CEREMONY INVITATION LETTER NOT RECEIVED MONTHS LATER

[Thefrog]

Hi all,

I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

I received an approval email from nationality casework decision on 17th March (letter attached to the email dated 17th as well). The letter said I will receive the ceremony invitation letter within 3 months. So far nothing.

A friend of mine who applied, did biometrics and got approval with the same timeline as me has already received their invitation and the actual ceremony is on Monday 24th April. We live in the same area and it is the same council.

After waiting for a few more weeks, I contacted UKVI on 0300 790 6268 and each time they told me I should have received my letter because ceremony letters for approvals up to 19th April has already been processed and dispatched. They are now processing letters for approvals from 20th April onwards. They asked me to contact my council which I did but the council has not received my certificate and cannot help me. They asked me get in touch with UKVI again.

I called UKVI again and they have "escalated" my query to the concerned department but they cannot give me feedbacks on that escalation. They also asked me to email citizenship.support@homeoffice.gov.uk.

I have had no responses/feedbacks from the escalation or my email (13 days since my email).

I don't know what to do now.

Any advice will be highly appreciated.

Thank you

[CULLINAN]

Your 3 months are up on 16th June only. It can take 3-4 months after approval. You need to be patient and keep a look at the email/junk folder and postal address also.

Follow:
british-citizenship/citizenship-ceremon ... 99323.html

[Thefrog]

Your 3 months are up on 16th June only. It can take 3-4 months after approval. You need to be patient and keep a look at the email/junk folder and postal address also.

Follow:
british-citizenship/citizenship-ceremon ... 99323.html

Hi Cullinan,

Yes you are right, but I am worried because as mentioned, I applied at the same time as a friend and we did our biometrics the same day and received approval letter same day. Also, it is the same council.
More worrying is that HO themselves said letters for approvals up till 19th April were sent out and mine is dated 17th March.

I appreciate the 3-4 months timeframe, but given above factors, should I not have received my letter yet? Or am I just been paranoid?

[CULLINAN]

Did you change your address by any chance?

[Thefrog]

Did you change your address by any chance?

No, I have not.

[CULLINAN]

No one can really answer the reason why your ceremony letter is delayed. Your friend getting an approval letter on the same day could be pure coincidence.

Each application is different and timelines can not be matched. Also different CW’s have their own work load/pace etc.

However, if HO confirmed they have despatched all ceremony invitations up until April, then the best bet is to chase with HO. They would escalate it in case there was a technical error in printing your paper work.

You took the right steps to call and email HO already. You can only wait and try be patient now.

Keep chasing them every 2/3 weeks or raise a complaint after 3 months have passed from approval date. Hopefully you shall receive yours soon too.

[Thefrog]

No one can really answer the reason why your ceremony letter is delayed. Your friend getting an approval letter on the same day could be pure coincidence.

Each application is different and timelines can not be matched. Also different CW’s have their own work load/pace etc.

However, if HO confirmed they have despatched all ceremony invitations up until April, then the best bet is to chase with HO. They would escalate it in case their was a technical error in printing your paper work.

You took the right steps to call and email HO already. You can only wait and try be patient now.

Keep chasing them every 2/3 weeks or raise a complaint after 3 months have passed from approval date. Hopefully you shall receive yours soon too.

I suspected this would be the case, but was hoping there was something else I could do. I feel so helpless.
Thank you for your replies and hopefully I get an answer from HO soon.

[CULLINAN]

Unfortunately there is not much you can do. There are members who waited 8-9 months for ceremony invitations at the start of the pandemic and later also. The backlog has subsided and majority receive them in 3-4 months now. There are always odd ones out. Down to pure luck. I would wait till 3 months have lapsed to start getting worried.