Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[Small]

My friend who rang yesterday at register office asking for cermony. They said send an email to cermony people. They gave em an email. He did this and haven’t got reply yet.
I think best way is to do online it’s easy

[Ace1983]

A very annoying this has happened to me. On the 27th of May, I received an email from a case worker saying that my citizenship application has been successful and with it was an approval attachment. Today I received another email from a different caseworker with another approval attached. However, the first approval was dated the 27th of May and the one I got today was dated for the 17th of July. This has started to worry me now. Any suggestions why I would be sent 2 approvals with different dates on them?

[Sohail222]

Strange but don’t worry as you got approval in both emails is the same caseworker name on both letters ? May I ask what was your timeline when did you apply did you ask them about update before the approval?

[Moa7]

A very annoying this has happened to me. On the 27th of May I received an email from a case worker saying that my citizenship application has been successful and with it was an approval attachment. Today I received another email from a different caseworker with another approval attached. However, the first approval was dated the 27th of May and the one I got today was dated for the 17th of July. This has started to worry me now. Any suggestions why I would be sent 2 approvals with different dates on them?

Could be that you sent the case worker an email and in response he sent your decision letter to you again. The decision letter date isn't the date of approval, its the date they download the letter from their system so if they downloaded it again yesterday it may have yesterday's date. But it's not your application approval date so don't worry

[Small]

Any updates about ceremonies in your areas?

[BoyTed]

This is the latest.

16th July update
The Home Office this week issued guidance that allows us to resume citizenship ceremonies in due course.

We are working fast to make sure we can safely offer these for as many people as we can.

If you received a letter from Tower Hamlets before April with a ceremony date, please email us with your contact details.

From next week, we will then be able to offer you a group ceremony date over August 2020.

If the Home Office told you that your application is successful but you did not get a letter from Tower Hamlets, please be patient a little while longer. We will receive your certificate from the Home Office in the coming weeks or months.

[BoyTed]

This is the latest.

16th July update
The Home Office this week issued guidance that allows us to resume citizenship ceremonies in due course.

We are working fast to make sure we can safely offer these for as many people as we can.

If you received a letter from Tower Hamlets before April with a ceremony date, please email us with your contact details.

From next week, we will then be able to offer you a group ceremony date over August 2020.

If the Home Office told you that your application is successful but you did not get a letter from Tower Hamlets, please be patient a little while longer. We will receive your certificate from the Home Office in the coming weeks or months.

if the Home Office issuing guidance to councils common sense says they are resuming services and they will be sending certificates to councils

[Lopand]

I found this on Wandsworth council website:

Restarting ceremonies after COVID-19 lockdown

Local Authorities may now reintroduce citizenship ceremonies where safe to do so and in accordance with health and safety guidance.

Planning and risk assessments are now being undertaken to determine the way citizenship ceremonies can be safely managed. Details will be confirmed shortly.

We are working towards resuming citizenship ceremonies from mid-August.

Priority will be given to prospective new citizens who received their Home Office letters before lockdown.

We will contact you to invite you to a ceremony in due course. Your continued patience is appreciated. We ask that you do not contact us unless urgent, whilst we undertake this initial planning stage.

It seems like the HO has issued the guidelines, hopefully they are now sending our hostage certificates to the councils.

[Lopand]

In Brent council they are starting group ceremonies tomorrow:

From 20 July 2020, we can now hold group citizenship ceremonies with a maximum number of up to 22 citizens per ceremony. The ceremony will be conducted in a manner that shortens the time and reduces the risk of infection, to keep you and the team arranging the ceremony safe.

[jideare]

Lancashire County Council are commencing group ceremonies from tomorrow.

I believe the numbers will be limited however; if in doubt call your council

The only limitation will be they can't book you in if they don't have the right paperwork from the HO

[BoyTed]

More important the Home Office start sending certificates to our local councils.
They look not bothered to be honest

[IrobotZ]

More important the Home Office start sending certificates to our local councils.
They look not bothered to be honest

Is the home office sending out certificates and invitation letters to all councils or only the councils which are ready to hold public ceremonies? My local council is still saying that he Government and UKVI haven’t provided any further guidance regarding citizenship ceremonies...

[BoyTed]

More important the Home Office start sending certificates to our local councils.
They look not bothered to be honest

Is the home office sending out certificates and invitation letters to all councils or only the councils which are ready to hold public ceremonies? My local council is still saying that he Government and UKVI haven’t provided any further guidance regarding citizenship ceremonies...

Hello IrobitZ,
No news of councils getting certificates for people who got decision after lockdown.
We all waiting to see anyone who will get an appointment to attend the ceremony who had the decision after the Country went to lockdown.
I called the home office this Morning in regards to this the Lady said no certificates have been sent yet.

[jojo1984]

I was meant to attend a ceremony at Lambeth council on 24th March which was cancelled.
Contacted Lambeth council a few weeks ago and while they were offering to tentatively book private ceremonies for £170 they also admitted they had not yet started them.
Regarding group ceremonies the standard answer was they are waiting for guidance from UKVI
There’s been no update since UKVI updated their guidance last week and Lambeth website still says they are awaiting guidance.
Obviously hope they are working in the background to start them again as soon as possible. Would make sense that they should want to clear existing backlog given HO should also hopefully start sending certificates out for those approved after the lockdown.

[IrobotZ]

More important the Home Office start sending certificates to our local councils.
They look not bothered to be honest

Is the home office sending out certificates and invitation letters to all councils or only the councils which are ready to hold public ceremonies? My local council is still saying that he Government and UKVI haven’t provided any further guidance regarding citizenship ceremonies...

Hello IrobitZ,
No news of councils getting certificates for people who got decision after lockdown.
We all waiting to see anyone who will get an appointment to attend the ceremony who had the decision after the Country went to lockdown.
I called the home office this Morning in regards to this the Lady said no certificates have been sent yet.

Thanks for the info mate, guess we will have to wait for another few weeks at least, hope things will run smoothly as the lockdown measures are been lifted gradually.

[Moa7]

I contacted my local council today and they said that although the HO has permitted councils to do ceremonies, the HO have not sent any new certificates yet, nor said when they'll send them. The HO have also asked councils to satisfy the risk assessment guidelines on holding ceremonies safely which the councils are currently in the process of doing.

So basically just because it sounds like the HO have permitted ceremonies to happen doesn't mean they can ACTUALLY happen unless the risk assessment is fully satisfied, and the HO send new certificates.

It'll be a long long wait....

[Moa7]

Looks like virtual ceremonies could become a thing but it is not clear whether all councils nationwide would offer this facility

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/firs ... e-minister

[shanny77]

Virtual ceremony will be the next thing, a friend in Australia had his ceremony virtually last month, so I'm not surprise UK follow suite. I will expect HO to start sending new invitation. The wait is almost over

[my72dart]

Lancashire County Council are commencing group ceremonies from tomorrow.

I believe the numbers will be limited however; if in doubt call your council

The only limitation will be they can't book you in if they don't have the right paperwork from the HO

Where did you find out that info? I keep checking their website and it hasn't been updated.

Thanks

[CR001]

The link to the virtual ceremonies update has already been posted. It is not necessary for different members to post the same thing again and again.

[rozearo]

Looks like virtual ceremonies could become a thing but it is not clear whether all councils nationwide would offer this facility

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/firs ... e-minister

Yes, I have seen that today. But no update about sending invitation to candidates nor certificates to councils.
It looks like different departments within the HO don’t communicate efficiently with each other!

[Raihanul]

[Hi, what email did you use]
Hi All,

I keep sending HO emails asking for an update. My last 2 emails I requested to despatch my invitation letter since i can go for a private ceremony in my council. They replied with the below which is a copy and paste of their previous reply and similar to what most of you have received

Good morning,

I refer to your application for British Citizenship and your email enquiry. Upon investigation I can confirm that your citizenship ceremony documents have not yet been printed or despatched to the local authority. Your citizenship paperwork will be generated in coming weeks when current restrictions due to Coronavirus are eased.

In normal circumstances customers were required to book their citizenship ceremony within three months of being sent an invitation from the Home Office. Due to the current circumstances we have extended this period to six months. We will keep this under constant review. Please be assured that no adverse decisions will be made on your application because of delays caused by Coronavirus (unless there is a material change in your circumstances, for example, you are convicted of a criminal offence).



Kind Regards
[/quote]

[SidiBou]

Citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gov.uk

[Raihanul]

I'll wait a bit longer and email them too. Thank you

[bppartnerclub]

Looks like virtual ceremonies could become a thing but it is not clear whether all councils nationwide would offer this facility

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/firs ... e-minister

Can't say my heart did not flutter a bit when I saw it was in my council. Let's hope things will start to actually progress faster from now on!