Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[Stef03]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -home.html

Now it makes sense why aren't any certificates being printed, NO One is in the office!!

Thanks for posting the link. It really explains the reason for the delays and the huge backlogs, however it doesn’t makes sense at all. That’s meaning, in theory that if a second wave will come (most likely) we won’t see the letters being delivered any time soon, if not worse.

[Anubhav357]

Submitted application first week of March along with biometrics.
Approval email received 2nd June.
Citizenship ceremony invitation letter received in the post 3rd September; dated 24th August.
Bedfordshire council didn't book the appointment until I had received the letter.
Hope this helps.

[apostrophe]

Submitted application first week of March along with biometrics.
Approval email received 2nd June.
Citizenship ceremony invitation letter received in the post 3rd September; dated 24th August.
Bedfordshire council didn't book the appointment until I had received the letter.
Hope this helps.

I'm in the same council, I got my approval email on May 21, however still no certificate nor the letter. Hopefully mister postman brings the good news very soon.

[chand92]

Good afternoon to all,

I was looking on Naturalization application processing timeline and noticed that the people approved in august 2020 also getting invitation ceremony letter as well but we are still waiting.
this is totally unfair.

Applied Oct 2019
Approved June 2020
Invitation letter ........

[Soo123]

Hi All

Spoke to my locoal council (Hillingdon) they have resumed the ceremonies but no certificate for me called ukba they are saying everyone will get their certificates by October so it’s the waiting game now

[AlexGo]

Hi All

Spoke to my locoal council (Hillingdon) they have resumed the ceremonies but no certificate for me called ukba they are saying everyone will get their certificates by October so it’s the waiting game now

Good news, after so long time of waiting miracle.

[shaggie44]

Finally got my invitation letter from HO last Thurs, dated 20th Aug.

Next hurdle is trying to book ceremony with Luton Council, they are only doing private ceremonies for a measly £100, no virtual or group ceremonies in sight! You can only contact them by email, but getting them to reply is a challenge!!

And ohh I desperately need a passport, but Passport Office has stopped applications (save for emergencies) so the saga will continue.

[Lopand]

Finally got my invitation letter from HO last Thurs, dated 20th Aug.

Next hurdle is trying to book ceremony with Luton Council, they are only doing private ceremonies for a measly £100, no virtual or group ceremonies in sight! You can only contact them by email, but getting them to reply is a challenge!!

And ohh I desperately need a passport, but Passport Office has stopped applications (save for emergencies) so the saga will continue.

I suspect that we're all going to meet each other again in the thread of the long wait for the passport...

[Raihanul]

Hi All

Spoke to my locoal council (Hillingdon) they have resumed the ceremonies but no certificate for me called ukba they are saying everyone will get their certificates by October so it’s the waiting game now

Good news, after so long time of waiting miracle.

By October? Yeyyy ! Wait did they say for which applicants? I got approved on Mid June and no invitation yet. What's the number if you can kindly share please

[Raihanul]

Finally got my invitation letter from HO last Thurs, dated 20th Aug.

Next hurdle is trying to book ceremony with Luton Council, they are only doing private ceremonies for a measly £100, no virtual or group ceremonies in sight! You can only contact them by email, but getting them to reply is a challenge!!

And ohh I desperately need a passport, but Passport Office has stopped applications (save for emergencies) so the saga will continue.

I suspect that we're all going to meet each other again in the thread of the long wait for the passport...

Oh yeah !

[Soo123]

[quote=AlexGo post_id=<a href="tel:1932921">1932921</a> time=<a href="tel:1599505546">1599505546</a> user_id=238461]
[quote=Soo123 post_id=<a href="tel:1932834">1932834</a> time=<a href="tel:1599493781">1599493781</a> user_id=233848]
Hi All

Spoke to my locoal council (Hillingdon) they have resumed the ceremonies but no certificate for me called ukba they are saying everyone will get their certificates by October so it’s the waiting game now

Good news, after so long time of waiting miracle.
[/quote]

By October? Yeyyy ! Wait did they say for which applicants? I got approved on Mid June and no invitation yet. What's the number if you can kindly share please


I called at this number 0300 123 2253‬ Spoke to a really nice guy and he said the HO has resumed printing the certificates from start of August and everyone should receive their letters by October or even before that

[Raihanul]

[quote=AlexGo post_id=<a href="tel:1932921">1932921</a> time=<a href="tel:1599505546">1599505546</a> user_id=238461]
[quote=Soo123 post_id=<a href="tel:1932834">1932834</a> time=<a href="tel:1599493781">1599493781</a> user_id=233848]
Hi All

Spoke to my locoal council (Hillingdon) they have resumed the ceremonies but no certificate for me called ukba they are saying everyone will get their certificates by October so it’s the waiting game now

Good news, after so long time of waiting miracle.

By October? Yeyyy ! Wait did they say for which applicants? I got approved on Mid June and no invitation yet. What's the number if you can kindly share please


I called at this number 0300 123 2253‬ Spoke to a really nice guy and he said the HO has resumed printing the certificates from start of August and everyone should receive their letters by October or even before that
[/quote]

Thank you man. That's a relief. Let us know if you hear back from them. I'm desperately waiting for so long .. at least something (even if not true lol)

[Tirinti]

Today Croydon Council finally announced they are restarting ceremonies. But with the second covid wave I'm not sure how long before they go to lockdown again.

[Mhmd2005]

Please help,
This is my third email which I feel ignored but I don't know why.
My citizen certificate with my council for nearly a month now ( london- brent)
They said they will send it back to HO on the 19th september as this is the date the HO told them the last date for me to attend the ceremony. Its not 3 month or 6 months as my application approved on 19/5/20.
They refused to book for me as I dont have the invitation letter.
I contacted the citizenship help line around 20 times now and they keep saying they cant help and I have to send email to citizenship.support which i sent around 10 email with no response .
I have sent emails to all the citizenship email we have in the forum no response.
I have contacted the council again today and they refused to book or help in any way.
I am lost, I dont know what to do.
Any help please

[Frou01]

Please help,
This is my third email which I feel ignored but I don't know why.
My citizen certificate with my council for nearly a month now ( london- brent)
They said they will send it back to HO on the 19th september as this is the date the HO told them the last date for me to attend the ceremony. Its not 3 month or 6 months as my application approved on 19/5/20.
They refused to book for me as I dont have the invitation letter.
I contacted the citizenship help line around 20 times now and they keep saying they cant help and I have to send email to citizenship.support which i sent around 10 email with no response .
I have sent emails to all the citizenship email we have in the forum no response.
I have contacted the council again today and they refused to book or help in any way.
I am lost, I dont know what to do.
Any help please

I’m very sorry to hear that. Being that ignored is worrying.
I do believe you should contact your MP to make a representation for you to Home Office.

[nnn15]

Please help,
This is my third email which I feel ignored but I don't know why.
My citizen certificate with my council for nearly a month now ( london- brent)
They said they will send it back to HO on the 19th september as this is the date the HO told them the last date for me to attend the ceremony. Its not 3 month or 6 months as my application approved on 19/5/20.
They refused to book for me as I dont have the invitation letter.
I contacted the citizenship help line around 20 times now and they keep saying they cant help and I have to send email to citizenship.support which i sent around 10 email with no response .
I have sent emails to all the citizenship email we have in the forum no response.
I have contacted the council again today and they refused to book or help in any way.
I am lost, I dont know what to do.
Any help please

You should probably contact your MP who could contact the HO on your behalf. Clearly in this case it's not your fault you haven't received the letter - the HO hasn't even confirmed they sent you one and it's sent via untracked post and can be lost. Or maybe the MP can agree with your council so you can attend the ceremony without the letter, some other members of this forum posted that their councils let them attend the ceremony even if the council had the certificate, but the applicant hadn't received the letter.

[Cocobana]

This is ridiculous!
I would say contact your local Mp and The chief executive for Brent council to make a complaint
Speak to Brent and Ask how to make a formal complaint against them.
Most councils would invite you for citizenship ceremony once they have your certificate even without an invitation letter and I don’t see why Brent council shouldn’t.

[DreamerInDarkness]

Please help,
This is my third email which I feel ignored but I don't know why.
My citizen certificate with my council for nearly a month now ( london- brent)
They said they will send it back to HO on the 19th september as this is the date the HO told them the last date for me to attend the ceremony. Its not 3 month or 6 months as my application approved on 19/5/20.
They refused to book for me as I dont have the invitation letter.
I contacted the citizenship help line around 20 times now and they keep saying they cant help and I have to send email to citizenship.support which i sent around 10 email with no response .
I have sent emails to all the citizenship email we have in the forum no response.
I have contacted the council again today and they refused to book or help in any way.
I am lost, I dont know what to do.
Any help please

Talk to your MP to intervene in your behalf and escalate your case higher up in the council.

[nnn15]

And ohh I desperately need a passport, but Passport Office has stopped applications (save for emergencies) so the saga will continue.

Congrats on finally getting your ceremony invitation letter!
Where did you see that passport applications have been stopped?

[hashmil]

My ceremony will be held on Friday virtually!

I applied in February, and got my letter of inviation only in August. Though the letter was dated in March.

I called the council as soon as i got the letter, and they said there's a huge backlog and to get in touch early September - and to keep checking their website for details.

On the website there was an email address for the council - so yesterday i emailed them asking about whats happening. Today i got a call from the council saying that they can have a virtual ceremony via Microsoft Teams on Friday.

My council is Wandsworth Council in London btw.

[DreamerInDarkness]

My ceremony will be held on Friday virtually!

I applied in February, and got my letter of inviation only in August. Though the letter was dated in March.

I called the council as soon as i got the letter, and they said there's a huge backlog and to get in touch early September - and to keep checking their website for details.

On the website there was an email address for the council - so yesterday i emailed them asking about whats happening. Today i got a call from the council saying that they can have a virtual ceremony via Microsoft Teams on Friday.

My council is Wandsworth Council in London btw.

Congrats. I don't know why they're not doing nationwide virtual ceremonies.

[hashmil]

Congrats. I don't know why they're not doing nationwide virtual ceremonies.

Thank you! And i'm sure they will at some point have a virtual option available for everyone.

When i contacted the council last month, they said they were still waiting until home office sent them the certificates, and hadn't got mine - and until then they couldnt arrange anything.

I guess concil's are still waiting to recieve certificates from the Home Office before they can arrange anything? just assuming here..

Also - i guess the infrastructure/tech capabilities of each concil is different

[IrobotZ]

Got approved late June, still havent got the invitation letter. Called my local council and they told me that they havent got my certificate yet and even if they did I still have to have the invitation letter to attend the ceremony. Need to move home really soon, hope I could get the letter soon, really dont wanna change address with the home office during the current situation

The process of sending out invitation is rather random, I saw people got their letter within 2 weeks of approval while others waiting for more than 3 months without any luck. On the local council level, some councils are kind enough to let people attend ceremony without the invitation and introducing virtual ceremony to help the people in needs while others are basically doing nothing... Hope things could run smoothly for everybody.

[sunny_uk123]

Hi 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!

[hashmil]

Got approved late June, still havent got the invitation letter. Called my local council and they told me that they havent got my certificate yet and even if they did I still have to have the invitation letter to attend the ceremony. Need to move home really soon, hope I could get the letter soon, really dont wanna change address with the home office during the current situation

The process of sending out invitation is rather random, I saw people got their letter within 2 weeks of approval while others waiting for more than 3 months without any luck. On the local council level, some councils are kind enough to let people attend ceremony without the invitation and introducing virtual ceremony to help the people in needs while others are basically doing nothing... Hope things could run smoothly for everybody.

How did you get the approval? I only ever got the invitation letter, which is what mentioned that my application was approved..