Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[Soo123]

Hi U Azziz

I got my approval via email on the 4th August however I applied on 14 December 2019

[Wastson]

I got this from Lambeth:

Dear ...

At present we have not received your certificate. I believe June decisions are the next batch we should receive in 2 weeks’ time.

[petervang]

Hi all, I had my approval by email, via my immigration adviser in Mid June. But to date waiting for Invitation letter. Mine is Harrow Council anyone waiting for Invitation for Harrow council.
Secondly if anyone aware, will the Invitation letter come directly to me ? Or through the Immigration adviser.
Wishing all those waiting for a long time to receive their invitation a quick response from the HO.
Regards

[IrobotZ]

This is a day of wonderful news - I FINALLY received my invitation letter!!!!!

Council: Barnet
Application date: 24 February
Biometrics: 16 March
Approval email: 29 May
Date on the invitation letter: 14 September

Thank you for your support. I hope you'll all get your invitation letters soon.

It's almost over...

Same council, but I am a bit depressed. I got approved late June which means I have to wait at least another month

[nnn15]

Does anyone have any updates from Westminster council? I got approved in April and still haven't received a ceremony invitation letter.

Hello - I am also in Westminster and didn’t hear any update, I was approved in August and called the council who told me they are conducting ceremonies regularly and receiving certificates from HO but did not give any more details. Hope you’ll receive your invitation letter soon. Please keep us posted!

Thanks! Got approved in April and still no letter. I've also tried the online form at Westminster website, but it tells me "records not found", so I guess it means the council hasn't received my certificate yet.

[BoyTed]

This is a day of wonderful news - I FINALLY received my invitation letter!!!!!

Council: Barnet
Application date: 24 February
Biometrics: 16 March
Approval email: 29 May
Date on the invitation letter: 14 September

Thank you for your support. I hope you'll all get your invitation letters soon.

It's almost over...

Same council, but I am a bit depressed. I got approved late June which means I have to wait at least another month

Hi all

Same here approved 29th June received 2nd July I think soon we will finish this long and tiring journey.

Congrats to all who received the invitation iam so happy for you.

[saaji93]

Hi

I got my citizenship invitation letter today and booked ceremony with council online for 27th Oct 2020.
I never got my email approval or letter for naturalisation .

Applied March 7th , biometric given - 12th March 20
Enquired with HO first week of May and got reply your citizenship documents not despatched .

finally I got invitation letter today after couple email to HO last 2 weeks...
Now wait for another one month for ceremony ....

Regards
saaji

[gbalague123]

Finally.....seems like many people got it today. Very strange because I called my council yesterday and they did not have my certificate but today I received the invitation letter

biometrics done in January
Email approval in May
Letter received today 25/09 dated 07/09
I will call Wandsworth council on Monday. I think they are quite quick at booking a ceremony.

[Rusland]

Hi all,

I also received my letter yesterday! Finally! Here are the details of my timings:

Application sent: 19/03
Application approved: 29/05
Ceremony invitation letter received: 25/09
Ceremony booked for: 05/10 (Islington)

Now in terms of booking the ceremony the letter advised to get in touch with the council over the phone. I spoke with a lady who told me that I had to wait for a while as they were still sorting out the backlog that they had. She said that they will get back to me with three dates.
After that I checked the Islington website and it advised me to email them. They answered very quickly and they booked me in at the next available date. In a week from now.

I would advise everyone to contact the council through multiple channels just to check if there is any chance to get an early date. Given the circumstances the sooner we do it the better.

Good luck everyone and thank you all!

[Rusland]

Starting on Monday, social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in England, indoors or outdoors. I assume that it will affect the councils' ability to offer group ceremonies (or even private ceremonies as well). Who knows if this isn't a sign for an upcoming full lockdown.

I've been waiting for my invitation letter since May. So frustrating.

Hi Lopand,

Same here. I remember that when checking the timelines - when waiting for the HO answer to my application - I realised that our times were very similar. In fact, our applications were approved the same day I believe

I haven't received any letter yet from the council nor from the Home Office. However, my situation is a little bit trickier than yours. I decided to chose Islington as the council to do the citizenship ceremony in, instead of Redbridge where I live right now.

It now turns out that Redbridge is being faster in doing citizenship ceremonies than Islington. Hence, not a good choice I am afraid...

Sad but great to hear that we're in the same boat! You actually can't be sure if you made the right choice or not, because each council receives the batches of certificates in a different random way, so who knows. I truly hope that our journey will come to its end soon, I'm tired of looking in my mailbox everyday and repeatedly being disappointed. The wait is crazy.

I received the letter yesterday! Hope you received it as well!

[Angmlee]

I got my approval through email on the 3rd of July and dated the 3rd aswell. I called the council and emailed couple times since and no update. Last contact I made was on the 20th of august. since everyone been saying 7-12 weeks. This week is my 12th week. Fingers cross I hear something this week or next week. My council is Nottingham city council. anyone from heard from Nottingham council as to if they have been receiving certificate and if they have cleared their back log

Just sent another email, I sent a list of questions and I got a reply, this is only specific to Nottingham council.

Will there be virtual ceremony like other council are doing? No, we are still holding group ceremonies with restricted numbers.

Has the backlog been cleared? If not, what’s the latest month of approval received? Not yet, we are currently receiving certificates for those who were granted citizenship in May.

Have you been receiving a weekly certificates from home office or has that stopped due to current restrictions? Varies from week to week. Usually a batch arrives every 4 weeks

Could you also check if my certificate is in the batch received this week? Good news…..Your certificate has just arrived…..we will be in touch in due course to book you in. Please provide a telephone number and home address.

I look forward to hearing from you. I appreciate your help and thank you advance.

I am really excited just small step closer, I still haven't received invitation letter so I don't know how that will affect me booking the ceremony. brief timeline is for those who don't have account, application sent on 23 dec 2019 and approved 3rd July 2020 by email.

Congrats! I am also Notts City. Just got my approval email 18 Sept so it could be a while still. Please let me know how it goes. Thank you

Thank you. Just quick update, my invitation letter has been sent today, dated the 1st of sep. I did my application through solicitor so it went to them instead of me.(it's in different city so they probably need to send me it through a first class). I have been checking the mail everyday for no reason ahaha. I also spoke to the council, the lady who does ceremony booking is out of the office this week so they said she will give me a call when she is back next week. I hope I am able to do my ceremony next week. fingers cross!

Great news on getting the letter! And thank you for the update. Hopefully, you’ll be able to book the ceremony soon! Fingers crossed!!! Take care!

[RayNational]

Hi everyone,

I have finally done my ceremony. I can finally call myself british citizen now.
Emailed my council to enquire about my certificate and they confirmed that it has just been received. Booked and done my ceremony virtually the next day even though I didn't have my invitation letter.
They requested to see the printout of my approval letter email.
Timeline :
Applied 30th January
Approval email 20th May
Ceremony done 24th September
Invitation letter received today 26th September
They have sent my certificate through the post and probably will get to me today in the afternoon.

Just be patient, I know it's difficult but wait gets easier if you try to forget about it and concentrate on your daily routine. Best wishes for everyone.

[YO17]

Firstly I want to thank the moderators and commentators of this group. It has been really helpful.

I finally received my ceremony invitation letter yesterday dated 7 September.

Basically I applied 16 March and had my biometrics on 26 March before the lockdown. I waited patiently and only sent an email on 5 August requesting an update. I received an email confirmation on 25 August confirming a successful application and to wait for the invitation letter (should come within 8 to 12 weeks).

It feels so surreal.

Thanks again to everyone.

[axeman85]

Congratulations to all who have received ceremony letters and those who have done ceremony

I belive June and July should start getting letters in October also.

As previously posted by others it seems they HO want to clear the backlog on or before end of next month and within the 8-12weeks time frame.

So for June, July and others for April and May who are yet to receive ceremony letter. We should all be getting it soon..

Congratulations guys..

[Parisiana]

Does anyone have any updates from Westminster council? I got approved in April and still haven't received a ceremony invitation letter.

Hello - I am also in Westminster and didn’t hear any update, I was approved in August and called the council who told me they are conducting ceremonies regularly and receiving certificates from HO but did not give any more details. Hope you’ll receive your invitation letter soon. Please keep us posted!

Thanks! Got approved in April and still no letter. I've also tried the online form at Westminster website, but it tells me "records not found", so I guess it means the council hasn't received my certificate yet.

It seems that Westminster council is being particularly slow in clearing the backlog... Hope they'll speed up the process in the next few weeks!

[Gioldn]

I called yesterday to Wandsworth council
I was approved in May. They said no certificate for me yet
So more wait....
I emailed Wandsworth too and haven’t received mine either..they told me I need to wait for invitation letter from HO. not sure what to do . Do the 12 weeks start from the day of approval ?


quote=vicky000 post_id=1940668 time=1600970056 user_id=233488]
They gave me a slot on the phone and a few hours later sent me an confirmation email with an attachment, not sure if this is the invite letter you MEANT?

In Wandsworth council too. Got HO approval the end of August and just had ceremony in the town hall this week. I initially sent an email according to the council website guidance but got impatient waiting around since it already took 6 months to approve my citizenship. So I called the council and chased for a slot in the ceremony and they gave me a slot on the phone which was two days away.

So if you don't want to wait around, maybe try calling them, that might speed up the process.

Thank you . Had you received the invitation letter though? I haven’t yet..

Im Wandsworth too.. approved beginning of August .. so I will have my ceremony in 2021? Please if you could post it once you receive the invitation letter...thanks

[/quote]

[YO17]

Another thing I realised is that they used 2nd class post, which is one of the slowest services, hence the delay.

[nnn15]

Does anyone have any updates from Westminster council? I got approved in April and still haven't received a ceremony invitation letter.

Hello - I am also in Westminster and didn’t hear any update, I was approved in August and called the council who told me they are conducting ceremonies regularly and receiving certificates from HO but did not give any more details. Hope you’ll receive your invitation letter soon. Please keep us posted!

Thanks! Got approved in April and still no letter. I've also tried the online form at Westminster website, but it tells me "records not found", so I guess it means the council hasn't received my certificate yet.

It seems that Westminster council is being particularly slow in clearing the backlog... Hope they'll speed up the process in the next few weeks!

Westminster council is apparently one of the largest councils in the country in terms of number of citizenship ceremonies they conduct every year, so probably it's harder for them to clear the backlog.

It would be good to know where they stand though, I see a lot of people who applied and got approved later than me posting that they've received their ceremony invitation letters. Due to the lack of communication from the HO I don't know if something has gone wrong with my application and the letter got lost of if Westminster council is slower than other councils and is still processing applications approved in March..

If everyone is supposed to receive their invitation letters by 30 October, there are just 5 weeks left out of 12 weeks quoted. It seems that not everyone approved in spring has got their letters yet which makes it less than half of the backlog. With another potential lockdown it is worrying, I hope they won't stop delivering certificates again..

[Tirinti]

Hello - I am also in Westminster and didn’t hear any update, I was approved in August and called the council who told me they are conducting ceremonies regularly and receiving certificates from HO but did not give any more details. Hope you’ll receive your invitation letter soon. Please keep us posted!

Thanks! Got approved in April and still no letter. I've also tried the online form at Westminster website, but it tells me "records not found", so I guess it means the council hasn't received my certificate yet.

It seems that Westminster council is being particularly slow in clearing the backlog... Hope they'll speed up the process in the next few weeks!

Westminster council is apparently one of the largest councils in the country in terms of number of citizenship ceremonies they conduct every year, so probably it's harder for them to clear the backlog.

It would be good to know where they stand though, I see a lot of people who applied and got approved later than me posting that they've received their ceremony invitation letters. Due to the lack of communication from the HO I don't know if something has gone wrong with my application and the letter got lost of if Westminster council is slower than other councils and is still processing applications approved in March..

If everyone is supposed to receive their invitation letters by 30 October, there are just 5 weeks left out of 12 weeks quoted. It seems that not everyone approved in spring has got their letters yet which makes it less than half of the backlog. With another potential lockdown it is worrying, I hope they won't stop delivering certificates again..

I think their goal is to print the letters by the end of October. In the last couple of days people approved in May have received their invitations, but dated in the first week of September. I guess invitation for people approved in June are already on their way and next week they will print invitations for people approved in July.

[mdiqbal]

Dear all,
Any updates for Harringey council, July approval?

[justaquery]

Hi all, has anyone with a June approval received their invitation letter yet?

For people who applied through a solicitor, is their ceremony invitation letter sent directly to solicitor?

[AlexGo]

1st june, still waiting. Any way it will be soon. Hoping no lockdown this time.

[mdiqbal]

Hi all, has anyone with a June approval received their invitation letter yet?

For people who applied through a solicitor, is their ceremony invitation letter sent directly to solicitor?

Yes, as anyone who applied through the solicitor, therefore, the invitation letter will be sent to the farm /representative not to the person, dear.

[Learning18]

3rd of June approval, still waiting for invitation letter.

[mdiqbal]

3rd of June approval, still waiting for invitation letter.

But, just seen that a person got approval on 5th August 2020, have already received his invitation letter!!