Citizenship ceremony - experience

[dupuytren]

I thought I wanted to share my Citizenship ceremony experience here for anyone who is interested.
I had mine at Westminster City Council today - overall it was a very pleasant experience. I brought my British friend with me as he was curious about the ceremony.

Booking the ceremony - took a long time to wait but I was in no rush - got my naturalisation approval letter end of Nov but earliest ceremony was 19 Jan. I was told the public ceremony occurs only 1x a week.

Location: Westminster City Council, Victoria, London. It's easier to get there from St. James' Park tube station as Victoria station is mad from the explosion of suburbia that is Surrey and South London at rush hour.

When you arrive at the reception, you are directed to someone who checks your documents (approval letter and photo ID e.g. passport/driving licence), and then take an escorted, express lift to the 17th floor.
When you get there, there is a waiting area with tea/coffee/biscuits. Although there is 1 hour wait before the ceremony (they tell you arrive by 9.30am but it doesn't start till 10.30a), the view here was so amazing - you get views of the London eye on one side, Buckingham palace on the other; so there is plenty of time to keep you distracted as you will be busy taking lots of pics!!

Dress code: None, but generally most people were smartly dressed (men were in suits or at least blazers; though some were in jeans). It is worth dressing up if you want to buy the photos later.

Then at 10.30, there is a short rehearsal. The Mayor will come in, followed by 2 short speeches (nicely done, none were patronising and they made us feel so welcome and valued as new citizens. Really liked it).
Then followed by your Oath.
Then you received your certificates while you get your pic taken with the Mayor. Also, they gave us a souvenir - it is a nice tumbler glass with City of Westminster coat of arms engravement. And there is also a free goody bag to boot! (the cloth kind you can use at the supermarket, it contains several leaflets on how to apply for a British passport and a welcome leaflet from Theresa May).
Then you sing the National Anthem (lyrics provided so don't worry if you don't know the words).

Ceremony itself lasted no longer than 30 mins.
At the end of the ceremony you can buy the photo - sadly they didnt display the photos so you don't know how it will turn out. Initially I didnt want to get one but succumbed to peer pressure when I saw everyone else queuing up for one. It costs £20 for one and £30 for two. They say pay by cash in the invitation email, but apparently you can pay by card.

All in all, it was not as painful as I thought, they were very welcoming and not at all patronising as I thought they would be. The attendees were all lovely, apparently there were people from 18 different nationalities in the ceremony (I think there were 30 of us) so that was kinda cool, they showed our countries on a map too!
Anyway, I have applied for my passport this afternoon so we will see how that goes!
Thanks to everyone in this forum for your advice and support!!!

[fwd079]

All in all, it was not as painful as I thought, they were very welcoming and not at all patronising as I thought they would be. The attendees were all lovely, apparently there were people from 18 different nationalities in the ceremony (I think there were 30 of us) so that was kinda cool, they showed our countries on a map too!
Anyway, I have applied for my passport this afternoon so we will see how that goes!
Thanks to everyone in this forum for your advice and support!!!

LOL exactly after all visa experiences you kind of get into habit of accepting official behaviour. But its a ceremony and not a visa appointment so its bound to be different. But I am surprised at photo costs, mine was a private ceremony and I had it taken on my phone, so its all with me, for free. But its perhaps due to being private ceremony.

Congratulations, thanks for sharing and good luck in future.