Urgent: Citizenship Ceremony

Dear all,

Can you please comment and advise on my situation.

I have received a letter confirming approval of my citizenship (naturalisation) application and informed that the I will be receiving the ceremony invitation letter shortly. However i have received a ceremony invitation letter from council for a date in Dec 2018. Due to my travel needs I am opting for a private ceremony and was able to get an appointment for this Friday (02 Nov 2018) and have informed the council member that I have not received invitation letter from HO. She has confirmed that approval letter from HO, revised invitation letter from Council and a photo identity.

However i have received revised letter with new appointment and that mentions HO invitation letter is compulsory.

Please advise if anyone had similar situation, should i reschedule the appointment. Will they accept the HO approval letter and revised council appt letter ??

I will be calling the council tomorrow to reconfirm.

Thanks

You are misunderstanding or not reading the councils letter properly.

The council send sinvitation letter. HO sends approval letter which is what you must take with you.

Sorry but I have checked it again.

It reads as “The ceremony cannot take place without the invitation letter from the Home Office (UK Border Agency)”

The above text is from the revised letter received from council.

Not sure if these are old template letters they are still using as UKBA doesn’t exist and it now UKVI.

Likely a typo then. You need the Approval letter.

I hope the letter is real and not a prank by someone due to the UKBA reference.

Hmmmm, I have approval letter..

So only option is to call the council again tomorrow.

Unless anyone else had a similar situation and advise me.

Thanks

You are overthinking this.

You need the approval letter and the invitation letter and proof of id for the ceremony. If you have everything already, then what exactly is the issue or concern that you have??

HO send approval letter (sometimes it is a combined approval and ceremony invitation letter stating to contacting the council).

Council sends ceremony letter.

From my experience last month home Office sent me an invitation to ceremony letter with all information about my council and the ceremony separate from the approval letter sent a few days prior.
The council will need the invite letter and not approval letter. They refused to admit a fellow who had not received his invitation from HO.
So if your approval letter does not have a ceremony invitation to contact your council I would be wary to go to the ceremony

Just my experience. Good luck

Many thanks to all who have responded.

I have just called the council to reconfirm that they will accept the approval letter from HO and the council invitation letter, along with a photo ID. They have confirmed that they "WILL". They have also confirmed that the they are received the citizenship ceremony questionnaire via email and they have everything for tomorrow ceremony. Informed them again, that i do not have an invitation letter from HO.

Fingers crossed, hope everything will be ok.

Thanks

CR001 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:11 pm

You are overthinking this.

You need the approval letter and the invitation letter and proof of id for the ceremony. If you have everything already, then what exactly is the issue or concern that you have??

HO send approval letter (sometimes it is a combined approval and ceremony invitation letter stating to contacting the council).

Council sends ceremony letter.

I have received the above highlighted letter which states to contact that council and my council contact number is mentioned. I think thats enough for me to contact the council and book my ceremony. Am I right please, and same letter I have to take with me for ceremoy?
Cheers

Archer1 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 03, 2018 5:18 pm

CR001 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:11 pm

You are overthinking this.

You need the approval letter and the invitation letter and proof of id for the ceremony. If you have everything already, then what exactly is the issue or concern that you have??

HO send approval letter (sometimes it is a combined approval and ceremony invitation letter stating to contacting the council).

Council sends ceremony letter.

I have received the above highlighted letter which states to contact that council and my council contact number is mentioned. I think thats enough for me to contact the council and book my ceremony. Am I right please, and same letter I have to take with me for ceremoy?
Cheers

Correct yes.

Hello,

Finally my journey came to an end.

Council are ok with invitation letter , HO approval letter and proof of ID.

I am done with the citizenship ceremony yesterday and have applied British Passport via post office today.

All the best.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 03, 2018 5:27 pm

Archer1 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 03, 2018 5:18 pm

CR001 wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 31, 2018 9:11 pm

You are overthinking this.

You need the approval letter and the invitation letter and proof of id for the ceremony. If you have everything already, then what exactly is the issue or concern that you have??

HO send approval letter (sometimes it is a combined approval and ceremony invitation letter stating to contacting the council).

Council sends ceremony letter.

I have received the above highlighted letter which states to contact that council and my council contact number is mentioned. I think thats enough for me to contact the council and book my ceremony. Am I right please, and same letter I have to take with me for ceremoy?
Cheers

Correct yes.

Thank you Char. appreciate that.