Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[lmannova]

Hi there,

I got my approval on 20th July, still waiting for an invitation letter.

I have emailed HO [Citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gov.uk] about change of the address by the end of August and also asked about the invitation as it's ridiculous. They replied yesterday [after 2 months!] saying address change is confirmed but my certificate wasn't printed out yet but will be in the upcoming weeks.

"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 dispatched to the local authority. Your citizenship paperwork will be generated in coming weeks when current restrictions due to Coronavirus are eased."

I am wondering why did it take so long to reply? Maybe the email got lost and they just replied only now because they got to my case?

I also called HO yesterday and they told me that as somebody previously mentioned there that they were told by the people above them that I will receive it by the end of October according to my approval date.

Also called my council [Greenwich] and was told the group ceremony has availability from December but the private one for 150 GBP would be available in the few days so I guess I will go for a private one then..

Helpfully we'll all get it soon!

[jefoy22123]

Hi there,

I got my approval on 20th July, still waiting for an invitation letter.

I have emailed HO [Citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gov.uk] about change of the address by the end of August and also asked about the invitation as it's ridiculous. They replied yesterday [after 2 months!] saying address change is confirmed but my certificate wasn't printed out yet but will be in the upcoming weeks.

"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 dispatched to the local authority. Your citizenship paperwork will be generated in coming weeks when current restrictions due to Coronavirus are eased."

I am wondering why did it take so long to reply? Maybe the email got lost and they just replied only now because they got to my case?

I also called HO yesterday and they told me that as somebody previously mentioned there that they were told by the people above them that I will receive it by the end of October according to my approval date.

Also called my council [Greenwich] and was told the group ceremony has availability from December but the private one for 150 GBP would be available in the few days so I guess I will go for a private one then..

Helpfully we'll all get it soon!

Hi,
I was approved on 20th July too (Camden council).
According to baybar’s model our paperwork should have been printed around the 14th October - interesting that HO confirmed it hasn’t.

[reoo]

Ah, this is not good.

I was also approved on the 20th of July and was expecting my certificate to have been printed around a week ago based on the model that we have on this forum. If they have not printed the certificate yet - given that it can take 20 days to receive the letter by post, July approvals are in for a longer wait than expected.

[lmannova]

Ah, this is not good.

I was also approved on the 20th of July and was expecting my certificate to have been printed around a week ago based on the model that we have on this forum. If they have not printed the certificate yet - given that it can take 20 days to receive the letter by post, July approvals are in for a longer wait than expected.

Yeah I thought the same..

Hoping it would be approved last week and on the way already.

Helpfully they printed out when they replied to my email yesterday.

[raij]

Ah, this is not good.

I was also approved on the 20th of July and was expecting my certificate to have been printed around a week ago based on the model that we have on this forum. If they have not printed the certificate yet - given that it can take 20 days to receive the letter by post, July approvals are in for a longer wait than expected.

im a start of june - and still waitig :/

[justaquery]

I don’t understand why the HO is delaying the printing of the July approvals. It gives very little hope to late September approvals such as myself. If July approvals are starting to fall behind (for no apparent reason) and with another national lockdown looking more and more likely in England, then I’ll be lucky to get my ceremony invite sometime in January next year.

[jayzone1]

I was approved July 8th and still nothing too.

Update 20/10/2020
From Southend Council

Good afternoon,
We have not yet received your certificate. I am unable to confirm the latest dates on the last certificates but I can confirm that we have not received any that were approved in July yet.

Kind regards


Register Office – Southend-on-Sea Borough Council

[Frou01]

That’s very disappointing. By now all certificates and invitations by the date of 1 August should be printed.

I also haven’t seen in the last days people of July reporting they received a letter.

The response mentioning the certificate will be printed once restrictions are eased makes no sense as people are getting since two months their certificates. Also the wait of more weeks waiting makes no sense.

It’s a copy and paste letter, I’ve had the exact same in September.

[lmannova]

That’s very disappointing. By now all certificates and invitations by the date of 1 August should be printed.

I also haven’t seen in the last days people of July reporting they received a letter.

The response mentioning the certificate will be printed once restrictions are eased makes no sense as people are getting since two months their certificates. Also the wait of more weeks waiting makes no sense.

It’s a copy and paste letter, I’ve had the exact same in September.

Actually yeah, you are right. It's a copy and paste. Whatever they responded to me, was responded to some people in this chat in July already..

I really hope they already printed out otherwise I don't understand why they replied to my email after 2 months.

[baybars1]

Given that some members approved in late July are reporting that printing of the certificates seems to be falling behind the model, herewith the raw data that I have collected so far. As you can see, the latest approval where the ceremony invitation has come is 14 July 2020.

Maybe there is something to be gained from looking at the data as if it were composed of successive batches, not a continuous function of time. Basically, the approvals tend to be concentrated around certain dates. For instance, the vast majority of approvals issued in the first half of June had their ceremony invites printed between 19 and 22 September, etc.

Therefore, it is possible that the latest batch, containing the invites to those approved in the second half of July is not really due to be printed just yet, or indeed,it may be running late, even after we have looked at the data differently.

Anyone cares to do the work?

Actual Approval Date ----- Actual Letter Date --------- Username
14/05/2020 ------------------ 07/09/2020 ------------------ 38j
14/05/2020 ------------------ 07/09/2020 ------------------ madihaali_304
20/05/2020 ------------------ 08/09/2020 ------------------ Anatol
20/05/2020 ------------------ 08/09/2020 ------------------ atam91
20/05/2020 ------------------ 14/09/2020 ------------------ hassanwaheed87
21/05/2020 ------------------ 10/09/2020 ------------------ apostrophe 
21/05/2020 ------------------ 10/09/2020 ------------------ Ade1111
22/05/2020 ------------------ 10/09/2020 ------------------ dapto10
26/05/2020 ------------------ 10/09/2020 ------------------ ummalido
26/05/2020 ------------------ 10/09/2020 ------------------ bppartnerclub
27/05/2020 ------------------ 09/09/2020 ------------------ user5877
29/05/2020 ------------------ 01/09/2020 ------------------ Humble123
29/05/2020 ------------------ 14/09/2020 ------------------ Lopand 
01/06/2020 ------------------ 10/09/2020 ------------------ AlexGo 
01/06/2020 ------------------ 10/09/2020 ------------------ Pinkoojee17
01/06/2020 ------------------ 19/09/2020 ------------------ Luciantod
02/06/2020 ------------------ 19/09/2020 ------------------ I'mInMyPJ's 
02/06/2020 ------------------ 19/09/2020 ------------------ slavipg
02/06/2020 ------------------ 19/09/2020 ------------------ serg_ko
02/06/2020 ------------------ 19/09/2020 ------------------ b41
03/06/2020 ------------------ 17/09/2020 ------------------ mamin1982 
03/06/2020 ------------------ 19/09/2020 ------------------ Learning18 
04/06/2020 ------------------ 20/09/2020 ------------------ beaujam90
05/06/2020 ------------------ 20/09/2020 ------------------ jovaknokovich
05/06/2020 ------------------ 20/09/2020 ------------------ zcranso
08/06/2020 ------------------ 20/09/2020 ------------------ Xmz12x 
08/06/2020 ------------------ 20/09/2020 ------------------ Doc2020
09/06/2020 ------------------ 01/09/2020 ------------------ ASegs
09/06/2020 ------------------ 20/09/2020 ------------------ adubeys2020 
10/06/2020 ------------------ 21/09/2020 ------------------ mrduplicity
11/06/2020 ------------------ 22/09/2020 ------------------ Haider
11/06/2020 ------------------ 23/09/2020 ------------------ sevka
12/06/2020 ------------------ 22/09/2020 ------------------ Sochi08
12/06/2020 ------------------ 22/09/2020 ------------------ uuee6543
12/06/2020 ------------------ 22/09/2020 ------------------ Runner12345
12/06/2020 ------------------ 22/09/2020 ------------------ Vilandra
15/06/2020 ------------------ 22/09/2020 ------------------ Greatness1
16/06/2020 ------------------ 22/09/2020 ------------------ Raihanul
16/06/2020 ------------------ 22/09/2020 ------------------ Jojo19
16/06/2020 ------------------ 23/09/2020 ------------------ FreshFromTheGrave
18/06/2020 ------------------ 23/09/2020 ---------------------- Ghenso
25/06/2020 ------------------ 26/09/2020 ------------------ Roxen
26/06/2020 ------------------ 26/09/2020 ------------------ poqlpiusefdousngdn
29/06/2020 ------------------ 28/09/2020 ------------------ BoyTed
29/06/2020 ------------------ 28/09/2020 ------------------ AsPa
07/07/2020 ------------------ 05/10/2020 ------------------ Acidifiant2020
10/07/2020 ------------------ 05/10/2020 ------------------ Acidifiant2020
10/07/2020 ------------------ 06/10/2020 ------------------ Finddd
10/07/2020 ------------------ 06/10/2020 ------------------ fbaig76
14/07/2020 ------------------ 08/10/2020 ------------------ moh12

[Frou01]

I was told in an email by further enquiries it can take up to 12 weeks after the approval date.

I was approved on 10 August and I’m currently in week 11. I wonder how they want to manage, they must have some kind of plan when they decided it will be maximum 12 weeks.

[lmannova]

I was told in an email by further enquiries it can take up to 12 weeks after the approval date.

I was approved on 10 August and I’m currently in week 11. I wonder how they want to manage, they must have some kind of plan when they decided it will be maximum 12 weeks.

I am on the 13th week.

I was promised I will get it by the end of October but who knows..

[Frou01]

I was told in an email by further enquiries it can take up to 12 weeks after the approval date.

I was approved on 10 August and I’m currently in week 11. I wonder how they want to manage, they must have some kind of plan when they decided it will be maximum 12 weeks.

I am on the 13th week.

I was promised I will get it by the end of October but who knows..

Hopefully you get it, they speed up and keep their promises.

[Raihanul]

Hi,

Just wanted to thank you all for keeping everyone updated. It really meant a lot to me. I would gone crazy if I was the only one waiting this long time. But, the wait is finally over and I can now start applying for my passport.

My dates are as follows, though I had provided them before;

Application submitted: Late Feb 2020
Biometric: 10th of June 2020
Approval received: 19th of June (Letter dated 16th of June)
Invitation received 14th of October
Ceremony booked with Newham Council 20/10/20 (Group Ceremony) and received certificate today !

Again, I can't thank you all enough. You guys gave me hope when I was losing all hope. I'm very grateful for all the members here working and always helping one another. You guys are the best !

Good luck to everyone !

[024601]

Well I started to lose patience so I decided to give the Home Office a call which has left me even more frustrated!

After waiting for 45 minutes to be connected (not even exaggerating!) some man picked up and he was absolutely not interested in what I had to say. I did not call to shout at him or abuse him or anything, but he was just very rude and dismissive like I was a difficult customer or something. I told him when I was approved and that by now I should have heard at something since people who were approved after me have already had their invitations. The guy just went "we have said by the end of October" and when I went to say that it's nearly the end of October he sarcastically asked "Is is the end of October?!" and I just went silent. I just asked would he be able to check if my documents have been printed and sent and he just said "no" and I asked if I could speak to someone higher who may have access to systems he may not have access to and he just laughed and said I "should consider myself lucky I have been approved, they didn't have to approve anything during lockdown but still did it anyway" which absolutely baffled me and rendered me speechless! Before I could say anything else he just went "wait patiently just like the rest" and hung up on me!

Needless to say this encounter was absolutely disgusting to say the least. I have severe anxiety so talking on the phone takes a lot of courage for me. And after being treated like dirt, I have lost hope and I no longer think the Home Office gives a sh** about any of us. They are quick to take our money and then treat us like absolute dirt. I used to hope that they will send out everything by the end of the month but unless they are planning to send out thousands of invitations from July and August within the next two weeks, I don't believe their promise. The only thing that still brings me a bit of hope is that mathematical model which is posted above because it seems to be accurate, so hopefully it's accurate for me and the others who got approved in July and onward.

[BoyTed]

Ah, this is not good.

I was also approved on the 20th of July and was expecting my certificate to have been printed around a week ago based on the model that we have on this forum. If they have not printed the certificate yet - given that it can take 20 days to receive the letter by post, July approvals are in for a longer wait than expected.

Yeah I thought the same..

Hoping it would be approved last week and on the way already.

Helpfully they printed out when they replied to my email yesterday.

Hi there,
I thought i should shed some light with the auto reply you got from citizenship.support@homeoffice.gov.uk please ignore it.
I had the same reply from them just after i got an email a genuine email from
FurtherNationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk confirming my citizenship ceremony letter was sent on 28th September and should give it 10 working days to receive.
Few days later boom auto reply saying exactly what they said to you and i just knew they don't check anything but just auto reply.
My point ignore it and lets stick to Baybars1 module.
Goodluck to all of us waiting.

[lmannova]

Well I started to lose patience so I decided to give the Home Office a call which has left me even more frustrated!

After waiting for 45 minutes to be connected (not even exaggerating!) some man picked up and he was absolutely not interested in what I had to say. I did not call to shout at him or abuse him or anything, but he was just very rude and dismissive like I was a difficult customer or something. I told him when I was approved and that by now I should have heard at something since people who were approved after me have already had their invitations. The guy just went "we have said by the end of October" and when I went to say that it's nearly the end of October he sarcastically asked "Is is the end of October?!" and I just went silent. I just asked would he be able to check if my documents have been printed and sent and he just said "no" and I asked if I could speak to someone higher who may have access to systems he may not have access to and he just laughed and said I "should consider myself lucky I have been approved, they didn't have to approve anything during lockdown but still did it anyway" which absolutely baffled me and rendered me speechless! Before I could say anything else he just went "wait patiently just like the rest" and hung up on me!

Needless to say this encounter was absolutely disgusting to say the least. I have severe anxiety so talking on the phone takes a lot of courage for me. And after being treated like dirt, I have lost hope and I no longer think the Home Office gives a sh** about any of us. They are quick to take our money and then treat us like absolute dirt. I used to hope that they will send out everything by the end of the month but unless they are planning to send out thousands of invitations from July and August within the next two weeks, I don't believe their promise. The only thing that still brings me a bit of hope is that mathematical model which is posted above because it seems to be accurate, so hopefully it's accurate for me and the others who got approved in July and onward.

I am so sorry to hear that!

Calling HO won't answer any questions. I called myself a few times and never got an answer to my questions, I just gave up and ended the call.

But I agree with you, they are rude. I used to work myself in customer service and there is no way we would treat the customers like that! Especially when it's HO they should represent themselves.. I asked the same question yesterday when I called HO how are they planning to sent everything out in the next 2 weeks and the guy just didn't reply and said to wait until end of October. I wonder what they will tell me when I call them on 1st November "where is my invitation"?

[Frou01]

Well I started to lose patience so I decided to give the Home Office a call which has left me even more frustrated!

After waiting for 45 minutes to be connected (not even exaggerating!) some man picked up and he was absolutely not interested in what I had to say. I did not call to shout at him or abuse him or anything, but he was just very rude and dismissive like I was a difficult customer or something. I told him when I was approved and that by now I should have heard at something since people who were approved after me have already had their invitations. The guy just went "we have said by the end of October" and when I went to say that it's nearly the end of October he sarcastically asked "Is is the end of October?!" and I just went silent. I just asked would he be able to check if my documents have been printed and sent and he just said "no" and I asked if I could speak to someone higher who may have access to systems he may not have access to and he just laughed and said I "should consider myself lucky I have been approved, they didn't have to approve anything during lockdown but still did it anyway" which absolutely baffled me and rendered me speechless! Before I could say anything else he just went "wait patiently just like the rest" and hung up on me!

Needless to say this encounter was absolutely disgusting to say the least. I have severe anxiety so talking on the phone takes a lot of courage for me. And after being treated like dirt, I have lost hope and I no longer think the Home Office gives a sh** about any of us. They are quick to take our money and then treat us like absolute dirt. I used to hope that they will send out everything by the end of the month but unless they are planning to send out thousands of invitations from July and August within the next two weeks, I don't believe their promise. The only thing that still brings me a bit of hope is that mathematical model which is posted above because it seems to be accurate, so hopefully it's accurate for me and the others who got approved in July and onward.

All phone calls are recorded. Make a note of the time and write to complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk

The “you can be lucky you have been approved...” is rather insulting, maybe his supervisor should listen to the recorded phonecall.

[IrobotZ]

Well I started to lose patience so I decided to give the Home Office a call which has left me even more frustrated!

After waiting for 45 minutes to be connected (not even exaggerating!) some man picked up and he was absolutely not interested in what I had to say. I did not call to shout at him or abuse him or anything, but he was just very rude and dismissive like I was a difficult customer or something. I told him when I was approved and that by now I should have heard at something since people who were approved after me have already had their invitations. The guy just went "we have said by the end of October" and when I went to say that it's nearly the end of October he sarcastically asked "Is is the end of October?!" and I just went silent. I just asked would he be able to check if my documents have been printed and sent and he just said "no" and I asked if I could speak to someone higher who may have access to systems he may not have access to and he just laughed and said I "should consider myself lucky I have been approved, they didn't have to approve anything during lockdown but still did it anyway" which absolutely baffled me and rendered me speechless! Before I could say anything else he just went "wait patiently just like the rest" and hung up on me!

Needless to say this encounter was absolutely disgusting to say the least. I have severe anxiety so talking on the phone takes a lot of courage for me. And after being treated like dirt, I have lost hope and I no longer think the Home Office gives a sh** about any of us. They are quick to take our money and then treat us like absolute dirt. I used to hope that they will send out everything by the end of the month but unless they are planning to send out thousands of invitations from July and August within the next two weeks, I don't believe their promise. The only thing that still brings me a bit of hope is that mathematical model which is posted above because it seems to be accurate, so hopefully it's accurate for me and the others who got approved in July and onward.

Unfortunately, this is how things works as the Home Office is indeed a slow and unresponsive abomination created to make profit instead of serving the resident of this country. The only logical option is to email them instead of calling them, Be very patient and continue with your life without thinking too much about it. Good luck and hope things will eventually be sorted.

[axeman85]

Manchester have explicitly told me they won’t let anyone attend without invitation letter. When I ask if they received my certificate they simply say we don’t get your certificate until you get your invitation. Only then should you contact us.

They wouldn’t even check my ref number or anything. I’m trying to figure out when their next batch is but absolutely no luck. So if anyone else is Manchester Council please share some updates, if any.



Am also mcr council. Cslled HO today and the guy I spoke with was quite confident that we would get letters by end of this month latest. He even asked to cal back if not received by then.

So fingers crossed. Am 31st July approval
Waiting game on this council now.

[BoyTed]

Well I started to lose patience so I decided to give the Home Office a call which has left me even more frustrated!

After waiting for 45 minutes to be connected (not even exaggerating!) some man picked up and he was absolutely not interested in what I had to say. I did not call to shout at him or abuse him or anything, but he was just very rude and dismissive like I was a difficult customer or something. I told him when I was approved and that by now I should have heard at something since people who were approved after me have already had their invitations. The guy just went "we have said by the end of October" and when I went to say that it's nearly the end of October he sarcastically asked "Is is the end of October?!" and I just went silent. I just asked would he be able to check if my documents have been printed and sent and he just said "no" and I asked if I could speak to someone higher who may have access to systems he may not have access to and he just laughed and said I "should consider myself lucky I have been approved, they didn't have to approve anything during lockdown but still did it anyway" which absolutely baffled me and rendered me speechless! Before I could say anything else he just went "wait patiently just like the rest" and hung up on me!

Needless to say this encounter was absolutely disgusting to say the least. I have severe anxiety so talking on the phone takes a lot of courage for me. And after being treated like dirt, I have lost hope and I no longer think the Home Office gives a sh** about any of us. They are quick to take our money and then treat us like absolute dirt. I used to hope that they will send out everything by the end of the month but unless they are planning to send out thousands of invitations from July and August within the next two weeks, I don't believe their promise. The only thing that still brings me a bit of hope is that mathematical model which is posted above because it seems to be accurate, so hopefully it's accurate for me and the others who got approved in July and onward.

Hello there,
So sorry for the bad experience with the Home Office just ignore them and soon you will get your citizenship ceremony.
Goodluck to you.

[standrews]

Good afternoon,

Just a question for all who got their approval letters by email and later got invitation letters as well.

Does your approval email come from NationalityCaseworkDecisionService@homeoffice.gov.uk? or any other email?

My approval was from the caseworkers email, writing within the email that application being successful, unlike other people got in pdf format from above email.

As my approval email was from 1st July, I still did not get any invitation letter ... really worried.

[lmannova]

Good afternoon,

Just a question for all who got their approval letters by email and later got invitation letters as well.

Does your approval email come from NationalityCaseworkDecisionService@homeoffice.gov.uk? or any other email?

My approval was from the caseworkers email, writing within the email that application being successful, unlike other people got in pdf format from above email.

As my approval email was from 1st July, I still did not get any invitation letter ... really worried.

I am still waiting for an invitation too but the approval came from the email address you provided. Invitation letter will come via post, not email.

[standrews]

Good afternoon,

Just a question for all who got their approval letters by email and later got invitation letters as well.

Does your approval email come from NationalityCaseworkDecisionService@homeoffice.gov.uk? or any other email?

My approval was from the caseworkers email, writing within the email that application being successful, unlike other people got in pdf format from above email.

As my approval email was from 1st July, I still did not get any invitation letter ... really worried.

I am still waiting for an invitation too but the approval came from the email address you provided. Invitation letter will come via post, not email.

I am just a bit worried that my case is not progressed as it came from a very different email then others.

[lmannova]

Good afternoon,

Just a question for all who got their approval letters by email and later got invitation letters as well.

Does your approval email come from NationalityCaseworkDecisionService@homeoffice.gov.uk? or any other email?

My approval was from the caseworkers email, writing within the email that application being successful, unlike other people got in pdf format from above email.

As my approval email was from 1st July, I still did not get any invitation letter ... really worried.

I am still waiting for an invitation too but the approval came from the email address you provided. Invitation letter will come via post, not email.

I am just a bit worried that my case is not progressed as it came from a very different email then others.

But I believe we all are getting the approval from the same email address. I didn't see any other?

There are people waiting for an invitation from June..