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Hi there, thanks for that information.Emeliajayne88 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 12:43 pmIf anyone is registered with Hackney council for the citizenship ceremony, you can join their waiting list once your application has been approved. You do not need to wait for your invitation letter. You will however need to provide your Home Office/Case ID number to join the list. I received this advice directly from Hackney Council.
I would say take the 7-12 weeks from 7 August with a huge grain of salt, that was probably estimated assuming everything would go absolutely fine, and did not include new Covid related restrictions and anything else that can go wrong, etc etcbaybars1 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:48 pmJust called the Home Office and according to the information that they shared over the call, the Home Office are looking to accelerate the sending of ceremony invitation letters and are expecting to clear the backlog within 7-12 weeks from 7 August 2020, which gets us to the end of October 2020, on the outside.
Whilst the Home Office could not give me any details about their performance so far versus the said target, the local council might be able to confirm if they have already received a particular certificate (the certificate number is the same as the Home Office reference number in the approval letter/email).
As a side note, considering the amount of fees they charge, the Home Office should be reasonably expected to have developed an on-line tracking system for applications that provides estimated completion times for each of the next steps until the last step controlled by them has been completed, but they don't. On the bright side, there is the end-of-October-2020 deadline for sending the delayed citizenship ceremony invitation letters.
The only other thing I can think of is to call them up 12 weeks after the approval date has passed, as indicated on the approval letter, and ask if they can escalate. Whether that would make a difference, I don't know.DreamerInDarkness wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:53 pmI would say take the 7-12 weeks from 7 August with a huge grain of salt, that was probably estimated assuming everything would go absolutely fine, and did not include new Covid related restrictions and anything else that can go wrong, etc etc
I would be very happy if the backlog was cleared in 2020 and didn't drag into 2021.
baybars1 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:23 pmThe only other thing I can think of is to call them up 12 weeks after the approval date has passed, as indicated on the approval letter, and ask if they can escalate. Whether that would make a difference, I don't know.DreamerInDarkness wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:53 pmI would say take the 7-12 weeks from 7 August with a huge grain of salt, that was probably estimated assuming everything would go absolutely fine, and did not include new Covid related restrictions and anything else that can go wrong, etc etc
I would be very happy if the backlog was cleared in 2020 and didn't drag into 2021.
serg_ko wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:31 pmApplied on 5th March, approval email - on 02 of June, no invitation letter. Today I sent email to Southwark Council (registrars@southwark.gov.uk) and received an answer in a half an hour :
Dear *****,
Thank you for your email.
We have not as yet received your naturalisation certificate from the Home Office.
Please wait for your invitation letter which is a separate letter from your decision letter.
On receipt of this letter please contact me to book a zoom citizenship ceremony or if you wish to attend a small group ceremony at Southwark Register Office please contact my colleague ****** at: ************@southwark.gov.uk
So, I keep waiting.
Joining the Southwark crew. Applied in February, approved mid-June. I got the exact same response 2 weeks ago. When I rang them, they confirmed they would not take any bookings without the invitation letter.Learning18 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 2:07 pmserg_ko wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:31 pmApplied on 5th March, approval email - on 02 of June, no invitation letter. Today I sent email to Southwark Council (registrars@southwark.gov.uk) and received an answer in a half an hour :
Dear *****,
Thank you for your email.
We have not as yet received your naturalisation certificate from the Home Office.
Please wait for your invitation letter which is a separate letter from your decision letter.
On receipt of this letter please contact me to book a zoom citizenship ceremony or if you wish to attend a small group ceremony at Southwark Register Office please contact my colleague ****** at: ************@southwark.gov.uk
So, I keep waiting.
Hi,
Still waiting too, I got approved on the 3rd of June, we have similar dates so we will hopefully get the letter around the same time. No invitation letter for me yet
Same here, Lopand.Lopand wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:24 pmbaybars1 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:23 pmThe only other thing I can think of is to call them up 12 weeks after the approval date has passed, as indicated on the approval letter, and ask if they can escalate. Whether that would make a difference, I don't know.DreamerInDarkness wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:53 pmI would say take the 7-12 weeks from 7 August with a huge grain of salt, that was probably estimated assuming everything would go absolutely fine, and did not include new Covid related restrictions and anything else that can go wrong, etc etc
I would be very happy if the backlog was cleared in 2020 and didn't drag into 2021.
I tried that as I got approved back in May and still waiting for the invitation letter, but they keep insisting that they can't escalate specific cases and that I just need to keep on waiting.
Let us know if u get an update.Wahidwadid wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 2:43 pmSame here, Lopand.Lopand wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:24 pmbaybars1 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 1:23 pmThe only other thing I can think of is to call them up 12 weeks after the approval date has passed, as indicated on the approval letter, and ask if they can escalate. Whether that would make a difference, I don't know.DreamerInDarkness wrote: ↑Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:53 pm
I would say take the 7-12 weeks from 7 August with a huge grain of salt, that was probably estimated assuming everything would go absolutely fine, and did not include new Covid related restrictions and anything else that can go wrong, etc etc
I would be very happy if the backlog was cleared in 2020 and didn't drag into 2021.
I tried that as I got approved back in May and still waiting for the invitation letter, but they keep insisting that they can't escalate specific cases and that I just need to keep on waiting.
12 weeks is the optimal time frame, many things could delay the deadline further.
Hi @Frou01!Frou01 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:56 pmThank you for this.sunny_uk123 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:20 pmHi all
Just an update for anyone who has chosen Solihull as their council for citizenship ceremony. I spoke to them today and they are only doing group ceremonies (reduced numbers) but doing them every week instead of every month to cope with the backlog. No private or e- ceremonies though.
They said they are receiving certificates from HO regularly on a weekly basis. They call all those for whom they receive the certificates so as to schedule the ceremonies.
good luck!
I’m in Birmingham and as Birmingham has the most applicants waiting and are still by March backlog keeping up to arrange ceremonies for almost 1000 new citizens.
I’m thinking that will take even longer than other councils to get through the backlog.
I will try to call them.
Also will try to call HO and ask if I could change to that council.
Same council as me!
There’s always the opportunity to write to the complaint department.Lopand wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:40 amRegarding the latest posts here - I've been waiting for the invitation letter since being approved in May, but I believe that you have good chances to getting your invitation letter really soon, as it seems like the HO is sending the approval letter with the invitation soon after approving the new applicants who have been approved from August onward. I believe that most of you will have their ceremonies way before us, who were approved during the lockdown before June.
They are currently catching up with March still.Helen123 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 12:48 amHi @Frou01!Frou01 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:56 pmThank you for this.sunny_uk123 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:20 pmHi all
Just an update for anyone who has chosen Solihull as their council for citizenship ceremony. I spoke to them today and they are only doing group ceremonies (reduced numbers) but doing them every week instead of every month to cope with the backlog. No private or e- ceremonies though.
They said they are receiving certificates from HO regularly on a weekly basis. They call all those for whom they receive the certificates so as to schedule the ceremonies.
good luck!
I’m in Birmingham and as Birmingham has the most applicants waiting and are still by March backlog keeping up to arrange ceremonies for almost 1000 new citizens.
I’m thinking that will take even longer than other councils to get through the backlog.
I will try to call them.
Also will try to call HO and ask if I could change to that council.
I’m also in Birmingham and was curious if you called the council and if they said how long the backlog is? I only just received my approval email today so I’ve accepted that it’ll be a long wait before I receive my invitation letter...
Thank you!
