Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[Raihanul]

Hi,

I hope you guys are all in good health.

I just want to help everyone that are waiting distressed like me. I called the immigration helpline today at 08006781767. I explained them my situation and told them that I've now waited over 12 weeks. The guy was super nice and friendly. He said, he opened a case, took my contact details, HO reference number and said I would hear back from them soon.

I hope this can help others too. I was slowly falling a bit depressed to be honest. But a glimmer of hope. Hopefully I hear back from them.

Approval: Mid-June
Council: Newham

[uuee6543]

Hi,

I hope you guys are all in good health.

I just want to help everyone that are waiting distressed like me. I called the immigration helpline today at 08006781767. I explained them my situation and told them that I've now waited over 12 weeks. The guy was super nice and friendly. He said, he opened a case, took my contact details, HO reference number and said I would hear back from them soon.

I hope this can help others too. I was slowly falling a bit depressed to be honest. But a glimmer of hope. Hopefully I hear back from them.

Approval: Mid-June
Council: Newham

I’m sorry if this dashes your hopes, but I contacted this coronavirus immigration support helpline as well and was also promised they would help me. After a few days I got the following automated email (I also called, they sent the email and opened the case on my behalf, contrary to what the email says):

“Thank you for your email to the Coronavirus Immigration Team relating to British citizenship. Unfortunately, this team is unable to deal with your enquiry.

If you have not already resolved your enquiry please contact Nationality Enquiries for further assistance at NationalityEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk”

So the likelihood they will be able to help you is almost zero I’m afraid...

[Gioldn]

I applied in January.
Got the email approval in May
I called yesterday to my council (Wandsworth-Richmond). They said they do not have my certificate yet and that they will call me to arrange a virtual ceremony end of September-beginning of October (as long as they receive my certificate I guess)
No invitation letter from HO......waiting and waiting.....

Hi, I live in the same borough. Got approved beginning of August... I’d assume my ceremony will be in 2021...

[Goodtosee]

Hi all, Received my invitation this Morning. Applied 20th Of May, Approved 21st of August received 28th of August by post. Invitation today. Have been on this board for a while, people might disagree but calling / emailing the HO sometime prolong the decision make. When you give your details on emails and phone calls,they note this and may work against you and make you wait to the maximum time lline. I have seen every person here He or she have been Approved the HO can not change that decided, your in your last lap, please guys,Patience pays and with no time your done with it.

Good luck everyone

[svedava]

Hi all, Is anyone here from Waltham Forest Council waiting for the ceremony letter? Trying to understand if they started the ceremonies after lockdown. I received my approval letter end of May, and still waiting for the ceremony letter.
Thank you in advance

[Wahidwadid]

Hi all, Received my invitation this Morning. Applied 20th Of May, Approved 21st of August received 28th of August by post. Invitation today. Have been on this board for a while, people might disagree but calling / emailing the HO sometime prolong the decision make. When you give your details on emails and phone calls,they note this and may work against you and make you wait to the maximum time lline. I have seen every person here He or she have been Approved the HO can not change that decided, your in your last lap, please guys,Patience pays and with no time your done with it.

Good luck everyone

CONGRATULATIONS,Count your self super lucky, I m waiting since may, Applied in March approved in may still waiting for the invitation letter, I think I m the unlucky person in the forum who waiting more than 4 month to get the journey done. Wish me good luck guys.

[Frou01]

Hi all, Received my invitation this Morning. Applied 20th Of May, Approved 21st of August received 28th of August by post. Invitation today. Have been on this board for a while, people might disagree but calling / emailing the HO sometime prolong the decision make. When you give your details on emails and phone calls,they note this and may work against you and make you wait to the maximum time lline. I have seen every person here He or she have been Approved the HO can not change that decided, your in your last lap, please guys,Patience pays and with no time your done with it.

Good luck everyone

That’s good news for you and I’m glad to hear that.

However I don’t agree on your point you make.
Lately the ones approved end August got a letter and invitation together. There are several people posting about end August approvals with invitations at the same time coming by post.

It seems rather us receiving decisions by email only are the ones waiting.

About enquiring. My friend was approved end May and had several times contacted council and HO and even wrote to the complaint department of HO. Her ceremony is now booked for later this month.

Also I don’t think HO would have that unprofessional attitude letting the ones who were contacting them waiting extra long.

The only thing I can see is since they got back to sending decisions by post again lately waiting longer as the ones received an email.

[Anatol]

Looks like they just decided to ignore the email approvals and carry on business as usual

[mr_iyamu]

Hi all, Received my invitation this Morning. Applied 20th Of May, Approved 21st of August received 28th of August by post. Invitation today. Have been on this board for a while, people might disagree but calling / emailing the HO sometime prolong the decision make. When you give your details on emails and phone calls,they note this and may work against you and make you wait to the maximum time lline. I have seen every person here He or she have been Approved the HO can not change that decided, your in your last lap, please guys,Patience pays and with no time your done with it.

Good luck everyone

CONGRATULATIONS,Count your self super lucky, I m waiting since may, Applied in March approved in may still waiting for the invitation letter, I think I m the unlucky person in the forum who waiting more than 4 month to get the journey done. Wish me good luck guys.

Such thoughts would not help you bro. I've been waiting longer and still here. I know there would be members who are tired of writing and just read comments. While it drives me crazy, I find other things to occupy my thoughts like opening FOI requests to understand how their system work and maybe identify why they are this inefficient.

I do not believe reaching out to the home office or requesting these information should in any way be the reason for a delay as mentioned by a different member earlier. If we cannot speak freely nor have a right to free expression then becoming British would not have that vibe to it.

That being said, You are not unlucky. You most likely would read this by the time you wake up in the morning.. Thats is what it means to be lucky. Waking up each day to see the morning sun.

Peace lads.

[dtmann]

I could not agree more my friend.
Great perspective

[dtmann]

Has any of you guys who received your approval by email before or even during August, got an Invitation Letter yet?

[Frou01]

Looks like they just decided to ignore the email approvals and carry on business as usual

I don’t think they ignore it, but it seems the ones approved by email from April to somewhere in August are the backlog they work off slowly and the ones from later in August when they decided to send decision and invitation together by post are treated as they did before lockdown.

It seems not fair though. But nothing we can do.

[Wethebest]

Applied in October 2019 Covid delayed happened .Got approved First week of July 2020 still waiting for invitation letter 11 months from start of my journey and still counting

[Runner12345]

Looks like they just decided to ignore the email approvals and carry on business as usual

I don’t think they ignore it, but it seems the ones approved by email from April to somewhere in August are the backlog they work off slowly and the ones from later in August when they decided to send decision and invitation together by post are treated as they did before lockdown.

It seems not fair though. But nothing we can do.

I think this sounds about right. Applied in February, approved in June, still no luck. According to Southwark council's website, they have approx. 3000 new citizens a year, so I suspect their backlog is huge.

[Tirinti]

Looks like they just decided to ignore the email approvals and carry on business as usual

I don’t think they ignore it, but it seems the ones approved by email from April to somewhere in August are the backlog they work off slowly and the ones from later in August when they decided to send decision and invitation together by post are treated as they did before lockdown.

It seems not fair though. But nothing we can do.

Some councils resumed ceremonies in July and they've already cleared their backlogs. Others are resuming in September and they have huge backlogs. If council doesn't have backlog, HO is sending them certificates as soon as applications are approved. I hope that with growing numbers of council without backlogs, HO will start redirecting certificates from councils with huge backlogs to councils without backlogs.

[Frou01]

Looks like they just decided to ignore the email approvals and carry on business as usual

I don’t think they ignore it, but it seems the ones approved by email from April to somewhere in August are the backlog they work off slowly and the ones from later in August when they decided to send decision and invitation together by post are treated as they did before lockdown.

It seems not fair though. But nothing we can do.

I think this sounds about right. Applied in February, approved in June, still no luck. According to Southwark council's website, they have approx. 3000 new citizens a year, so I suspect their backlog is huge.

The backlog is understandable due to the months of closure.
But HO let’s new approvals jump the queue feels not right.
Have seen severals posting their invitation letters together with same time approval of the last two weeks claiming their ceremony is this month.
Means we receiving emails are clearly the backlog now.

[baybars1]

Perhaps the most promising way to figure out the likely length of the delay would be to reach out to the relevant local council's registrar and ask them how the process has been progressing from their end. Home Office seems unlikely to be very helpful with enquiries as to individual cases within the first 12 weeks of the date on the approval letter.

[Tirinti]

Perhaps the most promising way to figure out the likely length of the delay would be to reach out to the relevant local council's registrar and ask them how the process has been progressing from their end. Home Office seems unlikely to be very helpful with enquiries as to individual cases within the first 12 weeks of the date on the approval letter.

My council, Croydon, isn't answering phones, at least that was the case 3-4 weeks ago. I've sent them an "email" (they only have online contact form) 3 weeks ago, still no answer. At least they resumed ceremonies this week. I hope HO will redirect my certificate to some council with cleared backlog, otherwise there is no chance Croydon will have my ceremony this year. I'm happy HO hasn't sent my certificate to Croydon, if they did I would have wait half a year and then it would be 6 year since invitation and invitation would be invalid.

[axeman85]

The truth is that everybody is anxious and eager to conclude the while process as its been challenging and stressful for all.

Sending numerous emails or calls doesnt guarantee a quick process as they follow protocol. If it is not up to the 12weeks yet they most likely won't act on it or if its not coming up to the 6months to book ceremoney they wont act on it.

Same way some people are fortunate to have received approval and ceremony letter same time , some people also applied and got approval within a month and some are stil waiting since January that they have applied...

The key here is patient for the 8-12weeks HO says will take to get the invites received...

I applied end of June, approved 31st July and still waiting for invite. Sent mcr council email 2x to confirm if certificate received and they said NO. Can't call cos their numbers is not connecting. Just auto message. So i am also waiting..

Sending plenty emails to HO or involving MP when its not up to 12weeks is just time waste really. Unless you get lucky...

[Runner12345]

Perhaps the most promising way to figure out the likely length of the delay would be to reach out to the relevant local council's registrar and ask them how the process has been progressing from their end. Home Office seems unlikely to be very helpful with enquiries as to individual cases within the first 12 weeks of the date on the approval letter.

I tried asking that question but didn’t get an answer. I was told to contact the HO to get my invitation letter....

[user5877]

I applied in March and got approval email on 25th May. I emailed home office 4 weeks ago and got this reply:

Your application for British citizenship has been successful. Please be assured that a citizenship ceremony invitation will be issued to you by post within the next 8 – 12 weeks.

I guess I got another 4-8 weeks of waiting to do.

[baybars1]

Perhaps the most promising way to figure out the likely length of the delay would be to reach out to the relevant local council's registrar and ask them how the process has been progressing from their end. Home Office seems unlikely to be very helpful with enquiries as to individual cases within the first 12 weeks of the date on the approval letter.

My council, Croydon, isn't answering phones, at least that was the case 3-4 weeks ago. I've sent them an "email" (they only have online contact form) 3 weeks ago, still no answer. At least they resumed ceremonies this week. I hope HO will redirect my certificate to some council with cleared backlog, otherwise there is no chance Croydon will have my ceremony this year. I'm happy HO hasn't sent my certificate to Croydon, if they did I would have wait half a year and then it would be 6 year since invitation and invitation would be invalid.

If there is a way to get some info from the Home Office about the pace at which certificates are being sent to a specific local authority so that the likely delay can be estimated based on the existing backlog and the number of citizens attending ceremonies per week, that might be helpful.

[BoyTed]

Hello Everyone

Ive been quite these days and read all your suggestions & inputs.
My question can we apply
under freedom of information act 2000.
1. Number of citizenship ceremony backlog.
2 How many people granted.
3. How many people waiting etc.

[secret.simon]

Hello Everyone

Ive been quite these days and read all your suggestions & inputs.
My question can we apply
under freedom of information act 2000.
1. Number of citizenship ceremony backlog.
2 How many people granted.
3. How many people waiting etc.

Yes, provided such information is written down and does not cost too much to gather, you should be able to make an FoI request for such data as of a particular date.

You could get an over-all picture. Making such a request for a breakup per council may cause the data gathering to reach the cost limit (£600).

[mr_iyamu]

Hello Everyone

Ive been quite these days and read all your suggestions & inputs.
My question can we apply
under freedom of information act 2000.
1. Number of citizenship ceremony backlog.
2 How many people granted.
3. How many people waiting etc.

Hello BoyTed,
Welcome back. This questions are similar to the last FOI I made which has been assigned a case worker.This was my request.

Dear Home Office,
I would love to know how you prioritize applications and assign them to caseworkers? Is this on a first come first serve basis? What number of applications have been approved monthly since lockdown started in March and what percentage have been sent an invitation letter to their citizenship ceremonies?

Yours faithfully,

These people are smart so it beats me if they are intentionally being incompetent. Its been over 17 weeks awaiting invitation and they cant even offer an excuse even if its a lie.

I already know how they would play it though it has been assigned a case worker. They would reply last minute and then request further information which would be more of them asking you to rephrase your question and then they stretch it till the next deadline.

I'm not surprised. Its the system of governance we are adapting to.