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Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

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

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anon192
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by anon192 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:01 pm

Anyone who received acceptance email mid-March have got their ceremony letter yet?

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bizman
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by bizman » Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:19 pm

Cure123 wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:42 am
bizman wrote:
Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:29 pm
I have seen 9th of February and 16th of February and when you count the weeks of the date on invitation letter from their approval date, it’s always 7 weeks, and they normally get the letters 10 days after. I think this is the way it’s working at the moment.
Thanks for that, where did you see the 9th and 16 of February? Was it in the group?
Yes in the group

I emailed my local council and they have replied to me that they have not received anything from HO with my name on it. Then I have again called the HO contact number and spoke to another lady who is the first person who has taken all my details down and said she is going to escalate it. She also confirmed a different time line. Saying all the approvals up to the 16th of Feb were sent last Monday. I don’t know if this is accurate or not as I have received different details and time lines from the various people I have spoken to. Was approved 15th Jan. 15th April will make it 3 months which is beyond the time within which I am supposed to get my invitation. Lost in limbo, yet again!
Bizman

dejh911
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by dejh911 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:24 pm

Well, i got my approval letter 8th of march and i have not received my invitation letter but usually with the trend posted on this forum invitation comes between 70days to 90days after approval. But the home office as also stated that invitation letter will be dispatched between 8 to 12weeks which is between 2 to 3months so i want to wait till 8th of May before i start looking out for the invitation letter and if it comes earlier, that will also make me happy . Its been a long journey so far but for sure the waiting saga will soon be over

anon192
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by anon192 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:35 pm

I don't understand why it takes them that long to process the ceremony invitations. If the application was processed and accepted, why would they delay that much to send out invitations? They should have outsourced this process to the individual councils and distribute the workload...

dejh911
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by dejh911 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:55 pm

anon192 wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:35 pm
I don't understand why it takes them that long to process the ceremony invitations. If the application was processed and accepted, why would they delay that much to send out invitations? They should have outsourced this process to the individual councils and distribute the workload...
When did u get ur approval

Bilalo07
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Bilalo07 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:35 pm

Just spoke to a home office agent about February invitation lettres and he said to me that they have sent out lettres to all applicants who's been approved between 1st and 16th of February and from next week they will start sending letters for 17th up to 28th of February.

Hope that helps guy and give you some hope.

DreamerInDarkness
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by DreamerInDarkness » Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:45 pm

Bilalo07 wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:35 pm
Just spoke to a home office agent about February invitation lettres and he said to me that they have sent out lettres to all applicants who's been approved between 1st and 16th of February and from next week they will start sending letters for 17th up to 28th of February.

Hope that helps guy and give you some hope.
Sounds great!

anon192
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by anon192 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 2:00 pm

Bilalo07 wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:35 pm
Just spoke to a home office agent about February invitation lettres and he said to me that they have sent out lettres to all applicants who's been approved between 1st and 16th of February and from next week they will start sending letters for 17th up to 28th of February.

Hope that helps guy and give you some hope.
Thanks!

This suggests that they cover roughly 11-15 days worth of applications every week. That's not too bad.

KathyR
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by KathyR » Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:22 pm

Hi All,
I was hoping someone could help me to understand the order of the invitations arriving. I can see in this topic people mentioned that people with early February approval are receiving their invitations, but in the Naturalisation Timeline I saw a few members saying they received their invitation within 3-10 days after the approval. Does anyone know how does this sit together?
Thank you

Jojo0316
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India

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Jojo0316 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:52 pm

Jojo0316 wrote:
Tue Apr 13, 2021 3:25 pm
Jojo0316 wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 5:15 pm
Hi everyone, seeing that everyone who has been approved in Feb are also getting their invitations letters should I be concerned as I was approved on the 15th of Jan and have not received anything yet. I have emailed home office and also emailed local council and no response whatsoever. I have called the number twice and the guys on the phone said to me that all applications approved between 8th jan and 17th jan have been send invitations on the 26th of March and they told me to wait for 10 days to see if I get it and if I don’t I have to call back and they will escalate it. Can anyone please help me what I should I do? Should I keep waiting endlessly or should I start chasing them up. If so where do I start? Please can anyone give me some advice?
UPDATE:

I emailed my local council and they have replied to me that they have not received anything from HO with my name on it. Then I have again called the HO contact number and spoke to another lady who is the first person who has taken all my details down and said she is going to escalate it. She also confirmed a different time line. Saying all the approvals up to the 16th of Feb were sent last Monday. I don’t know if this is accurate or not as I have received different details and time lines from the various people I have spoken to. Was approved 15th Jan. 15th April will make it 3 months which is beyond the time within which I am supposed to get my invitation. Lost in limbo, yet again!
UPDATE:

Still nothing. Today makes it officially 3 months since I was approved. If I’ve not got my invitation by now then something is surely wrong Right????

Cure123
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Cure123 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 6:23 pm

Bilalo07 wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:35 pm
Just spoke to a home office agent about February invitation lettres and he said to me that they have sent out lettres to all applicants who's been approved between 1st and 16th of February and from next week they will start sending letters for 17th up to 28th of February.

Hope that helps guy and give you some hope.
Did he say when the applicant should receive the invitation letter. They said it might take 10 days to receive the letter after HO sent it. Any one with an idea?

Bilalo07
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Bilalo07 » Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:57 pm

Cure123 wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 6:23 pm
Bilalo07 wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:35 pm
Just spoke to a home office agent about February invitation lettres and he said to me that they have sent out lettres to all applicants who's been approved between 1st and 16th of February and from next week they will start sending letters for 17th up to 28th of February.

Hope that helps guy and give you some hope.
Did he say when the applicant should receive the invitation letter. They said it might take 10 days to receive the letter after HO sent it. Any one with an idea?
My approval is 23 Feb and he said expect it to arrive late April/early May so finger crossed

anon192
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by anon192 » Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:57 am

I mean, they should send out emails instead of letters, I don't know about you, but I received the acceptance by email not by letter... This will expedite the process significantly...

sydney19
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by sydney19 » Thu Apr 15, 2021 6:56 pm

Date of receipt of approval: 09/2/ 2021 (sent via email)
Date of receipt of ceremony letter: 11/04/2021
Date on letter: 31/03/2021
Date of Ceremony: Today - 15/04/21. I’m off the hook :lol: :lol: West Lothian Council (Scotland).

Good luck guys - this group is a solid rock 🪨 . I sign off .

qwisnia
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Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by qwisnia » Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:38 pm

john3 wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:59 pm
PhantomPermit wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 1:36 am
DreamerInDarkness wrote:
Mon Mar 08, 2021 12:41 am
PhantomPermit wrote:
Thu Mar 04, 2021 9:49 pm
All done
Cambridge county council
Approval 15th October 2020
Ceremony invitation 21st February 2021
Attended ceremony 4th march.

All the best you losers 😂 jk
Did you attend the ceremony in Cambridge or did you need to travel to Huntingdon? The website is confusing....
Huntington free ceremony
How long did you wait a reply from citizenship@cambridgeshire.gov.uk for ceremony booking?

I wrote them a few days ago but received an automatic reply only:
Thank you for your email.



If you have contacted us about your citizenship ceremony then we will keep your contact details on file and will contact you when your certificate has arrived in the despatch from The Home Office.



At present we are waiting for certificates for 100 new citizens who have contacted us to that say that they have received their invitation to a ceremony from The Home Office.



Despatches are spaced a fortnight apart and, while we are assured that The Home Office are working their way through the backlog methodically and sequentially, there does still appear to be a two month delay so please do be patient.



Yours sincerely,



Cambridgeshire Citizenship Ceremonies
The information in this email could be confidential and legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee and they will decide who to share this email with (if appropriate). If you receive this email by mistake please notify the sender and delete it immediately. Opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Cambridgeshire County Council. All sent and received email from Cambridgeshire County Council is automatically scanned for the presence of computer viruses and security issues. Any personal data will be processed in line with the Data Protection legislation, further details at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/privacy Visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Did you get any response from them? How long you had to wait for the ceremony?
I'm in the same situation, recently received my HO invitation letter, messaged them on the dedicated email address, got automatic response and since then radio silence.

cmar2017
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Italy

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by cmar2017 » Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:01 pm

RE: Croydon Council

I received the email from the Home Office regarding my citizenship ceremony and called the council. They haven't yet received anything yet about me from the Home Office but they did say there wasn't any wait. Hope this helps!

DreamerInDarkness
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Taiwan

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by DreamerInDarkness » Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:53 pm

qwisnia wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:38 pm
john3 wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:59 pm
PhantomPermit wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 1:36 am
DreamerInDarkness wrote:
Mon Mar 08, 2021 12:41 am


Did you attend the ceremony in Cambridge or did you need to travel to Huntingdon? The website is confusing....
Huntington free ceremony
How long did you wait a reply from citizenship@cambridgeshire.gov.uk for ceremony booking?

I wrote them a few days ago but received an automatic reply only:
Thank you for your email.



If you have contacted us about your citizenship ceremony then we will keep your contact details on file and will contact you when your certificate has arrived in the despatch from The Home Office.



At present we are waiting for certificates for 100 new citizens who have contacted us to that say that they have received their invitation to a ceremony from The Home Office.



Despatches are spaced a fortnight apart and, while we are assured that The Home Office are working their way through the backlog methodically and sequentially, there does still appear to be a two month delay so please do be patient.



Yours sincerely,



Cambridgeshire Citizenship Ceremonies
The information in this email could be confidential and legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee and they will decide who to share this email with (if appropriate). If you receive this email by mistake please notify the sender and delete it immediately. Opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Cambridgeshire County Council. All sent and received email from Cambridgeshire County Council is automatically scanned for the presence of computer viruses and security issues. Any personal data will be processed in line with the Data Protection legislation, further details at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/privacy Visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Did you get any response from them? How long you had to wait for the ceremony?
I'm in the same situation, recently received my HO invitation letter, messaged them on the dedicated email address, got automatic response and since then radio silence.
How long have you been waiting?

Jojo0316
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Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:46 am
India

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Jojo0316 » Thu Apr 15, 2021 11:11 pm

Jojo0316 wrote:
Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:52 pm
Jojo0316 wrote:
Tue Apr 13, 2021 3:25 pm
Jojo0316 wrote:
Fri Apr 09, 2021 5:15 pm
Hi everyone, seeing that everyone who has been approved in Feb are also getting their invitations letters should I be concerned as I was approved on the 15th of Jan and have not received anything yet. I have emailed home office and also emailed local council and no response whatsoever. I have called the number twice and the guys on the phone said to me that all applications approved between 8th jan and 17th jan have been send invitations on the 26th of March and they told me to wait for 10 days to see if I get it and if I don’t I have to call back and they will escalate it. Can anyone please help me what I should I do? Should I keep waiting endlessly or should I start chasing them up. If so where do I start? Please can anyone give me some advice?
UPDATE:

I emailed my local council and they have replied to me that they have not received anything from HO with my name on it. Then I have again called the HO contact number and spoke to another lady who is the first person who has taken all my details down and said she is going to escalate it. She also confirmed a different time line. Saying all the approvals up to the 16th of Feb were sent last Monday. I don’t know if this is accurate or not as I have received different details and time lines from the various people I have spoken to. Was approved 15th Jan. 15th April will make it 3 months which is beyond the time within which I am supposed to get my invitation. Lost in limbo, yet again!
UPDATE:

Still nothing. Today makes it officially 3 months since I was approved. If I’ve not got my invitation by now then something is surely wrong Right????
Guys can anyone tell me what I should do next? Who should I contact? When would the right time to contact the MP?

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

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by qwisnia » Fri Apr 16, 2021 6:27 pm

DreamerInDarkness wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 10:53 pm
qwisnia wrote:
Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:38 pm
john3 wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:59 pm
PhantomPermit wrote:
Fri Mar 19, 2021 1:36 am


Huntington free ceremony
How long did you wait a reply from citizenship@cambridgeshire.gov.uk for ceremony booking?

I wrote them a few days ago but received an automatic reply only:
Thank you for your email.



If you have contacted us about your citizenship ceremony then we will keep your contact details on file and will contact you when your certificate has arrived in the despatch from The Home Office.



At present we are waiting for certificates for 100 new citizens who have contacted us to that say that they have received their invitation to a ceremony from The Home Office.



Despatches are spaced a fortnight apart and, while we are assured that The Home Office are working their way through the backlog methodically and sequentially, there does still appear to be a two month delay so please do be patient.



Yours sincerely,



Cambridgeshire Citizenship Ceremonies
The information in this email could be confidential and legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee and they will decide who to share this email with (if appropriate). If you receive this email by mistake please notify the sender and delete it immediately. Opinions expressed are those of the individual and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Cambridgeshire County Council. All sent and received email from Cambridgeshire County Council is automatically scanned for the presence of computer viruses and security issues. Any personal data will be processed in line with the Data Protection legislation, further details at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/privacy Visit www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Did you get any response from them? How long you had to wait for the ceremony?
I'm in the same situation, recently received my HO invitation letter, messaged them on the dedicated email address, got automatic response and since then radio silence.
How long have you been waiting?
For the HO invitation letter literally 10 months since I was approved, now I need to wait for council. 2nd week of waiting for council just started.

Lime43
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Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2021 9:45 am

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Lime43 » Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:18 am

Hi all,

Just booked my virtual ceremony with council! The timeline was:

Application submitted in January
Biometric appointment attended in February
Approval received in March
Yesterday I received an email from the Home Office with the invitation to the ceremony! Booked the ceremony for 28th April.

Receiving an email instead of a letter was quite unexpected :D I recently changed my address in the UK, informed the HO after receiving the approval - now thinking if this might be the reason for the electronic invitation to the ceremony.

Good luck to everyone who's waiting!

naruto
Junior Member
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 5:12 pm
Location: uk manchester
Malta

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by naruto » Sat Apr 17, 2021 12:22 pm

Jojo0316 wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 6:39 pm
naruto wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:45 pm
TF1 wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 9:30 am
Hi All,

Does anyone know which approval dates are currently being processed by UKVI for Naturalisation certificates and ceremony letters?

Many thanks.
They started doing January approvals now 🤞🤞
Hopefully we hear something soon. I’m actually getting mentally and physically ill waiting and waiting and waiting.


Likewise mate hopefully some positive news coming soon all the best 🤞
LaDolceVita

naruto
Junior Member
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 5:12 pm
Location: uk manchester
Malta

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by naruto » Sat Apr 17, 2021 12:24 pm

Lime43 wrote:
Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:18 am
Hi all,

Just booked my virtual ceremony with council! The timeline was:

Application submitted in January
Biometric appointment attended in February
Approval received in March
Yesterday I received an email from the Home Office with the invitation to the ceremony! Booked the ceremony for 28th April.

Receiving an email instead of a letter was quite unexpected :D I recently changed my address in the UK, informed the HO after receiving the approval - now thinking if this might be the reason for the electronic invitation to the ceremony.

Good luck to everyone who's waiting!
Congratulations mate

Can u ask you what date on March were you approved pleases?
LaDolceVita

naruto
Junior Member
Posts: 84
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2010 5:12 pm
Location: uk manchester
Malta

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by naruto » Sat Apr 17, 2021 12:46 pm

Finally I received my invitation letter via post.

🥳🎉💗🎉🥳🎉

I was approved twice first on 23-10-2020 and secondly on 02-03-2021.

My timeline was
Applied on 28-07-2020
Biometric on 26-08-2020
Invitation letter received today dated 10-04-2021
Monday will call and book my ceremony.

All the best you all guys have a blessed weekend.
LaDolceVita

Bilalo07
Newbie
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2019 8:56 pm
Mood:
Morocco

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by Bilalo07 » Sat Apr 17, 2021 12:57 pm

Guys just wanna let you know...I sent an email to my local council last week asking them if they can book me for a ceremony without an invitation lettre and i received a call this morning and they booked me for a ceremony on friday 23rd April.

My approval was 23rd February.

I hope this helps..Good luck to everyone still waiting

mcude
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2021 8:41 pm

Re: Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Post by mcude » Sat Apr 17, 2021 8:47 pm

Couldn’t believe my eyes. Got the invite letter today!!! Was approved on 2nd March 2021. Might be the process is starting to gain momentum as lockdown eases.

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