Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[Nat23]

Anyone who has received the invite recently or will receive in the next few days, could you please let me know how many months do you have to attend the ceremony. before they said 6 months and then a friend of mine said her invite said you have to book the ceremony within 21 days.

[CR001]

Anyone who has received the invite recently or will receive in the next few days, could you please let me know how many months do you have to attend the ceremony. before they said 6 months and then a friend of mine said her invite said you have to book the ceremony within 21 days.

BOOKING the ceremony within 21 days is separate to ATTENDING within 6 months!

[bh94]

Since I was updated from this thread, better to update you guys.
I have got council invitation letter today and it confirm that they have my certificate
as some previous information. shared information in this thread looks real to me.

I got approval email 2nd July
invitation letter 31th Oct
arranged ceremony date 18th Nov
Reading council

[mdiqbal]

Dear all,

See, people are getting it on track. Hence, we waited long time, please wait just a week as 31/10/2020 is Saturday. Hope, maximum of us will get a very good news in a week ahead but not far.....!!!

[Frou01]

Since I was updated from this thread, better to update you guys.
I have got council invitation letter today and it confirm that they have my certificate
as some previous information. shared information in this thread looks real to me.

I got approval email 2nd July
invitation letter 31th Oct
arranged ceremony date 18th Nov
Reading council

That’s good.

But this was about the invitations send by HO which obviously no one received.

[raij]

Dear all friends,
I had researched a lot by taking opportunities to friends-circle, HO and council. They have already sent a large amount certificates and haven't put on the system yet. You are going to know on Monday. Please do call your local council and you would be surprised, I feel. Some might get the invitation letter today. The only problem is, some councils don't allow without invitation letter. The question will be remained same that when we are getting invitation letter. The HO has truly sent maximum certificates up-to 7/08/20, except some May, June and even January due to their systematic errors and you need to contact definitely with HO for that. Hence, be happy for Monday news, dear.

Dear friend - unlike you i do not believe that HOME OFFICE TRULLY sent out all the letters - i am a start of june approval and every week i email my local registry office - with same question , to the point that even this week my local register office emailed me to let me know that my certificate has not arrived before i even managed to email them ...

but thank you for your positivity in this hard time

[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

An update from today:

- No invitation letter,

- Bristol City Council does not have my certificate - I have been advised to give them a call on Friday.

Hi all,
As advised I called the council today, but this time I did not get an update regarding my certificate. They asked me if my invitation letter has arrived. I said no, so I was told that an invitation letter comes at the same time as the certificate and if I have not received a letter yet, they do not have my certificate.

Anyway, 12 weeks period since approval has passed on 14th of October. I am waiting until next Wednesday, 4th of November (15 weeks period) and if there is no invitation letter, it is time to call Home Office to chase it.

otuel

Nothing has changed. I just checked the mailbox and few letters were delivered, but sadly, there is no invitation.

[otuel]

Has anyone received an invitation letter who was approved in the last 10 days of July?

Thanks.

[Nat23]

Anyone who has received the invite recently or will receive in the next few days, could you please let me know how many months do you have to attend the ceremony. before they said 6 months and then a friend of mine said her invite said you have to book the ceremony within 21 days.

BOOKING the ceremony within 21 days is separate to ATTENDING within 6 months!

Thanks for your reply.

I see. That’s just what I wanted to confirm. So it means you still have 6 months time to attend the ceremony.

[Tina22london]

Email address to contact Westminster council:
“registeroffice@westminster.gov.uk”

Thank you!

[nnn15]

End of October, more than half a year since my application was approved, no letter, no certificate with the council.
On the bright side yesterday I received a response from citizenship.support for the first time ever (emailed them in July, August and beginning of October). They didn't provide any case-specific information, but said they forwarded my enquiry to a relevant department. No idea how long this investigation will take, but it's worrying that something like checking the application status requires a multi-week (if not months) investigation.
In the logo of the signature of the email there is "UKVI.Our vision. To be a world-leading immigration service, working for a safe and prosperous United Kingdom". In my experience so far world-leading about this service has been only the application fee... I'll call the helpline on Monday. Not hopeful that they will provide any concrete information, but curious what the new generic response is as the one they used before ("everyone approved before August will receive their paperwork by the end of October") is not valid anymore.

[englishcrumpet]

Dear all friends,
I had researched a lot by taking opportunities to friends-circle, HO and council. They have already sent a large amount certificates and haven't put on the system yet. You are going to know on Monday. Please do call your local council and you would be surprised, I feel. Some might get the invitation letter today. The only problem is, some councils don't allow without invitation letter. The question will be remained same that when we are getting invitation letter. The HO has truly sent maximum certificates up-to 7/08/20, except some May, June and even January due to their systematic errors and you need to contact definitely with HO for that. Hence, be happy for Monday news, dear.

Dear friend - unlike you i do not believe that HOME OFFICE TRULLY sent out all the letters - i am a start of june approval and every week i email my local registry office - with same question , to the point that even this week my local register office emailed me to let me know that my certificate has not arrived before i even managed to email them ...

but thank you for your positivity in this hard time

I think this message from mdiqbal was addressed to everyone but not just one member of the forum. I know you frustrated and everything but there's no reason to be toxic towards the person that brought some good news. In fact, I sincerely think that this is bad manners to talk to somebody that way. Everybody's feeling the same frustration during this waiting time. Let's hope that many people will get their invitations by the end of next week.

[JanisZiemelis]

Hi Guys,

Bit of an update from me (Birmingham Council), with an approval date of the 7th of July.

Received an invitation letter from the council (NOT the Gov) saying that my (group) ceremony has been booked for the 24th of November. They stated that I should have received the invitation from the Gov by now (which I haven't), without which they cannot conduct the ceremony. So here's hoping I'll receive it soon.

Another fun fact, the private ceremony costs £206, and the earliest it can be booked is the 17th of November (so really no point spending that much money to do it a week earlier).

However, of course, this is bittersweet news knowing that the country might (potentially) go into a lockdown for a month. Granted these ceremonies could be exempt, but that's not a given.

[jefoy22123]

Hi all,
I was approved on 20 July, and was now able to book a ceremony with Camden council on 04 November.
I still haven’t received my invitation letter though, I was able to book online on the council website.

[Frou01]

Hi Guys,

Bit of an update from me (Birmingham Council), with an approval date of the 7th of July.

Received an invitation letter from the council (NOT the Gov) saying that my (group) ceremony has been booked for the 24th of November. They stated that I should have received the invitation from the Gov by now (which I haven't), without which they cannot conduct the ceremony. So here's hoping I'll receive it soon.

Another fun fact, the private ceremony costs £206, and the earliest it can be booked is the 17th of November (so really no point spending that much money to do it a week earlier).

However, of course, this is bittersweet news knowing that the country might (potentially) go into a lockdown for a month. Granted these ceremonies could be exempt, but that's not a given.

With this I really lost hope.

I’m in Birmingham too, approved 10 August.
When early July approvals have to wait until late November means I will wait until next year.
I’m really gutted now.

[lmannova]

Hi all,
I was approved on 20 July, and was now able to book a ceremony with Camden council on 04 November.
I still haven’t received my invitation letter though, I was able to book online on the council website.

I was approved on 20th July too but how did you know your council has the certificate? I'll be calling my council on Monday then.

[p3orion]

Anyone waiting for a ceremony in West Sussex?

My family got approval on 2 October, awating invitation to a ceremony in West Sussex.

[TheTraveller]

Hi all,
I was approved on 20 July, and was now able to book a ceremony with Camden council on 04 November.
I still haven’t received my invitation letter though, I was able to book online on the council website.

I was approved on 20th July too but how did you know your council has the certificate? I'll be calling my council on Monday then.

Have you received the ceremony invitation ?

[jefoy22123]

Hi all,
I was approved on 20 July, and was now able to book a ceremony with Camden council on 04 November.
I still haven’t received my invitation letter though, I was able to book online on the council website.

I was approved on 20th July too but how did you know your council has the certificate? I'll be calling my council on Monday then.

Have you received the ceremony invitation ?

I haven't received my invitation letter yet.
I managed to book through my council's website - you enter your HO ref number, and if they have your certificate, they allow you to book.
My ceremony is now booked on the 4th November - I hope I'll receive my invitation letter before that.
Otherwise, I guess I'll just turn up with my printed approval email.

[korben555]

You book your ceremony on your council's website ?
I was trying to find anything like that on Hounslow's....
Seems like they all have different approach on how to help its people....

[IrobotZ]

Just saw the new lockdown measures, anyone have any idea if citizenship ceremonies would be affected?

[Frou01]

I’m 100% sure ceremonies be cancelled too.

It’s a lockdown.

[axeman85]

I dont think ceremonies will be affected because council are essential workers but since its a gathering i dont know how that will work BUT am sure private ceremonies can still take place because its just 1 person and the person administering it.

If church can be open for private prayers only, then private ceremonies too should be allowed to take place...

[baybars1]

It seems that the new lockdown might affect the ceremonies until 2 December 2020 and maybe beyond that. If that is confirmed next week, the model I had compiled might need to be tweaked.

The additional complication is that we would need to have a fairly good idea about the backlog that will exist as of this coming Wednesday.

[baybars1]

I dont think ceremonies will be affected because council are essential workers but since its a gathering i dont know how that will work BUT am sure private ceremonies can still take place because its just 1 person and the person administering it.

If church can be open for private prayers only, then private ceremonies too should be allowed to take place...

There is only one way to find out for sure, by ringing your local council next week.