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Hi! This is not clear to me. Sorry. A few days ago i received a letter from the Home Office saying "I am pleased that your application has been successful... you will receive a letter inviting you to attend a citizenship ceremony... this letter is not an invitation to a ceremony".

3 days later I receive a letter from the Ealing Register Office inviting me to attend my ceremony in October (on a specific date). Among the things that I should bring they say "bring your home office invitation letter".

Isn't this weird? I have not received any invitation letter from the Home office but in spite of that the Register office has already invited me to attend a ceremony. How can this happen if I have not received the HOME OFFICE INVITATION LETTER? Also, the Register office has not told me anything about learning the National anthem which is something that (as far as i know) I should be singing...they just say to COMPLETE AND RETURN A FREEPOST ENVELOP that I had fill in with a few details and to present myself on that specific date.

Hope you can tell me what is wrong with this.

Many thanks,
Mr S.

The council means your 'HO Letter of Approval'.

Ok thank you for you quick answer! Amazing! HOWEVER I STILL HAVE A DOUBT.

WHy does the letter i received from the Home office say "you should not contact your local authority until you have received your invitation"? I mean, by saying this what I understand is that at some point i will receive a letter (it is not clear from whom) and that once I get it I will have to contact my local authority (and, supposedly, follow some sort of instructions to book a ceremony). I am also surprised about the fact that the Register Office is inviting me to a ceremony without telling me what this ceremony consists (just says: dress smart and choose oath or affirmation".

Kind regards,
Daniel

An example of what will be expected of you during the ceremony:
http://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/info/8 ... ceremonies

Note that you will be required to either swear an oath of allegiance, or choose to affirm. The words to both and the National anthem will be included in your welcome pack.

As CR001 has advised, you already have your Home Office letter of approval, inviting you to arrange your ceremony date with the local Council.

Some councils send you a fixed date. Other councils you get the letter and can call and select your date. The council you fall under will depend on the wording of HO's letter.

OK, THANKS. Basically you are just saying that I MUST FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE REGISTER OFFICE'S LETTER and I will be fine. Thank you very much for your support.

D

Yup as you have a date and and both letters, which you take with you, so all good to go.

THANK you so much for your help. I worked so hard to achieve this. Why do sometimes people book a private function? Is it mainly in order to get their citizenship certificate as early as possible? In the letter I must return to the Register office (at the bottom) i read " PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT US TO FIND OUT IF WE HAVE RECEIVED YOUR RETURN SLIP, ONCE YOU HAVE POSTED IT BACK TO US". Hope they will email me to let me know they got it (I would feel more serene. This does not help my anxiety) :

People book private ceremonies mostly because they don't want to wait. The group ceremony is a great experience though.

Post it back 1st class recorded and keep proof of posting. You might not get an acknowledgement of receipt.

QUOTE "Post it back 1st class recorded and keep proof of posting. You might not get an acknowledgement of receipt." I would do it, but the letter I received from the Register office states "Please complete and return in the freepost envelope provided, or EMAIL citizenship@ealing.gov.uk

I will email them to let them know that I sent it (i Guess).

I am sorry to bother you with this (you are so helpful and patient). In the AN guide they say to return the biometrics after the ceremony but I don't have any : I received a letter asking for the biometrics, went to the post office and the gentleman at the postoffice sent everything electronically. Does it mean I will have to do NOTHING after the ceremony? (this is really my last question ever.

Are you an EU citizen with PR or a non EU citizen with ILR??

If you read the letter properly, you will see it says Biometric Residence Permit/card.

I am an EU citizen. As I said I do not have my biometrics since the post office sent them to the HO electronically, so I guess I do not have to return them (I should be a wizard). Still, I had a doubt since in the AN guide at page 20 they say to return the biometrics

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... y_2017.pdf

I did not receive any letter asking me to return any biometrics: just one, almost 3 months ago, asking me to go to the post office and get the biometrics done and sent to the HO electronically. Page 20 of the AN guide confused me (I guess).

Ah yes, at page 20 it says "Returning your Biometric Residence Permit (BRP)" I guess that it is a document that non EU residents have. I did not understand it.

It is not your biometrics letter you used at Post Office it is referring to. It the the Biometric Residence Card (if you have one) stating you have either ILR or PR. You are misunderstanding what is required.

You will get a letter about this at your ceremony.

If you have PR on the blue card, no need to return anything.

I see... I have a permanent residency (it is a sort of blueish card). I got it a year ago: I had to get it before applying for citizenship through naturalisation (even if I am an EU national).