Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[aemvl]

Hi all,

Had my ceremony today, please see my timeline / details below.

Date of Application: 14th April 2020
Date of Biometrics Appointment: 15th August 2020
Date of Approval: 21st August 2020 via Email (PDF attachment)
Date Ceremony Letter Received: 23th November 2020 (arrived through Royal Mail redirection service. It was posted to my old address despite change of address request made and acknowledged by HO)
Date on Ceremony Letter: 14th November 2020
Date of Ceremony: Private ceremony 30th November 2020

I was with Westminster Council, they do private ceremonies for free atm.

It seems Westminster are having some problems with their website booking system (I was always getting an error), so I called them (quite a few times) to try to book my ceremony through the registrar. Eventually they called back (on the 3rd day after I first called and left my call back request) and offered a ceremony the next working day.

Best of luck to everyone still waiting!

[Sanfarquad]

Hello everyone
Anyone received approval email on late July and still waiting for invitation letter. I haven’t heard anything from HO or the council.

[askmeplz82]

Hi all,

Has Anyone from October approval received their invitation letter ? Stiill waiting

Too early. Late december or early January

[moh12]

Just to give an update. My wife finally had her citizenship ceremony on the 25th November. I had contacted Bradford Council a couple of times to arrange a ceremony but they said to wait and I left it at that. A couple weeks later they sent a letter providing a date and time for the ceremony. Need to apply for her passport now. Can anyone confirm what she should do with her biometric residence permit now? Thanks for all the support to the members here.

[coolrockspart2]

Just to give an update. My wife finally had her citizenship ceremony on the 25th November. I had contacted Bradford Council a couple of times to arrange a ceremony but they said to wait and I left it at that. A couple weeks later they sent a letter providing a date and time for the ceremony. Need to apply for her passport now. Can anyone confirm what she should do with her biometric residence permit now? Thanks for all the support to the members here.

After you get your certificate

You must send your biometric residence permit (BRP) back to the Home Office within 5 working days of getting your certificate of British citizenship.

Cut your BRP into 4 pieces and put it in a windowless envelope.

Include a note saying you’re returning your permit because you’ve become a citizen. Include your name, date of birth and the document number (found on the front of the card) in the note.

Naturalisation BRP Returns
PO Box 195
Bristol
BS20 1BT
You’ll be fined up to £1,000 if you do not return your permit within 5 working days.

Refer https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-sp ... ertificate

[moh12]

Just to give an update. My wife finally had her citizenship ceremony on the 25th November. I had contacted Bradford Council a couple of times to arrange a ceremony but they said to wait and I left it at that. A couple weeks later they sent a letter providing a date and time for the ceremony. Need to apply for her passport now. Can anyone confirm what she should do with her biometric residence permit now? Thanks for all the support to the members here.

After you get your certificate

You must send your biometric residence permit (BRP) back to the Home Office within 5 working days of getting your certificate of British citizenship.

Cut your BRP into 4 pieces and put it in a windowless envelope.

Include a note saying you’re returning your permit because you’ve become a citizen. Include your name, date of birth and the document number (found on the front of the card) in the note.

Naturalisation BRP Returns
PO Box 195
Bristol
BS20 1BT
You’ll be fined up to £1,000 if you do not return your permit within 5 working days.

Refer https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-sp ... ertificate

I better get it sent off today then. Thanks.

[woabgh]

Hi all,

Had my ceremony today, please see my timeline / details below.

Date of Application: 14th April 2020
Date of Biometrics Appointment: 15th August 2020
Date of Approval: 21st August 2020 via Email (PDF attachment)
Date Ceremony Letter Received: 23th November 2020 (arrived through Royal Mail redirection service. It was posted to my old address despite change of address request made and acknowledged by HO)
Date on Ceremony Letter: 14th November 2020
Date of Ceremony: Private ceremony 30th November 2020

I was with Westminster Council, they do private ceremonies for free atm.

It seems Westminster are having some problems with their website booking system (I was always getting an error), so I called them (quite a few times) to try to book my ceremony through the registrar. Eventually they called back (on the 3rd day after I first called and left my call back request) and offered a ceremony the next working day.

Best of luck to everyone still waiting!

Thank you for sharing! I am hopeful then, I have an almost identical timeline (Applied mid April, Biometrics mid August, Approved end of September).But so far, no brown envelope and no certificate received by the council (RBKC, border Westminster). Hopefully it will come this week...

[SamcoSamco]

Hello everyone
Anyone received approval email on late July and still waiting for invitation letter. I haven’t heard anything from HO or the council.

I was approved end of July and nothing yet. I phoned UKVI yesterday to chase this up and they escalated it for a check up. Today I received what seems to be a generic long email asking not to contact UKVI and local authorities as they are working hard to process the outstandingly certificates. It also stated that they have just completed August approvals and now they are processing September. No mention of July which indicates that no one looked at the details of my call. Can’t wait to get this over with.

[Yasmin123]

I have quick question can someone tell me what is the Haringey process time? What is the quickest way I can book ceremony. In letter says they will keep review good character requirement. Is there any example successful citizenship application has been cancelled because of that?

Hi sorry I am again posting this. My citizenship approved on 26/11/2020. I choose Haringey council. Can someone reply me above question would be really grateful

Thanks

[Jeannot88]

Hi woabgh - keep us posted. We have similar approval timeline and area too.

[skasyap]

Hi all

Hope any of you experienced the same can help.

My application was approved on 18th of September and now council has confirmed that they have received my certificate but I have not had invite from home office yet.

Is that normal that a) council has received the certificate but I have not received the invitation? b) which email address should I use for citizenship team to send them an email about no invitation letter received yet?

Sent an email yesterday to and hope this helps others :

NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk

and got response within 24 hours which is really impressive.

Email from team :
Good Morning

Thank you for your enquiry below.

I am pleased to advise that your certificate was despatched to your local authority on 27th November 2020 and your ceremony invitation sent to your home address on the same day. This was sent by second class post and should be with you in the next 10 days.

[Frou01]

I’m delighted to say I’m now a British citizen.

Today I’ve had my ceremony and now applying for my British passport.


A big thank you to everyone, especially Baybars1 and alter Hase. So grateful!

I’m so happy this part of the journey is finished and I’m now a dual citizen.

I wish everyone waiting sincerely good luck!

Bless you.

[Emeliajayne88]

I got my approval letter via email in June and I still am waiting on an invitation for a ceremony...

Have contact HO a number of times and they don't respond, neither do Hackney Council.

[leo55]

Any update from Redbridge Council regarding ceremony booking?

[SamcoSamco]

Hi all

Hope any of you experienced the same can help.

My application was approved on 18th of September and now council has confirmed that they have received my certificate but I have not had invite from home office yet.

Is that normal that a) council has received the certificate but I have not received the invitation? b) which email address should I use for citizenship team to send them an email about no invitation letter received yet?

Sent an email yesterday to and hope this helps others :

NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk

and got response within 24 hours which is really impressive.

Email from team :
Good Morning

Thank you for your enquiry below.

I am pleased to advise that your certificate was despatched to your local authority on 27th November 2020 and your ceremony invitation sent to your home address on the same day. This was sent by second class post and should be with you in the next 10 days.

Thanks for the update.
When you sent your email, did you receive an automatic reply saying “ Thank you for your email.
It is taking longer than usual to process applications because of coronavirus (COVID-19). This will not affect the decision. Extra time will be allowed to enrol biometrics, provide additional information and arrange a citizenship ceremony. Do not apply by post if you’ll need your documents back by a specific date.”

I am hoping they will follow this up and look into the specific requests in the email.

Thanks

[zoltan_the_conqueror]

My MiL had her ceremony scheduled for 10/12, however two weeks ago she received a letter that she was being instead offered a virtual ceremony to take place today.

It was very quick and easy, and the end result is that the MiL is finally a British citizen. Now just need to wait for the certificate to show up (forgot to ask during the ceremony how long that will take) and then she can apply for her passport.

[skasyap]

Hi all

Hope any of you experienced the same can help.

My application was approved on 18th of September and now council has confirmed that they have received my certificate but I have not had invite from home office yet.

Is that normal that a) council has received the certificate but I have not received the invitation? b) which email address should I use for citizenship team to send them an email about no invitation letter received yet?

Sent an email yesterday to and hope this helps others :

NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk

and got response within 24 hours which is really impressive.

Email from team :
Good Morning

Thank you for your enquiry below.

I am pleased to advise that your certificate was despatched to your local authority on 27th November 2020 and your ceremony invitation sent to your home address on the same day. This was sent by second class post and should be with you in the next 10 days.

Thanks for the update.
When you sent your email, did you receive an automatic reply saying “ Thank you for your email.
It is taking longer than usual to process applications because of coronavirus (COVID-19). This will not affect the decision. Extra time will be allowed to enrol biometrics, provide additional information and arrange a citizenship ceremony. Do not apply by post if you’ll need your documents back by a specific date.”

I am hoping they will follow this up and look into the specific requests in the email.

Thanks

Yes I did so just ignore this.

[Gonzo14]

Hi all

For those awaiting citizenship ceremony from Barnsley council I spoke to them and they said that they are conducting ceremonies on an individual basis and allowed 1 guest . They have been receiving certificates regularly from the home office. I was approved on 24 July after making my application in September 2019. So hopefully I don’t have to wait long for the ceremony

Hi all

I contacted my local registrar and they informed me that they received my certificate and that they have booked me in for my ceremony on 1 December, they didn’t ask me to bring anything but am allowed to bring one guest. I haven’t received my invitation yet but I will keep the forum updated when I do. My approval was 24 July 2020, applied September 2019.

Just a quick update

I have finally received the brown envelope with my invitation letter from HO. Interestingly the letter was dated 19 October and delivered 2nd class so I don’t get how it could take nearly a month to deliver a letter to be honest. Nevertheless I had contacted my local council last week and they booked me for my ceremony without the invitation letter. It’s just frustrating that there are not early dates available but am just grateful that the journey is neatly over. In total from start this process ha taken me 15 months, I am just ready to be done with this journey

Below is my timeline

Application : September 2019
Approved : July 2020
Date on invitation : 19 October
Ceremony booked : 1 December 2020

Finally completed my ceremony today am I officially a British citizen. This forum has got me through this tough journey without all your contributions I don’t know were I would be. Thank you

[nnn15]

I got my approval letter via email in June and I still am waiting on an invitation for a ceremony...

Have contact HO a number of times and they don't respond, neither do Hackney Council.

I had no luck with that either. I've done some research on what people in our situation could do:

1. If you call the HO helpline, they can now submit an escalation for your case as the HO confirmed all the paperwork for approvals up to August has been issued. They told me I should be contacted within 10 working days which hasn't passed yet. So don't know if they actually resolve the problem, but probably worth trying.

2. You can submit a complaint on the HO website. Apparently they have to respond within 20 working days, however, I understand most of the people on this forum who submitted complaints didn't get any case-specific details.

3. You can reach out to your MP, apparently the HO is obliged to respond to MP correspondence.

Unfortunately it seems that none of the options above helps resolve the problem quickly. But given the HO confirmed that all the paperwork for up to August applications has been generated and sent.. it doesn't look like they are planning to come back to our cases unless we remind them to

[null1639]

Hello, I'm just wondering if anyone can help with suggestion.
Here's my timeline..

Application Date : 18 May 2020
Application Approval : 18 September 2020
Citizenship Invitation : 01 December 2020
Letter Invitation Date : 19 November 2020
Ceremony Booked : 02 December 2020 at Westminster Council

My question is... My citizenship invitation was sent to my grandmother's address. She is 80 years old so she can't leave the house to post the letter to me. Luckily she managed to send picture of the letter via Whatsapp so I can see the reference number to book ceremony. Is it ok to bring the printed letter, not the actual letter, to the ceremony ? Of course I will bring passport and other ID to match my name and details. Anyone has similar situation ?

[POPPIES]

Hi all,

Has Anyone from October approval received their invitation letter ? Stiill waiting

Late September approvals are getting invitations now. Hopefully, October approvals should be getting invitations by the end of this week or early next week.
I am approved on 7th October and waiting!

Woo Im 12th October, so hopefully ill get it in mid december

hi

im approvaled 16 of september there is no any letter or phone call.

[null1639]

Hi, anyone had citizenship ceremony without bringing original invitation letter ?

[Sanfarquad]

Hello everyone
Anyone received approval email on late July and still waiting for invitation letter. I haven’t heard anything from HO or the council.

I was approved end of July and nothing yet. I phoned UKVI yesterday to chase this up and they escalated it for a check up. Today I received what seems to be a generic long email asking not to contact UKVI and local authorities as they are working hard to process the outstandingly certificates. It also stated that they have just completed August approvals and now they are processing September. No mention of July which indicates that no one looked at the details of my call. Can’t wait to get this over with.

Hi there
I have sent them an email to enquire about update of the ceremony invitation letter but the reply I have got is an automatic replay telling me to wait. I don’t understand why we havent got the ceremony invitation letter yet.

[mohammad12]

HI
applicatiopn date 9th april
bio.22nd august idv app
approve 14th september
invition received 22nd november
ceremony boooked for 8th december
council REDBRIDGE

BEST OF LUCK EVERYONE.

[londuk1]

Finally I received my invitation letter.

Date of application: 17/06/2020
Biometrics: 03/08/2020
Approval email: 06/08/2020
Invitation letter (date on the letter): 02/11/2020
Invitation letter (received): 02/12/2020
Citizenship ceremony: I emailed the register office at Wandsworth Council and I am waiting for ceremony date.

I don't know why but it took 1 month to receive the invitation letter. It was posted to my old address and delivered to me with the redirection service.