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Ceremony and travel plans

Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 11:54 am
by kamaladmire
Dear Seniors, my application for naturalisation has been sucessfull and have recived confirmation email to book ceremony. I have already book travel for end of May and my return will be mid of August which is alomost over 3 months.

as stated email "You must attend your ceremony within three months of the date of this approval email" .

My question is can I book ceremony when I returned as the Coucil seems busy and their respond time is 2 Weeks + appointment date + passport application = seems 6 to 8 weeks. what would be the implication if 3 months period passed as per above!

Re: Ceremony and travel plans

Posted: Mon May 09, 2022 12:18 pm
by CR001
If you do not attend the ceremony within the required time, your certificate is returned to UKVI and you lose the option. You would then have to apply and pay again for naturalisation.

Re: Ceremony and travel plans

Posted: Mon May 23, 2022 9:00 pm
by crete2016
Good afternoon,
I am affected similarly with kamaladmire - I have arranged travelling out of the UK for the full summer and received my approval email last week so there is no time to have the citizenship ceremony before my departure.
I need to point out that at the current time (23rd of May) this period of normally 3 months is extended to 6 months by the Home Office as part of the government's COVID-19 rules' relaxations. This information can be seen in gov.uk relevant page (Citizenship ceremonies).
It might feel like everything is back to normality and any special arrangements as this 6 months extension should have been lifted by now, but as it is stated in gov.uk webpage, I trust this is still the case.
If someone knows more on this or has a different view on this, I would be grateful if they can reply back to my message. Maybe it is too late for kamaladmire but this is useful for myself or someone else with similar circumstances.