Letter from Local Authority but not from Home Office

Hi,

I applied for British Citizenship, and a week ago I received a letter from Islington Local Authority congratulating me on obtaining my British Citizenship and asking me to select a date to attend the ceremony. The strange thing is that I have not received anything from the Home Office yet. Is this normal? According to the letter the local authority sent me I cannot attend the ceremony without the letter from the Home Office. Trying to contact the Home Office seems impossible.

Wondering if anybody had a similar experience and/or advice.

cooldogcs wrote:Hi,

I applied for British Citizenship, and a week ago I received a letter from Islington Local Authority congratulating me on obtaining my British Citizenship and asking me to select a date to attend the ceremony. The strange thing is that I have not received anything from the Home Office yet. Is this normal? According to the letter the local authority sent me I cannot attend the ceremony without the letter from the Home Office. Trying to contact the Home Office seems impossible.

Wondering if anybody had a similar experience and/or advice.

Your letter from UKBA should be on the way. They send letters by 2nd class post so could take some time to arrive. If you don't receive your letter in next couple of days I would recommend you to send an email to NationalityProgress@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk with all your details.

cricinfo wrote:
Your letter from UKBA should be on the way. They send letters by 2nd class post so could take some time to arrive. If you don't receive your letter in next couple of days I would recommend you to send an email to NationalityProgress@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk with all your details.

Thanks cricinfo. I still have not received anything from the Home Office, so I will take your advice and email them using the address you provided. My first ceremony date is Monday and I was hoping to see if the letter arrived today, but no luck. So it is now clear I will miss that date... what a disappointment.

cooldogcs wrote:

cricinfo wrote:
Your letter from UKBA should be on the way. They send letters by 2nd class post so could take some time to arrive. If you don't receive your letter in next couple of days I would recommend you to send an email to NationalityProgress@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk with all your details.

Thanks cricinfo. I still have not received anything from the Home Office, so I will take your advice and email them using the address you provided. My first ceremony date is Monday and I was hoping to see if the letter arrived today, but no luck. So it is now clear I will miss that date... what a disappointment.

You could also try and ask the council if they contact the UKBA directly and ask them to fax a copy of your letter directly, in this way you could attend Monday.

Peterpan81 wrote:

cooldogcs wrote:

cricinfo wrote:
Your letter from UKBA should be on the way. They send letters by 2nd class post so could take some time to arrive. If you don't receive your letter in next couple of days I would recommend you to send an email to NationalityProgress@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk with all your details.

Thanks cricinfo. I still have not received anything from the Home Office, so I will take your advice and email them using the address you provided. My first ceremony date is Monday and I was hoping to see if the letter arrived today, but no luck. So it is now clear I will miss that date... what a disappointment.

You could also try and ask the council if they contact the UKBA directly and ask them to fax a copy of your letter directly, in this way you could attend Monday.

Quite agree with Peterpan81. I have seen someone on this forum who contacted the council and they got hold of homeoffice and have his letter faxed straight to them. I think you should contact your council immediately. Fingers crossed. Best of luck

Thanks everyone for the advice. Still nothing to date, so I'm going down to the council today and see if they can help me in person. I'll keep everyone posted on progress.

Just came back from the council. I spoke to a citizenship officer, and he told me I can attend the ceremony without the invitation letter. I can bring the original letter I received from the Home Office stating that they received my application instead.

If I knew that I would have done it today. Oh well, at least I will be able to attend it next Monday.

Cheers everyone for your help.