Islington Council Citizenship ceremony experience?

[Astrid24]

I've done a search but couldn't really find much.

Does anyone have any experiences with Islington Council and their citizenship ceremonies? Just your general experience will be great but I also have some specific questions.

1) How long after you received your approval letter from the HO did you receive the invitation letter from Islington council asking you to pick a date for your ceremony?

2) I know Islington council do a ceremony every Monday. Were you able to book a ceremony for the very next Monday after you received your invitation letter, or did you have to wait for a few weeks or so? If so, how many weeks later did you attend the ceremony?

3) How many people were at your ceremony and how long did it take?

4) How much is a private ceremony?

I've contacted Islington council but they just said the invitation letter will probably be in the post and will give no more info, not even the price of the private ceremony. So I thought I'd ask here and hopefully get some more help.

Also, I know I'm asking questions specifically to do with Islington Council but if anyone else can answer these same questions about whatever council they had their ceremony with it could still be a great help. So feel free to chime in!

Thanks in advance.

[Astrid24]

I guess no one has any experience with Islington council citizenship ceremonies. I'll just have to wait and share my experiences. Hopefully it will help someone else in future.

[RoyalFlush]

I guess no one has any experience with Islington council citizenship ceremonies. I'll just have to wait and share my experiences. Hopefully it will help someone else in future.

Taken from http://www.islington.gov.uk/services/bi ... fault.aspx

"Ceremonies for up to 30 people, are held every Monday... we send a letter to that applicant explaining about ceremonies in Islington, with a questionnaire offering 3 ceremony dates".

Based on this I guess that it is first come first serve. Hence the number of approvals will dictate how soon they will be able to accommodate you (max 30 at any on ceremony).

My approval letter said that the invitation details would arrive in 2 days - but I am with Essex County Council. Though I received them at the same time as per my previous explanation in another post.

With regards to private ceremony, these are the options that are listed in the documentation that I received:

Registry office £130
Other venues Mon - Fri £250
Other venues Sat £290
Other venues Sun £330

Might be slightly different for Islington but this should give you some indication of what to expect.

Check this video out if you want to get the flavour of what to expect at the ceremony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLKDDfOT1pk

Also, they should be able to give you the price of private ceremonies without hassle, so try and phone them again:

"Alternatively, applicants may wish to celebrate obtaining British Citizenship in a more personal way with family and friends at one of our approved venues. More information about this, and the additional costs incurred, can be obtained by contacting the Islington and London City Register Office."

Good luck!

[Astrid24]

Thank you so much for finding this info! It has really helped. On the approval letter it says if I still haven't received the ceremony invitation after 2 weeks from the date of approval then I should contact UKBA so hopefully the invitation letter will turn up sometime this coming week.

Wow, at the prices for the private ceremonies! And I expect Islington's prices will be even more steep.

And yeah, I thought it was odd that they wouldn't give the prices of the private ceremony but I'm thinking the people I spoke to on the phone didn't actually know what the price was. If I don't get the invitation letter soon I'll try calling and asking for the price again.

[ukforever]

the cheapest one i know is £75 in whaltham forest council(east london) but i think u should contact ukba and let them know if u want to change it,if u did mention it in the citizenship form that u wanted to attend the private one at islington,i don't know if u did it or not,they give u the option to put a name of a council of your choice if u want to go private if u can't attend the one allocated to your nearest one.
i've read somewhere here that if u need/changed your mind to attend the ceremony earlier and want to go private,u need to contact the ukba to let them know,then they will send u the approval again..!!again,it could take weeks before u can do that,u would save money but at what cost,if u are in a hurry to do it,for any reason really:travel/holiday..its up to u..u may pay more but hassle free...your choice.

[RoyalFlush]

@Astrid24

You are most welcome

I am sure your invitation will be with you by or before Wednesday. Do let us all know.

[Astrid24]

I just spoke to someone in Islington's Register office. I asked him the price of a private ceremony and was told it's £120. Not as bad as I was expecting. I was expecting at least £150.

I also asked the guy if it would be possible for me to book a date for my ceremony as I still haven't received the letter from the council and I need to book asap so I can arrange the time off work etc. The guy said he could take my details and have one of the registers call me back and we could discuss the dates available to me and book one. So I gave him my details. He said they'd get back to me within 24 hours. I'm not counting on it though, to be honest. But we'll see. Maybe they'll surprise me and actually call back.

[Astrid24]

They did call back!

But it wasn't of much use really. They said they haven't got my certificate yet but it should be with them soon and I should receive my letter from them telling me to book a ceremony date by Wednesday. The lady said if I don't receive it by Friday I should call them back.

[Astrid24]

Finally received the invitation letter to the ceremony. Called them to book a time slot and they will call me back tomorrow.

[RoyalFlush]

Congrats Astrid

[Astrid24]

Congrats Astrid

Thanks, but I STILL haven't been able to book a ceremony date. I'm supposed to receive a letter with 3 dates and I pick a date for the ceremony that will be best for me and send it back to Islington council. Islington council holds a citizenship ceremony every Monday so the dates will all be Mondays.

Anyway, when I spoke to one of the registrars on Monday she said if I don't receive the letter from the council with the dates on them by Friday I should call them. Well, it's now Friday and I STILL haven't received that letter but I have the invitation from the Home Office which I received Wednesday.

So I called them up today and I was told one of the registrars will call me back within 48 hours. But they don't open on the weekends so if it's not today it will be Monday, which means it's very likely that I won't be doing my ceremony this coming Monday. I'm really hoping they will call me back today. If I can't book a slot for this coming Monday then I will just book a private ceremony.

It's getting really frustrating now though because I want to get my passport asap so I can go on holiday. I can't use my non British passport because it's expired so I'm stuck until I get my British passport.

My passport form is all filled out, got a countersignature, pictures, payment, everything. I'm just basically waiting for the naturalisation certificate so I can write the date and certificate number and enclose the certificate as a supporting document, before I can send it off.

I don't understand why it's taking so long for me to just book a date for the ceremony. Surely they have my certificate by now. Why can't they just be like other councils where you can phone them up and book a date? What is the point of them sending a letter and then you having to send the letter back to them? It's just such a long process for the ceremony. Plus, when you call you have to wait for the registrar to call you back which could take up to 48 hours!

But yeah, I'm just really getting frustrated because I want to go on holiday with my boyfriend and the ceremony is delaying all my plans.

[Astrid24]

Woohoo! Good news!

I finally managed to speak to a registrar today and booked a private ceremony for tomorrow at 10am.

[Astrid24]

I've had my ceremony and I'm officially a British citizen.

It was very quick, probably even less than five minutes because it was only me and the registrar. Started at 10 and I was out of there and in my car by 10.07. £120 for just five minutes! Haha. I don't mind though because I'm in a hurry to get my passport. I went to post my passport application straight after.

Off to the passport thread now!

[nnj10]

Congrats

[niteshj]

congratulations on a successful end to a long journey! enjoy ...

lucky you did not have to do the ceremony on a Saturday in Islington privately - £500 approx; and about £200-300 on a Friday.

[Astrid24]

aww thank you guys!

[niteshj]

posted my islington ceremony experience here

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... 081#869081