Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[Frou01]

It looks like no invitations were sent this week?

Hopefully next Friday is finally the day!

[baybars1]

Hey guys,

I need your advise on this - yesterday i was just going through the supporting documents back from HO (I made postal application btw) and I noticed that the envelope from them had address and name of my case officer.

Am tempted to write to her and ask if she can try and send my invitation letter. You think this might help?I applied on 18 January 2020. Approved on 19th August.

Appreciate your thoughts on this.

Once the caseworker has approved your application the rest of the process is handled by the CCST, a different team within the Nationality Group to the one making application decisions, so I doubt that writing to the case worker who has approved your application would make a difference to the speed at which the CCST do their bit.

[Nat23]

Hello,

Is anyone aware if it is possible to proceed with ceremony outside of UK i.e. in British Embassy of a different country?

I received naturalization application confirmation 22/10/2020 but need to travel for few months outside of UK so wont be able to make it for ceremony in UK.

hello

I have the same question. I was approved end of July and haven't received any invite for the ceremony yet. Please help if anyone has information regarding this.

many thanks in advance

[axeman85]

Hello,

Is anyone aware if it is possible to proceed with ceremony outside of UK i.e. in British Embassy of a different country?

I received naturalization application confirmation 22/10/2020 but need to travel for few months outside of UK so wont be able to make it for ceremony in UK.

hello

I have the same question. I was approved end of July and haven't received any invite for the ceremony yet. Please help if anyone has information regarding this.

many thanks in advance

I was equally approved 31st July and nothing received yet but the 8-12weeks completes by next week . So fingers crossed. Let see what happens..

It seems not many if any ceremony letters was received this week...

[Nat23]

Thanks for your reply.

When did you apply? I applied on 12th of March biometrics same day.

I called the immigration helpline today and looks like they've closed the helpline now. lol. And they're saying ceremonies are not taking place at present. I think they are fed up of people contacting them.

I wanted to know if I can travel abroad for a few weeks and then return for the ceremony, is it okay or is it going to affect my application?

[axeman85]

Thanks for your reply.

When did you apply? I applied on 12th of March biometrics same day.

I called the immigration helpline today and looks like they've closed the helpline now. lol. And they're saying ceremonies are not taking place at present. I think they are fed up of people contacting them.

I wanted to know if I can travel abroad for a few weeks and then return for the ceremony, is it okay or is it going to affect my application?

It won't affect your ceremony. Because when you receive the letter you can book your ceremony within 6months ...

Let's wait for others to confirm

[Frou01]

I’ve seen the wording of new approval letters regarding ceremonies.
They are asking people as well being patient for 12 weeks and they changed the wording from it may take up to 12 weeks to receive the letter to that councils deal with a high number of people.

So it’s obvious that HO might send out that huge batch next week, but we’re in another queue with councils.
They just give the responsibility to councils now with those receiving letters - and they can as we have 6 months time to attend a ceremony.
Therefore it’s obvious not that whole lot of people getting an invitation next week can immediately book their ceremony as many councils just have one date a week, some even just one each months.

Need to prepare for another wait once the letter is there I assume.

[Black_diallo]

- Date of approval: 1st of July 2020
- 25th of August 2020, I chased the HO for an update in regards to my ceremony letter as I have to apply for
my British passport and travel urgently for compassionate reasons. My father is really ill and he has no one to care for him. I requested for my ceremony letter to be expedited and attached a letter from my father's doctor stating his health condition and that he needs me to be there to care for him.
other than myself.
- 5th of October 2020 (over a month later), I received a response saying that my ceremony invitation letter
has been dispatched on the 29th of September 2020 and to allow 10 working days to receive it.
- 14th of October (11 working days later), no letter was received so I chased the HO again for an update.
- 15th of October, I received a response from the HO saying that my request has been forwarded to the right
department.
- 23rd of October(today), I received the below response

" We have identified that your ceremony invitation has not been despatched yet. We apologise for this administrative oversight. Whilst your ceremony invitation has been printed, your citizenship ceremony documents have not yet been printed or despatched to the local authority, however these documents are being prepared.
When the citizenship documents for your local authority are ready, your ceremony invitation will be despatched. You should be in receipt of your ceremony invitation within 3 to 4 weeks. If you have not received your invitation after this time, please contact us
In order to expedite an application, we require evidence as to why the application should be prioritised, this includes expediting the despatch of ceremony invitations. If you can provide evidence, we can pass this to the relevant department for consideration."

My dad's health is getting critical and I am worried that he will pass in my absence. I haven't seen him for 10 years and unfortunately the HO is not making this any easier. I am really disappointed at the way they have handled this.

[024601]

- Date of approval: 1st of July 2020
- 25th of August 2020, I chased the HO for an update in regards to my ceremony letter as I have to apply for
my British passport and travel urgently for compassionate reasons. My father is really ill and he has no one to care for him. I requested for my ceremony letter to be expedited and attached a letter from my father's doctor stating his health condition and that he needs me to be there to care for him.
other than myself.
- 5th of October 2020 (over a month later), I received a response saying that my ceremony invitation letter
has been dispatched on the 29th of September 2020 and to allow 10 working days to receive it.
- 14th of October (11 working days later), no letter was received so I chased the HO again for an update.
- 15th of October, I received a response from the HO saying that my request has been forwarded to the right
department.
- 23rd of October(today), I received the below response

" We have identified that your ceremony invitation has not been despatched yet. We apologise for this administrative oversight. Whilst your ceremony invitation has been printed, your citizenship ceremony documents have not yet been printed or despatched to the local authority, however these documents are being prepared.
When the citizenship documents for your local authority are ready, your ceremony invitation will be despatched. You should be in receipt of your ceremony invitation within 3 to 4 weeks. If you have not received your invitation after this time, please contact us
In order to expedite an application, we require evidence as to why the application should be prioritised, this includes expediting the despatch of ceremony invitations. If you can provide evidence, we can pass this to the relevant department for consideration."

My dad's health is getting critical and I am worried that he will pass in my absence. I haven't seen him for 10 years and unfortunately the HO is not making this any easier. I am really disappointed at the way they have handled this.

I'm so sorry for what you are going through and I sincerely hope you get your documents on time to be with your father!

But it also doesn't surprise me that the HO don't care and treat people like numbers. We're just a random number to them and when we ask how much longer do we have to wait it just feels like we are being an annoying nuisance. I've lost faith that I'll finish this whole citizenship thing by the end of the year. I went for my Life in the UK test literally a year ago today! I was hoping that by the end of this month I would have taken my papers and would have applied for a passport but alas....

To all the users above who have said they were approved at the end of July and have heard nothing, I was approved mid-July and have heard nothing either, so we're all in the same boat.

[K1712]

There is definitely some chicken up that has happened on the home office side and somewhere in the chain something is not right. Either letters are on hold because councils can’t cope with ceremonies or there has been a delay due to no one able to print as per lockdowns in Liverpool recently

[otuel]

Hi,
An update from the Bristol City Council. I called them this morning and:

- They have not received my certificate yet (the citizenship application approved on 22nd of July and I have not received an invitation letter as well),

- I should wait until Monday to see if my invitation letter arrives,

- I was told to give them a ring on Tuesday as they will receive a new batch of the certificates,

- You need an invitation letter to book the citizenship ceremony.

Cheers,
otuel

[oxana777]

Hi,
An update from the Bristol City Council. I called them this morning and:

- They have not received my certificate yet (the citizenship application approved on 22nd of July and I have not received an invitation letter as well),

- I should wait until Monday to see if my invitation letter arrives,

- I was told to give them a ring on Tuesday as they will receive a new batch of the certificates,

- You need an invitation letter to book the citizenship ceremony.

Cheers,
otuel

Thank you for the update! Hopefully you will receive everything on Monday. Please keep us informed. Im in Bristol too (but was approved end of September so probably won’t have a ceremony this year)

[toraqa]

Hey guys! Anyone dealing with Lewisham council here? On the same boat here, received my approval letter on Aug 27th, but no invitation letter yet...

I am, i was approved on the 4th of September, have you received your invitation letter yet?

[024601]

Postman just came and went and still no invitation. Bless him, even he knows I'm waiting for the almighty brown envelope and he just said "Sorry, nothing today either". So I'll just wait for next week! I'm very disappointed with the Home Office.

I'm in Southampton, approved on 13.07 if that information helps.

[nnn15]

- Date of approval: 1st of July 2020
- 25th of August 2020, I chased the HO for an update in regards to my ceremony letter as I have to apply for
my British passport and travel urgently for compassionate reasons. My father is really ill and he has no one to care for him. I requested for my ceremony letter to be expedited and attached a letter from my father's doctor stating his health condition and that he needs me to be there to care for him.
other than myself.
- 5th of October 2020 (over a month later), I received a response saying that my ceremony invitation letter
has been dispatched on the 29th of September 2020 and to allow 10 working days to receive it.
- 14th of October (11 working days later), no letter was received so I chased the HO again for an update.
- 15th of October, I received a response from the HO saying that my request has been forwarded to the right
department.
- 23rd of October(today), I received the below response

" We have identified that your ceremony invitation has not been despatched yet. We apologise for this administrative oversight. Whilst your ceremony invitation has been printed, your citizenship ceremony documents have not yet been printed or despatched to the local authority, however these documents are being prepared.
When the citizenship documents for your local authority are ready, your ceremony invitation will be despatched. You should be in receipt of your ceremony invitation within 3 to 4 weeks. If you have not received your invitation after this time, please contact us
In order to expedite an application, we require evidence as to why the application should be prioritised, this includes expediting the despatch of ceremony invitations. If you can provide evidence, we can pass this to the relevant department for consideration."

My dad's health is getting critical and I am worried that he will pass in my absence. I haven't seen him for 10 years and unfortunately the HO is not making this any easier. I am really disappointed at the way they have handled this.

I'm sorry for what you have to go through. You should probably contact your MP to expedite this. From the responses you got it's obvious the HO is quite disorganised. This issue should be quite straightforward to resolve as they don't need to do additional checks, just print your documents. Hopefully your MP could help with it.

[024601]

- Date of approval: 1st of July 2020
- 25th of August 2020, I chased the HO for an update in regards to my ceremony letter as I have to apply for
my British passport and travel urgently for compassionate reasons. My father is really ill and he has no one to care for him. I requested for my ceremony letter to be expedited and attached a letter from my father's doctor stating his health condition and that he needs me to be there to care for him.
other than myself.
- 5th of October 2020 (over a month later), I received a response saying that my ceremony invitation letter
has been dispatched on the 29th of September 2020 and to allow 10 working days to receive it.
- 14th of October (11 working days later), no letter was received so I chased the HO again for an update.
- 15th of October, I received a response from the HO saying that my request has been forwarded to the right
department.
- 23rd of October(today), I received the below response

" We have identified that your ceremony invitation has not been despatched yet. We apologise for this administrative oversight. Whilst your ceremony invitation has been printed, your citizenship ceremony documents have not yet been printed or despatched to the local authority, however these documents are being prepared.
When the citizenship documents for your local authority are ready, your ceremony invitation will be despatched. You should be in receipt of your ceremony invitation within 3 to 4 weeks. If you have not received your invitation after this time, please contact us
In order to expedite an application, we require evidence as to why the application should be prioritised, this includes expediting the despatch of ceremony invitations. If you can provide evidence, we can pass this to the relevant department for consideration."

My dad's health is getting critical and I am worried that he will pass in my absence. I haven't seen him for 10 years and unfortunately the HO is not making this any easier. I am really disappointed at the way they have handled this.

I'm sorry for what you have to go through. You should probably contact your MP to expedite this. From the responses you got it's obvious the HO is quite disorganised. This issue should be quite straightforward to resolve as they don't need to do additional checks, just print your documents. Hopefully your MP could help with it.

I wouldn't hold my breath on that because I contacted my MP and he was really honest with me and said he couldn't get a straightforward response from HO either. They kept fobbing him off or giving him the generic "they'll get their invites by the end of October" response. He was clearly struggling with them and he kept trying but I think even he gave up. And all I wanted to know was if they have started to print out the July certificates, a simple "yes/no" question. But that could be just my MP, maybe yours would be more resourceful.

[Bebu2019]

So I emailed the registrar at Aberdeen City Council and she called me back on Thursday. She told me they'd had my certificate for some time! The reason I never got the invite (if it was ever sent) is that the HO did not update my address (despite me receiving written confirmation that they had done so). She booked me for a private ceremony yesterday morning so I am finally done!

She said that the Home Office are very unreliable at the moment (I think we can all agree) and that even she is quite confused about it all. She had not received any new certificates in the past three weeks and actually had only two left to hand over. She said people take some time to come and attend the ceremony because they wait forever for their invitation letter, but for some (legal?) reason she is unable to contact people, they have to come forward like I did. So I encourage you to contact your registrar directly and specifically ask if it is ok to come without the invite. In my case, she knew I did not have the invitation letter but she gave me the certificate anyway. I should add that before calling her, I did contact HO who told me they'd check and keep me updated... That was weeks ago

It took me more than a year but I'm finally there. The very best of luck to all of you.

[TheTraveller]

So I emailed the registrar at Aberdeen City Council and she called me back on Thursday. She told me they'd had my certificate for some time! The reason I never got the invite (if it was ever sent) is that the HO did not update my address (despite me receiving written confirmation that they had done so). She booked me for a private ceremony yesterday morning so I am finally done!

She said that the Home Office are very unreliable at the moment (I think we can all agree) and that even she is quite confused about it all. She had not received any new certificates in the past three weeks and actually had only two left to hand over. She said people take some time to come and attend the ceremony because they wait forever for their invitation letter, but for some (legal?) reason she is unable to contact people, they have to come forward like I did. So I encourage you to contact your registrar directly and specifically ask if it is ok to come without the invite. In my case, she knew I did not have the invitation letter but she gave me the certificate anyway. I should add that before calling her, I did contact HO who told me they'd check and keep me updated... That was weeks ago

It took me more than a year but I'm finally there. The very best of luck to all of you.

@Bebu2019 Congs dear! Could you please tell us when did you receive the approval letter (email) ?

[baybars1]

It may be interesting to notice that 7 members whose invitation letters were dated 10 September 2020 had approval dates between 21 May and 1 June (two on 21, one on 22, two on 26 May and two on 1 June).

Also, there was an approval granted on 20 May whose invitation letter was date on 14 September, or four days after the letters sent to the two June-1 approvals. Also, two other approvals granted on 20 May had their letters dated 8 September. Furthermore, there were those approved on 1 June whose invitation letters were dated 19 September.

Therefore, we have never had perfect regularity and with the pandemic accelerating, we should expect more chaos and volatility.

While this is not all that comforting, the key point is not to worry too much because there isn't an awful lot that cane done at the moment, short of abolishing ceremonies and introducing digital certificates.

[axeman85]

@baybars

Exactly why can't they make an exception due to the pandemic by sending the certificate same time , they send the approval email and then you can print it out and apply for passport... better than going for ceremony.

And with all the new lockdown coming in, councils will want to start giving excuses and more delays in place...

[ILR1980]

- Date of approval: 1st of July 2020
- 25th of August 2020, I chased the HO for an update in regards to my ceremony letter as I have to apply for
my British passport and travel urgently for compassionate reasons. My father is really ill and he has no one to care for him. I requested for my ceremony letter to be expedited and attached a letter from my father's doctor stating his health condition and that he needs me to be there to care for him.
other than myself.
- 5th of October 2020 (over a month later), I received a response saying that my ceremony invitation letter
has been dispatched on the 29th of September 2020 and to allow 10 working days to receive it.
- 14th of October (11 working days later), no letter was received so I chased the HO again for an update.
- 15th of October, I received a response from the HO saying that my request has been forwarded to the right
department.
- 23rd of October(today), I received the below response

" We have identified that your ceremony invitation has not been despatched yet. We apologise for this administrative oversight. Whilst your ceremony invitation has been printed, your citizenship ceremony documents have not yet been printed or despatched to the local authority, however these documents are being prepared.
When the citizenship documents for your local authority are ready, your ceremony invitation will be despatched. You should be in receipt of your ceremony invitation within 3 to 4 weeks. If you have not received your invitation after this time, please contact us
In order to expedite an application, we require evidence as to why the application should be prioritised, this includes expediting the despatch of ceremony invitations. If you can provide evidence, we can pass this to the relevant department for consideration."

My dad's health is getting critical and I am worried that he will pass in my absence. I haven't seen him for 10 years and unfortunately the HO is not making this any easier. I am really disappointed at the way they have handled this.

Sorry to hear about your father illness but why you cannot travel without nationality. Many people had setlled status before they apply for citizenship and also have non uk passport with them and even if you get invitation letter in your absence then it give you many months to book your cermony and you can book it upon arrival

[Tirinti]

@baybars

Exactly why can't they make an exception due to the pandemic by sending the certificate same time , they send the approval email and then you can print it out and apply for passport... better than going for ceremony.

And with all the new lockdown coming in, councils will want to start giving excuses and more delays in place...

There are a few councils doing virtual ceremonies. So HO doesn't have to make any exceptions. They could tell all the councils to do virtual ceremonies. It can be even improved as currently councils do virtual ceremonies only after they receive certificate and applicant receive paper invitation. HO can send emails to councils and applicants and after virtual ceremony HO can dispatch certificate directly to candidate.

[englishcrumpet]

It's too much hustle for HO to arrange deliveries for everyone individually. I agree that it would be more appropriate to do virtual ceremonies as this situation is unusual, therefore, appropriate measures should be implemented. HO had more than 7 months to come up with a solution, a few councils are not enough for everyone as there is a huge backlog.

I am approved in early September and still waiting. Feels like they're delaying because of Tier 3 in Liverpool. Hope for the best but really a bit tired of waiting. I know many people are still waiting since June and July, hope they receive their certificates by the end of next week.

[baybars1]

It's too much hustle for HO to arrange deliveries for everyone individually. I agree that it would be more appropriate to do virtual ceremonies as this situation is unusual, therefore, appropriate measures should be implemented. HO had more than 7 months to come up with a solution, a few councils are not enough for everyone as there is a huge backlog.

I am approved in early September and still waiting. Feels like they're delaying because of Tier 3 in Liverpool. Hope for the best but really a bit tired of waiting. I know many people are still waiting since June and July, hope they receive their certificates by the end of next week.

According to the model that I had designed prior to Tier 3 restrictions being imposed in Liverpool, the estimated arrival date of your invitation letter falls in the second half of November.

When I rang the Home Office helpline earlier this week, they stuck to their usual narrative and explicitly told me that Tier 3 measures were not affecting the printing of certificates.

Let's see if they really deliver on that.

[Chuga]

Thanks Baybars1, never knew different department deal with invitation after the approval.