Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[chacha-n-co]

I got approval on 23 September. I called HO few days ago and lady told me everyone will get invitation by 30th October but this does not seem correct to me

[blueskies89]

Hello everyone I also wanted to share my good news with you finally. I received my ceremony letter today (3rd October) dated from 20th September. I got my approval via email on the 8th June and today I finally got the letter via post ☺ Thank you everyone. I've been so stressed about it but reading everyone's comments here always made me feel more at ease. Good luck to all of you!

Hi Xmz12x or anyone who recently got ceremony invite could you please share what does your letter state in terms on in how many days/months should you must book and attend ceremony?

The reason I am asking is I got my approval in early September and planning to travel abroad next week for 1.5months and just wanted to get the feel of would it be okay from me to travel out of UK for 1.5months or not etc etc.

Looking forward to hear from your anyone who recently got an invite (by the way I am from Leeds City Council - if that matters).

Many Thanks,
BlueSkies

[baybars1]

I received an email from Brent to an email I sent 2 weeks ago.

"Dear xxx

We can only accept you for ceremony when you have the invitation letter. The Citizenship team at the Home Office have been completing cases and sending success letters. Your delay is due to the printing of the Naturalisation papers. You certificate has many security features built in and the printing of these documents is limited. There were approx. of 20,000 to be printed from the lock down. We hope to receive May 2020 and some of June in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully you will get your invitation letter soon

Kind regards

Xxxx

Head of Registration & Nationality
Brent Council
Brent Registration And Nationality Service"

I have designed a quick invite date calculator based on the info you have provided (20K backlog as of 7-Aug-2020) and the most recent approval date on this forum whereby the invite has arrived and this is how it works (the results are not vastly different to that of the model presented earlier):

Invite Letter Date Calculator for the MS Excel - Enjoy!

Row|Column A ----------------------------------|Column B
1 ---|Backlog -------------------------------------|20000
2 ---|Shutdown -----------------------------------|17/03/2020
3 ---|Resumed-------------------------------------|07/08/2020
4 ---|Most recent approval cleared -----------|09/06/2020
5 ---|Most recent approval's letter date -----|20/09/2020
6 ---|Daily invites -------------------------------|=ROUNDDOWN(B1*(B4-B2)/(B3-B2),0)/ROUNDUP(B5-B3,0)
7 ---|Daily approvals ----------------------------|=ROUNDUP(B1/(B3-B2),0)
8 ---|Your Approval Date -----------------------|DD/MM/YYY - insert as needed
9 ---|Approvals in queue before yours--------|=ROUNDUP(B1*(1-(B4-B2)/(B3-B2)),0)+(B8-B3)*B7
10--|Projected date on the letter ------------|=B5+ROUNDUP(B9/B6,0)

[shanny77]

Hello everyone I also wanted to share my good news with you finally. I received my ceremony letter today (3rd October) dated from 20th September. I got my approval via email on the 8th June and today I finally got the letter via post ☺ Thank you everyone. I've been so stressed about it but reading everyone's comments here always made me feel more at ease. Good luck to all of you!

Hi Xmz12x or anyone who recently got ceremony invite could you please share what does your letter state in terms on in how many days/months should you must book and attend ceremony?

The reason I am asking is I got my approval in early September and planning to travel abroad next week for 1.5months and just wanted to get the feel of would it be okay from me to travel out of UK for 1.5months or not etc etc.

Looking forward to hear from your anyone who recently got an invite (by the way I am from Leeds City Council - if that matters).

Many Thanks,
BlueSkies

Hi BlueSkies,

My letter stated "contact the local authority within 21days of the date of this letter" and the date on the letter is 18/09/20. Hope this help you.
If I aware you I will get this sorted before travelling.

Regards

[baybars1]

I got approval on 23 September. I called HO few days ago and lady told me everyone will get invitation by 30th October but this does not seem correct to me

It is 12 weeks from 7 August 2020 or your approval date, whichever comes later.

12 weeks from 7 August 2020 gets you to 30 October 2020, which is why they were saying end of October for everyone, even though they should have clarified that "everyone" really means those who would have waited for at least 12 weeks by the end of October 2020.

[blueskies89]

Hello everyone I also wanted to share my good news with you finally. I received my ceremony letter today (3rd October) dated from 20th September. I got my approval via email on the 8th June and today I finally got the letter via post ☺ Thank you everyone. I've been so stressed about it but reading everyone's comments here always made me feel more at ease. Good luck to all of you!

Hi Xmz12x or anyone who recently got ceremony invite could you please share what does your letter state in terms on in how many days/months should you must book and attend ceremony?

The reason I am asking is I got my approval in early September and planning to travel abroad next week for 1.5months and just wanted to get the feel of would it be okay from me to travel out of UK for 1.5months or not etc etc.

Looking forward to hear from your anyone who recently got an invite (by the way I am from Leeds City Council - if that matters).

Many Thanks,
BlueSkies

Hi BlueSkies,

My letter stated "contact the local authority within 21days of the date of this letter" and the date on the letter is 18/09/20. Hope this help you.
If I aware you I will get this sorted before travelling.

Regards

Thanks Shanny77,

Is that only the thing letter stated? Perhaps we have to contact our local authorities (councils) within 21 days which I guess I can do from outside of UK as well and arrange my ceremony after like a month or so (there will be somebody at home by way to check my post). Does the letter state any other time windows i.e. you must book your ceremony within 3 months or within 6 month from the date of this letter? or anything that you think is important for me to consider before travelling.

Appreciate your help my pen friend.

Many Thanks,
BlueSkies

[baybars1]

Hi Xmz12x or anyone who recently got ceremony invite could you please share what does your letter state in terms on in how many days/months should you must book and attend ceremony?

The reason I am asking is I got my approval in early September and planning to travel abroad next week for 1.5months and just wanted to get the feel of would it be okay from me to travel out of UK for 1.5months or not etc etc.

Looking forward to hear from your anyone who recently got an invite (by the way I am from Leeds City Council - if that matters).

Many Thanks,
BlueSkies

You have at least three months from the date on the invite to book your ceremony (https://www.gov.uk/citizenship-ceremonies).

If you have a copy of your approval letter (or approval email attachment) handy, all you need is the ability to contact your council when travelling. If your certificate has arrived, they will need your HO reference number, which is on your approval letter/email attachment. Therefore, once they can confirm that your certificate has arrived, you can book the ceremony for after you are back. Indeed, you might need to take the invitation letter to the ceremony, but you should be able to pick it up from your letterbox once you are back.

Therefore, I wouldn't necessarily delay the trip because of the invite letter, unless checking with your council frequently, say once a week, would be a hassle, depending on where you are travelling.

[blueskies89]

Hi Xmz12x or anyone who recently got ceremony invite could you please share what does your letter state in terms on in how many days/months should you must book and attend ceremony?

The reason I am asking is I got my approval in early September and planning to travel abroad next week for 1.5months and just wanted to get the feel of would it be okay from me to travel out of UK for 1.5months or not etc etc.

Looking forward to hear from your anyone who recently got an invite (by the way I am from Leeds City Council - if that matters).

Many Thanks,
BlueSkies

You have at least three months from the date on the invite to book your ceremony (https://www.gov.uk/citizenship-ceremonies).

If you have a copy of your approval letter (or approval email attachment) handy, all you need is the ability to contact your council when travelling. If your certificate has arrived, they will need your HO reference number, which is on your approval letter/email attachment. Therefore, once they can confirm that your certificate has arrived, you can book the ceremony for after you are back. Indeed, you might need to take the invitation letter to the ceremony, but you should be able to pick it up from your letterbox once you are back.

Therefore, I wouldn't necessarily delay the trip because of the invite letter, unless checking with your council frequently, say once a week, would be a hassle, depending on where you are travelling.

Thanks a lot for the advice baybars1.

[baybars1]

Thanks a lot for the advice baybars1.

You are most welcome. Safe travels!

With the rising number of coronavirus cases (north of 12k today), we could all use a bit of luck these days.

[Jeannot88]

[quote=chacha-n-co post_id=1944316 time=1601745482 user_id=215644]
I got approval on 23 September. I called HO few days ago and lady told me everyone will get invitation by 30th October but this does not seem correct to me
[/quote]

Hi chacha, we got approved the same day. The bay bar’s model suggests we’ll receive it early Nov. Keep us up to date please

[baybars1]

I got approval on 23 September. I called HO few days ago and lady told me everyone will get invitation by 30th October but this does not seem correct to me

Hi chacha, we got approved the same day. The bay bar’s model suggests we’ll receive it early Nov. Keep us up to date please

Actually, the date on your letter should be around 15 November and the letter itself should arrive by early December.

[Learning18]

Hi Xmz12x or anyone who recently got ceremony invite could you please share what does your letter state in terms on in how many days/months should you must book and attend ceremony?

The reason I am asking is I got my approval in early September and planning to travel abroad next week for 1.5months and just wanted to get the feel of would it be okay from me to travel out of UK for 1.5months or not etc etc.

Looking forward to hear from your anyone who recently got an invite (by the way I am from Leeds City Council - if that matters).

Many Thanks,
BlueSkies

You have at least three months from the date on the invite to book your ceremony (https://www.gov.uk/citizenship-ceremonies).

If you have a copy of your approval letter (or approval email attachment) handy, all you need is the ability to contact your council when travelling. If your certificate has arrived, they will need your HO reference number, which is on your approval letter/email attachment. Therefore, once they can confirm that your certificate has arrived, you can book the ceremony for after you are back. Indeed, you might need to take the invitation letter to the ceremony, but you should be able to pick it up from your letterbox once you are back.

Therefore, I wouldn't necessarily delay the trip because of the invite letter, unless checking with your council frequently, say once a week, would be a hassle, depending on where you are travelling.

Thanks a lot for the advice baybars1.

21 days.
It took 13 days to get to me already. So probably 21 days to book.

[blueskies89]

Hi Xmz12x or anyone who recently got ceremony invite could you please share what does your letter state in terms on in how many days/months should you must book and attend ceremony?

The reason I am asking is I got my approval in early September and planning to travel abroad next week for 1.5months and just wanted to get the feel of would it be okay from me to travel out of UK for 1.5months or not etc etc.

Looking forward to hear from your anyone who recently got an invite (by the way I am from Leeds City Council - if that matters).

Many Thanks,
BlueSkies

You have at least three months from the date on the invite to book your ceremony (https://www.gov.uk/citizenship-ceremonies).

If you have a copy of your approval letter (or approval email attachment) handy, all you need is the ability to contact your council when travelling. If your certificate has arrived, they will need your HO reference number, which is on your approval letter/email attachment. Therefore, once they can confirm that your certificate has arrived, you can book the ceremony for after you are back. Indeed, you might need to take the invitation letter to the ceremony, but you should be able to pick it up from your letterbox once you are back.

Therefore, I wouldn't necessarily delay the trip because of the invite letter, unless checking with your council frequently, say once a week, would be a hassle, depending on where you are travelling.

Thanks a lot for the advice baybars1.

21 days.
It took 13 days to get to me already. So probably 21 days to book.

Thanks Learning18, I am hoping it’s 21 to book and 3 or 6 months to attend. Leeds City Council states it’s 6 months.

https://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/birt ... ceremonies

[Humble123]

Unfortunately you can’t book your ceremony from Leeds council yourself, when you ring them on the phone the admin have no clue about ceremonies, after waiting for good 30-40mins on the phone they would ask you to send an email to the register. When they receive your certificate from HO they will send you an invitation letter to your home address with a ceremony date, and they are conducting ceremonies every other week that’s twice a month and they are not offering private ceremonies as well at the moment.
My invitation letter from HO does not say anything about 3-6 months rather you must book your ceremony within 21 days but unfortunately Leeds council can not help you over the phone.

I would suggest you think carefully about your travel if it’s not very important in sight of high rise of new cases of COVid. (Just saying)

By the way I’m from Leeds and got booked to attend my ceremony on Thursday 8th Oct.

Good luck.

[Humble123]

You have at least three months from the date on the invite to book your ceremony (https://www.gov.uk/citizenship-ceremonies).

If you have a copy of your approval letter (or approval email attachment) handy, all you need is the ability to contact your council when travelling. If your certificate has arrived, they will need your HO reference number, which is on your approval letter/email attachment. Therefore, once they can confirm that your certificate has arrived, you can book the ceremony for after you are back. Indeed, you might need to take the invitation letter to the ceremony, but you should be able to pick it up from your letterbox once you are back.

Therefore, I wouldn't necessarily delay the trip because of the invite letter, unless checking with your council frequently, say once a week, would be a hassle, depending on where you are travelling.

Thanks a lot for the advice baybars1.

21 days.
It took 13 days to get to me already. So probably 21 days to book.

Thanks Learning18, I am hoping it’s 21 to book and 3 or 6 months to attend. Leeds City Council states it’s 6 months.

https://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/birt ... ceremonies

Unfortunately you can’t book your ceremony from Leeds council yourself, when you ring them on the phone the admin have no clue about ceremonies, after waiting for good 30-40mins on the phone they would ask you to send an email to the register. When they receive your certificate from HO they will send you an invitation letter to your home address with a ceremony date, and they are conducting ceremonies every other week that’s twice a month and they are not offering private ceremonies as well at the moment.
My invitation letter from HO does not say anything about 3-6 months rather you must book your ceremony within 21 days but unfortunately Leeds council can not help you over the phone.

I would suggest you think carefully about your travel if it’s not very important in sight of high rise of new cases of COVid. (Just saying)

By the way I’m from Leeds and got booked to attend my ceremony on Thursday 8th Oct.

Good luck.

[blueskies89]

Thanks a lot for the advice baybars1.

21 days.
It took 13 days to get to me already. So probably 21 days to book.

Thanks Learning18, I am hoping it’s 21 to book and 3 or 6 months to attend. Leeds City Council states it’s 6 months.

https://www.leeds.gov.uk/residents/birt ... ceremonies

Unfortunately you can’t book your ceremony from Leeds council yourself, when you ring them on the phone the admin have no clue about ceremonies, after waiting for good 30-40mins on the phone they would ask you to send an email to the register. When they receive your certificate from HO they will send you an invitation letter to your home address with a ceremony date, and they are conducting ceremonies every other week that’s twice a month and they are not offering private ceremonies as well at the moment.
My invitation letter from HO does not say anything about 3-6 months rather you must book your ceremony within 21 days but unfortunately Leeds council can not help you over the phone.

I would suggest you think carefully about your travel if it’s not very important in sight of high rise of new cases of COVid. (Just saying)

By the way I’m from Leeds and got booked to attend my ceremony on Thursday 8th Oct.

Good luck.

Thanks a lot Humble123 for the insight and advice. Appreciate it

[Tamera]

Hi Blueskies,

I am an early approval Sep, like you. May I ask which docs you have to show the border control when you leave the UK and back? I thought i am not allowed to travel until I attend the BC ceremony. I desperately wish to travel to see my mum in the USA, whom I have not seen since March due to the lockdown. Thank you.

[CR001]

Hi Blueskies,

I am an early approval Sep, like you. May I ask which docs you have to show the border control when you leave the UK and back? I thought i am not allowed to travel until I attend the BC ceremony. I desperately wish to travel to see my mum in the USA, whom I have not seen since March due to the lockdown. Thank you.

You are free to travel. Nowhere does it state you are not allowed to travel while still an ilr holder.

[Tamera]

Hi Blueskies,

I am an early approval Sep, like you. May I ask which docs you have to show the border control when you leave the UK and back? I thought i am not allowed to travel until I attend the BC ceremony. I desperately wish to travel to see my mum in the USA, whom I have not seen since March due to the lockdown. Thank you.

You are free to travel. Nowhere does it state you are not allowed to travel while still an ilr holder.

Dear the Moderator,

Thank you for your prompt reply, which is very much appreciated.

For a long time, I was wrong thinking until I attend the ceremony, I was not allowed to travel, otherwise my BC approval (by email) would be cancelled or in some sort of trouble.

Thank you again.

[Soo123]

Hi U Aziz

According to the model you should get your approval this week and mine would be end of October

[Learning18]

Hi,

Just called Brent, and they said they don't have my certificate even though I have my invitation letter

They said they are getting a batch on Tuesday or Wednesday but I don't know.

[MannyWarrior]

Manchester has told me last certificated they received were couple of weeks ago for April/May. They told me they received some last week for April which doesn’t make sense.

They also informed me they’re getting a batch at end of this week but they’re not sure for which approval dates they are. I can only assume June and beginning of July to coincide with the model I guess?

Thanks again!

[Frou01]

Manchester has told me last certificated they received were couple of weeks ago for April/May. They told me they received some last week for April which doesn’t make sense.

They also informed me they’re getting a batch at end of this week but they’re not sure for which approval dates they are. I can only assume June and beginning of July to coincide with the model I guess?

Thanks again!

Birmingham did they same. Telling me they received end May some some weeks ago and last week they told someone else they only received April by now. Yes, makes no sense.

[MannyWarrior]

Manchester has told me last certificated they received were couple of weeks ago for April/May. They told me they received some last week for April which doesn’t make sense.

They also informed me they’re getting a batch at end of this week but they’re not sure for which approval dates they are. I can only assume June and beginning of July to coincide with the model I guess?

Thanks again!

Birmingham did they same. Telling me they received end May some some weeks ago and last week they told someone else they only received April by now. Yes, makes no sense.

Yea it’s stupid. I also had a lady tell me they are not sure for which approvals they are getting as it doesn’t tell them.

I’m confused honestly.

Last thing they said was don’t email us until your HO letter has arrived as that’s only indication that we have received your certificate.

I hope some who already done their ceremonies at Manchester shed some light

[serg_ko]

What about me? Approval date 02/06/2020, no invitation letter yet )))

The model says your invite should have been printed on 15 September and should reach you by 5 October 2020. Good luck and keep us posted.

P.S. See my post above, it has the full details needed for the model.

Exellent!
I received my invitation letter today 05/10/2020 dated 19/09/2020
Thank you and good luck to all still waiting!