Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[JadDip]

Hello everyone,

I see some of you either received their letters but the council didn't receive the certificate but the common is the council receiving the certificate and letter has not arrived.

My case is different, my council has the certificate and I have the letter for 3 weeks now, and the council refuses to book ceremonies for anyone. Is this normal? are they allowed to suspend the ceremonies without giving any further information?

Thanks

[fandorin]

I've been a silent reader of the forum for months. I'm finally one step closer to the British citizenship. I've just received my invitation letter from HO today.

Applied: 03/08/2020
UKVCAS: 27/08/2020
Approval: 16/09/2020 by email
Invitation: 21/11/2020 (date on letter 16/11/2020)
Ceremony: I'll call to the council on Monday. There is no online booking system
Council: Reading

I had my ceremony in Reading Council today. It was quick, just 10 minutes. Just me, no one else. I booked it for free.

Applied: 03/08/2020
UKVCAS: 27/08/2020
Approval: 16/09/2020 by email
Invitation: 21/11/2020 (date on letter 16/11/2020)
Ceremony: 03/12/2020
Council: Reading

Thanks for this forum. See you in the passport forum

[null1639]

Hello, finally I've done my ceremony. Here's my timeline :

Application submitted : 18/05/20 via online
Application approval : 18/09/20 received by email
Ceremony invitation : 01/12/20 received by post
Date on letter : 19/11/20
Ceremony : 02/12/20 private (free) at Westminster council

Thank you all for your support. This forum has been very helpful for the past 14 years! Believe it or not, it does take that long for me to come to this end line Good luck to everyone!

[woabgh]

Hi All,

I've e-mailed HO to inquire about my ceremony documents on NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk and they replied within 24 hours with the below response:

Upon investigation I can confirm that your citizenship ceremony documents have not yet been printed or despatched to the local authority. Your citizenship paperwork will be generated in coming weeks when current restrictions due to Coronavirus are eased.

In normal circumstances customers were required to book their citizenship ceremony within three months of being sent an invitation from the Home Office. Due to the current circumstances we have extended this period to six months. We will keep this under constant review. Please be assured that no adverse decisions will be made on your application because of delays caused by Coronavirus (unless there is a material change in your circumstances, for example, you are convicted of a criminal offence).

I received approval in Oct 2020 so it will take a few weeks. Good luck everyone

Thanks for sharing the reply and sorry to come at you like this, but if you received your approval in Oct 2020, that means you were advised in your approval letter to wait for 12 weeks before contacting the Home Office. Why then would you write to them only halfway into this timeline?
I agree this is a rather long wait but sadly this is because of impatient individuals like you that the HO has huge backlogs to deal with and will now take more than 30 days to reply to individual queries, and still hasn't processed certificates or reasonable escalation queries of people that have been waiting for much, much longer than that...
Please be considerate and wait for the full recommended period before reaching out to them, otherwise it will likely make it worse for the rest of us.

[JETK]

I called in home office 3 times today to discuss my situation as my certificate was arrived at council on 26th Oct and was sent back to home office on 3rd November due to printing error(this explain “external checks”). they assured me that they have sent out certificates for all who were approved before 31st August and the letters were sent on 19th November so should be expecting my letter by 4th of December.

I am scared to trust them but I will wait until 4th December.

Jetk any news? I call them and they told me the same thing.

Hello Doc1234.. no there is no update. I called HO 4 times since yesterday. One said we sent certificates for everyone who approved before 31st august. Second said oh you shouldn’t ignore when CT team email and tell you they are doing further checks. 3rd one said we cannot comment you just need to wait. And this morning a lady said you email citizenship support so when I said I already emailed them 21 days ago she said they will reply you within 30 days.

So honestly I don’t know what’s happening.

My certificate was arrived to my council and next day home office recalled my certificate and when I asked my council they said May be because “you had previous address”

What I don’t understand is that I got confirmation from home office that they have updated my address about 2 months ago. So now I just have no idea what is happening.

Hi jetk did you get any update?

Yes, so yesterday they replied back with saying I was approved in Error and they shall notify me as soon as they have decision made. So all this time I have been waiting since August was waste of time. I am not sure who do I go to complain about this as in August I was informed in writing that I am approved and left me there hanging. They didn’t notify me when my council sent my certificate back until I chased them over and over again. When I confronted case worker saying my council told me that you recalled my certificate then case worker told me that I was approved in error otherwise they wouldn’t have told me. And every time I call home office number they tell me I should expect my certificate by 7th December as they have sent all August approvals. It is vicious circle really, So now I have lost all hopes and I am not bothered anymore.

[imz2020]

@woabgh you have no idea of my circumstances or why I followed up with HO and I am not here to justify to you so please don't come at me as we are all waiting and this forum is meant for people to support each other and not throw their frustrations on others. Your comment added no value to this forum just negativity that no one needs. I am entitled to do what I want, when i want and to share with this forum that is full of empathetic and caring people. Please be more considerate when addressing others as you don't know what they are going through nor the urgency of their situations. Do Better

[MALCOM2]

Im sorry to hear that u was approved by error. So sad and scary. Why doing that to someone.dont give up please. I have got approval letter by email as well. That’s mean anything can happen. So scary

[Oria]

@woabgh you have no idea of my circumstances or why I followed up with HO and I am not here to justify to you so please don't come at me as we are all waiting and this forum is meant for people to support each other and not throw their frustrations on others. Your comment added no value to this forum just negativity that no one needs. I am entitled to do what I want, when i want and to share with this forum that is full of empathetic and caring people. Please be more considerate when addressing others as you don't know what they are going through nor the urgency of their situations. Do Better

IMZ2020. I totally agree with you. We need to keep it as positive and realistic as possible. This is a forum where people can share their experiences. We obviously have no influence Whatsoeveover what the HO does vis-à-vis the dispatching of certificates.

Can I perhaps ask you what date you had received your Approval in October?

Thank you.

[askmeplz82]

Yes, so yesterday they replied back with saying I was approved in Error and they shall notify me as soon as they have decision made. So all this time I have been waiting since August was waste of time. I am not sure who do I go to complain about this as in August I was informed in writing that I am approved and left me there hanging. They didn’t notify me when my council sent my certificate back until I chased them over and over again. When I confronted case worker saying my council told me that you recalled my certificate then case worker told me that I was approved in error otherwise they wouldn’t have told me. And every time I call home office number they tell me I should expect my certificate by 7th December as they have sent all August approvals. It is vicious circle really, So now I have lost all hopes and I am not bothered anymore.

OH NO..... sad news ... I am worried now as well. is it common ?

[askmeplz82]

just found this in the guidance

" certificate of citizenship may be withdrawn if it is found to have been
obtained by fraud, false representation or concealment of any material fact, and that this may
affect my permission to remain in the UK. "

[numero1111]

Wrote to my MP and they have raised the case with the home office but to no avail.. still stuck with no response from the Home Office whatsoever.

In limboland.. (well am abroad!)

Hello everyone! Received the below from the council after having received the citizenship invitation from Home office in February.. I have been stuck abroad and with the 14 day quarantine period was unable to attend before 23rd September(expiry date of existing certificate)
----

As my colleague said in the previous email. The Home Office are only allowing us to extend expiry dates for existing certificates to 23rd September, no further. So you won’t be able to book the October dates for group ceremonies that we currently have available.

Email the Home Office at Citizenship.Support@homeoffice.gov.uk or call 0300 123 2253 and ask for your expiry date to be extended. They will then instruct us to extended your expiry date., allowing you to book later. As my colleague said they have clearly stated that they do not intend anyone’s citizenship application to fail due to delays caused by Covid-19.

I am sorry but our hands are tied in this matter. We hope to see you sooner rather than later.

I wrote to the home office a month ago (20 working days as their service standard) and asked them to extend the dates so I could attends in October or November but to no avail.. I have rung that number but I just keep going round in circles. Do I just have to wait now then?

Any guidance/ advice really appreciated. Thanks a million in advance!

Citizenship.support mailbox doesn’t have any service standard as far as I’m aware. Some people get replies from them within a week while some wait for months and months and never get a reply. If you want a mailbox with 20 day reply deadline I’d advise you to make a formal complaint to the home office. Just google that. Alternatively you can email them directly at complaints@homeoffice.gov.uk - it goes to that mailbox as well if you go through the website complaint. I think it’s better to do it through their website as they will then stick to the 20 working days deadline for sure.


Edit: I think since your situation is very difficult I’d also email my MP in addition to complaining to the Home Office if I were you.

[Doc12345]

Hi any Aug approvals still waiting for invitation letter?

[JETK]

just found this in the guidance

" certificate of citizenship may be withdrawn if it is found to have been
obtained by fraud, false representation or concealment of any material fact, and that this may
affect my permission to remain in the UK. "

I understand, but that is not the case with me. And if they recalled my certificate for that purposes than they should be informing me in writing that they have withdrawn my approval due to false representation. But they have not done that. They did not even informed me that I was approved in error until I chase them (and that too after 3 email exchange)if it was false representation then they should have told me on my first email right?

[nnn15]

just found this in the guidance

" certificate of citizenship may be withdrawn if it is found to have been
obtained by fraud, false representation or concealment of any material fact, and that this may
affect my permission to remain in the UK. "

I understand, but that is not the case with me. And if they recalled my certificate for that purposes than they should be informing me in writing that they have withdrawn my approval due to false representation. But they have not done that. They did not even informed me that I was approved in error until I chase them (and that too after 3 email exchange)if it was false representation then they should have told me on my first email right?

Is your application within the service standard still or is it been quite a long time? If it's been over 6 months since you applied you can request a progress update.

I find it quite frustrating that the HO doesn't provide meaningful case-specific response. I have a slightly different problem - my paperwork has not been printed in over 8 months. And no one I could reach within the HO could provide any explanation on why my paperwork still hasn't been printed although they've stated that the backlog has been cleared.

[en_ilegna]

Hello there,

so here I am back again..

I was approved on 20th July and still didn't get an invitation. Waiting for it for over 18 weeks.

I tried so many ways already and exhausted all my options and honestly I am tired of this. HO was contacted several times over the phone, they did escalate it 2x for me but never got back to me [even though they said in how many days I will hear from them]. Emailing them is not worth it as their current response is 3 months [tried]. Council doesn't have my certificate. I also contacted my local council from my previous address as I moved after the approval but they don't have it either [I wanted to try all possible options, you never know with HO]. Even though the address change was confirmed by HO, I don't trust them.

Although I am really happy people are getting their invitations, I am very frustrated,angry and sad.

Why are they not being honest? Are they hiding something? I really wish they would tell us.

And as I fast I wanted to get the biometrics done back in July once they opened the centres, I now regret it as I should have done it later on and not rush it.

But from the previous comments I believe there are also another people waiting, some even from May, June?

Hey, waiting since April, no letter, no certificate. The phone helpline escalated my case last week, they said the HO should get in contact within 10 working days (which I'm not very hopeful about as previously they didn't follow through on the timelines they provided).
I think you can take the following actions:
1. Submit a complaint here https://www.ukvi-complaints.homeoffice.gov.uk/reason that the HO failed to deliver within the stated timeline of 12 weeks.
2. You might reach out to your MP, apparently the HO is legally obliged to respond to MPs.

Please post here if you find anything that works as I and a couple of other people on this forum are struggling with the same issue.

I'm in the same situation, can I suggest creating a separate thread in which we could track how many of forgotten application HO has got?

i agree to this..maybe april,may june approvals waiting still for certificate or letter can create a group..

[Jeannot88]

Hi folks,
My approval was on 23/09/2020 and I was able to book a public ceremony for next Tues, 08/12 via the RBKC (Kensington & Chelsea) website. I am yet to receive my invitation letter though. Has anybody attended there recently that would know if they require the actual invitation letter to attend?
Thanks!

[eonatura]

Hi folks,
My approval was on 23/09/2020 and I was able to book a public ceremony for next Tues, 08/12 via the RBKC (Kensington & Chelsea) website. I am yet to receive my invitation letter though. Has anybody attended there recently that would know if they require the actual invitation letter to attend?
Thanks!

As far as I know, RBKC does not require the invitation letter. At least this is what they told me during the lockdown. Probably best to ask them, they are quite helpful.

Did you try booking via the online booking website or did they notify you that your certificate has arrived? When were you able to book your appointment?

Thanks!

[Jeannot88]

Hi eonatura,

Thanks for the info.

I have been waiting (impatiently!) for some time now, I just kept trying the RBKC website whenever I remember by entering my HO ref and full name. Today, it just let me book a slot.
They didn't notify me, I just kept checking the website. I tried private/virtual ones first but not a lot of availability (from 21/12 at £200). Public ceremonies are available next week, Tues 8th & Thu 10th also Tues 15th. Loads of slots so decided to go for the free one on Tues just now.

Worried they will require the invitation letter, I called them and the person I spoke to wasn't sure. So I emailed the registrars, hopefully they allow me to attend if I don't receive it in time.

[skasyap]

My timeline if it helps others
Application made : May 2020
Application approved: 18th of September
Ceremony invite letter received :03rd of December letter dated 20th of Nov.
Ceremony booked for 13th of Jan @Newport registrar.

Can’t wait to get this over !!

[JETK]

just found this in the guidance

" certificate of citizenship may be withdrawn if it is found to have been
obtained by fraud, false representation or concealment of any material fact, and that this may
affect my permission to remain in the UK. "

I understand, but that is not the case with me. And if they recalled my certificate for that purposes than they should be informing me in writing that they have withdrawn my approval due to false representation. But they have not done that. They did not even informed me that I was approved in error until I chase them (and that too after 3 email exchange)if it was false representation then they should have told me on my first email right?

Is your application within the service standard still or is it been quite a long time? If it's been over 6 months since you applied you can request a progress update.

I find it quite frustrating that the HO doesn't provide meaningful case-specific response. I have a slightly different problem - my paperwork has not been printed in over 8 months. And no one I could reach within the HO could provide any explanation on why my paperwork still hasn't been printed although they've stated that the backlog has been cleared.

I applied in beginning of April so it’s outside 6 months standards. I was approved in august. Since than I was waiting for certificate. I sent an email to case working team who informed me that they are doing external checks. I also checked with my council who advised that my certificate was arrived at council end of October and was sent back to HO on fist week of November which I was NOT informed until now(1 month after they sent it back) than I asked case working team again about that they said we approved you in error and we will let you know as soon we made decision.

What puzzles me is that they didn’t tell me I was approved in error on my first email they didn’t informed me on my second email either but when I told them about what my council said they replied back with below.



According to our records your case was approved in error before we had completed all of our enquiries, for which we apologies. As soon as all of our enquiries are complete, we shall notify you of the outcome of your application.



Yours sincerely
Xxx

[londuk1]

Finally I received my invitation letter.

Date of application: 17/06/2020
Biometrics: 03/08/2020
Approval email: 06/08/2020
Invitation letter (date on the letter): 02/11/2020
Invitation letter (received): 02/12/2020
Citizenship ceremony: Virtual ceremony booked for 17/12/2020

I don't know why but it took 1 month to receive the invitation letter. It was posted to my old address and delivered to me with the redirection service.

Ok I am delighted to say that this process will soon come to an end for me.

Just talked with Wandsworth Council and I booked a virtual ceremony for the 17th of December.
Good luck everybody!

[nnn15]

i agree to this..maybe april,may june approvals waiting still for certificate or letter can create a group..

There is this thread already, created by someone who's been waiting for a certificate since March: british-citizenship/naturalisation-appr ... 09105.html

[nnn15]

I applied in beginning of April so it’s outside 6 months standards. I was approved in august. Since than I was waiting for certificate. I sent an email to case working team who informed me that they are doing external checks. I also checked with my council who advised that my certificate was arrived at council end of October and was sent back to HO on fist week of November which I was NOT informed until now(1 month after they sent it back) than I asked case working team again about that they said we approved you in error and we will let you know as soon we made decision.

What puzzles me is that they didn’t tell me I was approved in error on my first email they didn’t informed me on my second email either but when I told them about what my council said they replied back with below.



According to our records your case was approved in error before we had completed all of our enquiries, for which we apologies. As soon as all of our enquiries are complete, we shall notify you of the outcome of your application.



Yours sincerely
Xxx

I haven't tried this option myself, but I saw on this forum that some people submitted a SAR request to the Home Office - it's a request to get all the personal data about you that they hold in their systems, including the caseworker notes, decision letters etc. You could probably try submitting this to get some insight about what happened to your application. Apparently they are obliged to provide a copy of this information, but I don't know if this is an EU law and will change post Brexit. Maybe worth trying now given it's an online request.

[JETK]

I applied in beginning of April so it’s outside 6 months standards. I was approved in august. Since than I was waiting for certificate. I sent an email to case working team who informed me that they are doing external checks. I also checked with my council who advised that my certificate was arrived at council end of October and was sent back to HO on fist week of November which I was NOT informed until now(1 month after they sent it back) than I asked case working team again about that they said we approved you in error and we will let you know as soon we made decision.

What puzzles me is that they didn’t tell me I was approved in error on my first email they didn’t informed me on my second email either but when I told them about what my council said they replied back with below.



According to our records your case was approved in error before we had completed all of our enquiries, for which we apologies. As soon as all of our enquiries are complete, we shall notify you of the outcome of your application.



Yours sincerely
Xxx

I haven't tried this option myself, but I saw on this forum that some people submitted a SAR request to the Home Office - it's a request to get all the personal data about you that they hold in their systems, including the caseworker notes, decision letters etc. You could probably try submitting this to get some insight about what happened to your application. Apparently they are obliged to provide a copy of this information, but I don't know if this is an EU law and will change post Brexit. Maybe worth trying now given it's an online request.

I just read about it online and that’s a good idea. I will give another week or so if case working team replies alternatively I will submit SAR. Thank you for your direction.

[onyx_ng]

My application was approved on the 25th of September so I emailed 'NationalitySupportTeamFMT@homeoffice.gov.uk' to see how things were going and this is how they responded.

Thank you for your e-mail

I can only confirm from our records that you will be contacted by post in the coming weeks

Thank you for your patience

Not sure how to take it tbh.