Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

Small wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 7:05 pm

[quote=igheorghe post_id=<a href="tel:1925732">1925732</a> time=<a href="tel:1597854589">1597854589</a> user_id=232997]
All, I have enquired with my council whether they have received my certificate and been confirmed they have.
They called me to book the ceremony, will attend on 2nd Sept.
HO never got back to me and no letter received either.
I have no clue of when it was approved, the only email from HO was on 5th May saying that a decision was made etc... and no response since

I think you have to wait for another HO document?
It’s a vicious circle from HO!
[/quote]

Congrats can you please tell us when you got your approval .
Good luck

Soo123 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:49 pm

Small wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 7:05 pm

[quote=igheorghe post_id=<a href="tel:1925732">1925732</a> time=<a href="tel:1597854589">1597854589</a> user_id=232997]
All, I have enquired with my council whether they have received my certificate and been confirmed they have.
They called me to book the ceremony, will attend on 2nd Sept.
HO never got back to me and no letter received either.
I have no clue of when it was approved, the only email from HO was on 5th May saying that a decision was made etc... and no response since

I think you have to wait for another HO document?
It’s a vicious circle from HO!

Congrats can you please tell us when you got your approval .
Good luck
[/quote]
I am not sure there is a possibility of getting invitation letter from HO but certainly as you mentioned council got your certificate. That should be sufficient for a ceremony.

Anyone knows here how to contact by email so that HO send a certificate or letter to my council Please
I contacted by HO by telephone and it took ages. I had to stop waiting as got other work to do

Small wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 8:36 am

Anyone knows here how to contact by email so that HO send a certificate or letter to my council Please
I contacted by HO by telephone and it took ages. I had to stop waiting as got other work to do

I've emailed citizenship.support@homeoffice.gov.uk (someone in this thread suggested they told them to email this address if your council restarted ceremonies) but it's been almost a month and I've had no response at all

Tirinti wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:59 pm

If I won't become citizen before the end of the year, I will have to apply for the settled status and then wait another year to apply for the citizenship again. I wonder if I should contact Home Office and tell them I can attend ceremony in any council.

This is not directly related to the topic, but you will not need to apply for citizenship again since you have already been approved. It doesn’t matter if your PR expired end of the year or even today. It’s totally irrelevant. Even if they send you a citizenship ceremony invitation in 2022 (obviously exaggerating here) you will still not have to apply again.

Regarding what you said about settled status, you can apply for it now (it might make your life easier to have it in the meantime). Until you attend your citizenship ceremony, you are still considered a foreigner and you can apply for settled status without any issues. You can do it today or next year if you like provided that you haven’t attended the citizenship ceremony yet. Once you do attend the citizenship ceremony, your settled status will be automatically void.

Regarding the last question about contacting them to change the council they should send the invitation to, I would personally not do that because in current circumstances it takes a long time. By the time they change it in their system, your council is likely to resume ceremonies anyway. Also it doesn’t really matter which council you selected as the vast majority of certificates for individuals who got approved after March 2020 haven’t been dispatched yet anyway.

My application approved 4th June.
Waiting?
Is there any way of checking HO have changed your address?
I sent the relevant info in and filled in the online form.
So I don't know if my invite etc will go to new council or old.
Some advice would be well appreciated.

BoyTed wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:45 pm

igheorghe wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:15 pm

As simple as that, without it. They asked about the letter and I told them I did not receive it. They said that is ok as they have the certificate but to bring ID with me. As previously said, I do not know when it was approved, HO not responding

Hi there,
Forget about the letter just go.
HO will never send anything if the council said bring id then do that.
Goodluck and congrats.

Congratulation

My daughter was asked to attend by our council even before she received HO invitation letter. Council was ok with that as they had her certificate
This was on January.
All the best

In light of the different info and approach by the various councils, my MiL sent an email to her council (Bucks) and they said that they still don't have her certificate, however they said that the HO is indeed printing them again.

Nothing to do but wait

Thank you for your enquiry about your citizenship ceremony. We are currently working with Local Authorities throughout the UK and with overseas diplomatic posts as they begin to resume Citizenship Ceremonies. Service has not yet returned to normal due to continuing adherence to Government advice on social distancing – which is subject to some local and international variance.



If you have received an invitation inviting you to attend a citizenship ceremony please contact your local authority office to book an appointment. You are required to attend a citizenship ceremony within 6 months of the date printed on your ceremony invitation. Your Local Authority will confirm the ceremonies available.



If you have received confirmation that your application for citizenship has been successful but have not yet received a citizenship ceremony invitation please be assured that a citizenship ceremony invitation will be issued to you by post within the next 8 – 12 weeks. You are required to attend a citizenship ceremony within 6 months of the date printed on your ceremony invitation.

lease be assured that no adverse decisions will be made on your application because of delays caused by Coronavirus (unless there is a material change in your circumstances, for example, you are convicted of a criminal offence).



Please do not contact UKVI or your Local Authority until you have received your invitation as they will not hold the documentation for you to book a ceremony and this can only be sent in the above timeframe.





During this time UKVI are receiving a high volume of enquires that may take longer than usual for a reply. Please do not contact Visas and Citizenship department to request your ceremony be held in another location based on ceremony date availability as such requests cannot be accommodated and will be declined.

Small wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 8:31 am

Soo123 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:49 pm

Small wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 19, 2020 7:05 pm

[quote=igheorghe post_id=<a href="tel:1925732">1925732</a> time=<a href="tel:1597854589">1597854589</a> user_id=232997]
All, I have enquired with my council whether they have received my certificate and been confirmed they have.
They called me to book the ceremony, will attend on 2nd Sept.
HO never got back to me and no letter received either.
I have no clue of when it was approved, the only email from HO was on 5th May saying that a decision was made etc... and no response since

I think you have to wait for another HO document?
It’s a vicious circle from HO!

Congrats can you please tell us when you got your approval .
Good luck

I am not sure there is a possibility of getting invitation letter from HO but certainly as you mentioned council got your certificate. That should be sufficient for a ceremony.
[/quote]

Thank you. I got the invitation letter by post as we speak. It is dated 3rd August. Not saying when it was approved but it does not matter. Glad is all over.
Best of luck to all. I know it is a very stressful and frustrating process

Received response from council Today, I’m involving my Mp today had enough seriously my application was approved in March still no update.

We have received nothing from the Home Office yet this week. You should get your invitation letter at the same time as we receive your paperwork, so please wait until you have received it and then fill in an online enquiry form and we will book you onto the next available ceremony then.

Malikg123 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 12:26 pm

Received response from council Today, I’m involving my Mp today had enough seriously my application was approved in March still no update.

We have received nothing from the Home Office yet this week. You should get your invitation letter at the same time as we receive your paperwork, so please wait until you have received it and then fill in an online enquiry form and we will book you onto the next available ceremony then.

I have involved my MP too and they have sent over an email to the Home office yesterday. So, I hope I hear back soon

Malikg123 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 12:26 pm

Received response from council Today, I’m involving my Mp today had enough seriously my application was approved in March still no update.

We have received nothing from the Home Office yet this week. You should get your invitation letter at the same time as we receive your paperwork, so please wait until you have received it and then fill in an online enquiry form and we will book you onto the next available ceremony then.

I have involved my MP too and they have sent over an email to the Home office yesterday. So, I hope I hear back soon

My council said the HO confirmed to them they would resume regular certificate deliveries next week, so I guess we'll see in the next couple of weeks if people start receiving the invitation letters.

So people who got approval in April/May received their invitations but the ones who were approved in March didnt? Is it all random now?

I hope Mp won’t get generic response. I contact prime minister 2 Via this method below.

https://email.number10.gov.uk/

Learning18 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 12:36 pm

Malikg123 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 12:26 pm

Received response from council Today, I’m involving my Mp today had enough seriously my application was approved in March still no update.

We have received nothing from the Home Office yet this week. You should get your invitation letter at the same time as we receive your paperwork, so please wait until you have received it and then fill in an online enquiry form and we will book you onto the next available ceremony then.

I have involved my MP too and they have sent over an email to the Home office yesterday. So, I hope I hear back soon

Looks like it. I got approval letter by post and email.
Email received in June dated June postal decision received in July dated March so don’t know what’s going on.

Mayo101 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 12:40 pm

So people who got approval in April/May received their invitations but the ones who were approved in March didnt? Is it all random now?

Mayo101 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 12:40 pm

So people who got approval in April/May received their invitations but the ones who were approved in March didnt? Is it all random now?

I have received my decision by email on beginning of May and yet no ceremony letter or invitation and even the council Haven’t got my certificate yet
I gave up long time I just feel I have paid 1600 ( including paid biometric) for nothing just ripped our money

how to contact with my MP?

Hi everyone. Good news. My spouse applied for citizenship on March 19, 2020 before lockdown and got approval via email on May 18, 2020. Today, we received an invitation letter from Home Office to book Citizenship ceremony with the local council. The waiting is over. I believe they're now posting invitation letters for May/June approvals. A little more patient guys. We're all almost there. All the best. The council is Bradford.

Manchester Council has received a big batch yesterday.

The certificates are till mid/end of June.

No estimate on when the July+ will be sent out.

All invitation letters have been sent by the council via post. So if you’re council is Manchetser and you’ve been approved prior to June. Goodluck!

Birmingham received a batch yesterday and it’s only March applicants. So slow!

There's hope then! Anyone knows abour Southwark? Tried finding contact details for them but it seems impossible

I received the approval today. The attached letter seems to have a standard text "However, due to Government advice relating to Coronavirus (COVID 19), ceremonies are not currently taking place..." but it sounds like the ceremonies have resumed in some of the councils. I believe that what everyone has been receiving?

I contacted Bury council just out of interest to check if they have resumed the ceremonies but they had haven't and had no idea when they will start doing it. They said I need to contact HO to get the information. I hope they will start receive the certificates soon (for at least the June approvals).

fanta wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 20, 2020 2:59 pm

I received the approval today. The attached letter seems to have a standard text "However, due to Government advice relating to Coronavirus (COVID 19), ceremonies are not currently taking place..." but it sounds like the ceremonies have resumed in some of the councils. I believe that what everyone has been receiving?

I contacted Bury council just out of interest to check if they have resumed the ceremonies but they had haven't and had no idea when they will start doing it. They said I need to contact HO to get the information. I hope they will start receive the certificates soon (for at least the June approvals).

You probably will have to wait for 8-12 weeks. Its a wait game now. Massive backlog. Stay put.