference number that you need to check the status of the shipment with TNT and it works for both the passport and the supporting documents.

Yet, you can see the difference in treatment of someone who is already a citizen and had paid a paltry £75 and £90 for a service to be delivered by the Government and someone who is still a citizen-to-be and had forked out well over £1,300 for a service to be rendered by the same Government. I mean, for that injustice alone, I wouldn't worry about inconveniencing them by asking questions, let alone the fact that as a mere applicant for citizenship, you won't be given a chance to talk to someone who can actually advise you on the status on your case in real time, unless you can demonstrate real hardship due to being neglected by them.

Locked
cron