Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[baybars1]

Will do.
And keep on the good work.

Will do too. Yet, when you think of it, the least the Home Office should do is provide a running update on the batches of certificates that they have sent to local councils (i.e. corresponding approval dates) and we can then extrapolate to more recent approvals, subject to the usual caveats.

[024601]

15/06/2020 - 23/09/2020
01/07/2020 - 01/10/2020
08/07/2020 - 06/10/2020
15/07/2020 - 08/10/2020
22/07/2020 - 13/10/2020
30/07/2020 - 16/10/2020
01/08/2020 - 19/10/2020
08/08/2020 - 21/10/2020
15/08/2020 - 26/10/2020
22/08/2020 - 28/10/2020
29/08/2020 - 02/11/2020
01/09/2020 - 03/11/2020
08/09/2020 - 06/11/2020
15/09/2020 - 10/11/2020
22/09/2020 - 13/11/2020
29/09/2020 - 17/11/2020

Sorry to be a pain, I'm not very good with numbers but I got my approval email on 13.07.2020, it was dated 13.07 as well, when can I expect an invitation?

I agree that the HO should post regular updates, literally takes 4 minutes to type a message up and post it on the website or on Twitter. That way half of the calls and emails they get will stop because they are from people like us expecting their certificates. I've contacted my MP but so far no response other than "I'll look into it".

[baybars1]

Sorry to be a pain, I'm not very good with numbers but I got my approval email on 13.07.2020, it was dated 13.07 as well, when can I expect an invitation?

I agree that the HO should post regular updates, literally takes 4 minutes to type a message up and post it on the website or on Twitter. That way half of the calls and emails they get will stop because they are from people like us expecting their certificates. I've contacted my MP but so far no response other than "I'll look into it".

Based on the model, your invite should be printed on 7 October 2020 and should be with you between 16 and 27 October 2020.

[serg_ko]

Approval Dt - Invite Letter Date (add 9-20 days for delivery)
15/06/2020 - 23/09/2020
01/07/2020 - 01/10/2020
08/07/2020 - 06/10/2020
15/07/2020 - 08/10/2020
22/07/2020 - 13/10/2020
30/07/2020 - 16/10/2020
01/08/2020 - 19/10/2020
08/08/2020 - 21/10/2020
15/08/2020 - 26/10/2020
22/08/2020 - 28/10/2020
29/08/2020 - 02/11/2020
01/09/2020 - 03/11/2020
08/09/2020 - 06/11/2020
15/09/2020 - 10/11/2020
22/09/2020 - 13/11/2020
29/09/2020 - 17/11/2020

What about me? Approval date 02/06/2020, no invitation letter yet )))

[baybars1]

A quick and simple Excel model for approval-ceremony date relationship. Disclaimer: this is only as good as the data and assumptions underpinning it

Type in the following numbers into the Cells A1 to F4 of a spreadsheet as follows:

A1=44050 ; B1=44081 ; C1=44082 ; D1=44083 ; E1=44094 ; F1=44081 ;
A2=43908 ; B2=43965 ; C2=43971 ; D2=43978 ; E2=43991 ; F2=43965 ;

Merge cells B4 to G4 and type the text "Expected Ceremony Letter Date" into the merged area

Type the text "Approval Date" into Cell A5

Type you actual approval date (say, 25-July-2020, or whatever it is) into Cell A6

Type in text "Median" into the cell G5

Copy and paste the following formulae in the worksheet:

Cell B6 = =MAX($A8,WORKDAY(B$2,ROUNDUP(NETWORKDAYS(B$4,$A8)*NETWORKDAYS($A$2,B$2)/NETWORKDAYS($A$4,B$4),0)))

Drag the formula in Cell B6 to Cells C6, D6, E6 and F6.

Finally, copy and paste this formula into the sheet:
Cell G6 = MEDIAN(B6:F6)

Notes:
Cell G6 will return the expected date on your ceremony invite letter based on the approval date in Cell A6. If it returns the "general" number format, you can change it to the "date" format
Add 9-20 days to your approval date to estimate when the invite should reach you.

Good luck and please do post your update once the invite has been received!

[baybars1]

What about me? Approval date 02/06/2020, no invitation letter yet )))

The model says your invite should have been printed on 15 September and should reach you by 5 October 2020. Good luck and keep us posted.

P.S. See my post above, it has the full details needed for the model.

[Wahidwadid]

Hi guys, Just want to update, I have done my ceremony today and send my passport application as well, I had quite long wait to finish the journey, Many tnx all of u and the forum who helped me a lot,And good luck to everyone.

[axeman85]

Hi guys, Just want to update, I have done my ceremony today and send my passport application as well, I had quite long wait to finish the journey, Many tnx all of u and the forum who helped me a lot,And good luck to everyone.

Congratulations

[Jeannot88]

Hi there, can you please check this formula, I think it's correct but the references in the locked cell are incorrect e.g. '$A6' not '$A8' etc etc Thanks

Cell B6 = [size=85]=MAX($A8,WORKDAY(B$2,ROUNDUP(NETWORKDAYS(B$4,$A8)*NETWORKDAYS($A$2,B$2)/NETWORKDAYS($A$4,B$4),0)))[/size]

[baybars1]

UPDATE - fixed the formula in B6 to refer to correct rows

A quick and simple Excel model for approval-ceremony date relationship. Disclaimer: this is only as good as the data and assumptions underpinning it

Type in the following numbers into the Cells A1 to F4 of a spreadsheet as follows:

A1=44050 ; B1=44081 ; C1=44082 ; D1=44083 ; E1=44094 ; F1=44081 ;
A2=43908 ; B2=43965 ; C2=43971 ; D2=43978 ; E2=43991 ; F2=43965 ;

Merge cells B4 to G4 and type the text "Expected Ceremony Letter Date" into the merged area

Type the text "Approval Date" into Cell A5

Type you actual approval date (say, 25-July-2020, or whatever it is) into Cell A6

Type in text "Median" into the cell G5

Copy and paste the following formulae in the worksheet:

Cell B6 = =MAX($A6,WORKDAY(B$1,ROUNDUP(NETWORKDAYS(B$2,$A6)*NETWORKDAYS($A$1,B$1)/NETWORKDAYS($A$2,B$2),0)))

Drag the formula in Cell B6 to Cells C6, D6, E6 and F6.

Finally, copy and paste this formula into the sheet:
Cell G6 = MEDIAN(B6:F6)

Notes:
Cell G6 will return the expected date on your ceremony invite letter based on the approval date in Cell A6. If it returns the "general" number format, you can change it to the "date" format
Add 9-20 days to your approval date to estimate when the invite should reach you.

Good luck and please do post your update once the invite has been received!

[baybars1]

Hi there, can you please check this formula, I think it's correct but the references in the locked cell are incorrect e.g. '$A6' not '$A8' etc etc Thanks

Cell B6 = MAX($A6,WORKDAY(B$1,ROUNDUP(NETWORKDAYS(B$2,$A6)*NETWORKDAYS($A$1,B$1)/NETWORKDAYS($A$2,B$2),0))))

Well spotted and thanks. Fixed here, as well as in a separate post above.

[BoyTed]

Hi guys, Just want to update, I have done my ceremony today and send my passport application as well, I had quite long wait to finish the journey, Many tnx all of u and the forum who helped me a lot,And good luck to everyone.

Congrats wahidwadid enjoy the privilege.

[lemmeseeyouwalk]

Stockport council
Approved 03/07/2020. Applied before lockdown in March (late February, I think)
To this date I have received no letter, and my council has no "paperwork from the Home Office".
It's now almost 3 months since my approval, and I fear another lockdown coming.

If anyone else is awaiting Stockport council, I will update my post when (if) I get any progress.

Good luck all!

[gbalague123]

Wandsworth Council.

Approved in May
Invitation letter received 25th September.
Certificate arrived Council 29th September.
Ceremony booked 7th October (They called me from a no id number to book it) in person at the council
The ceremony used to be online but I believe now online is private and in person at the council is free.
Step closer....

[Jeannot88]

[quote=baybars1 post_id=1943125 time=1601497725 user_id=239363]
Well spotted and thanks. Fixed here, as well as in a separate post above.
[/quote]

Thanks! All working now, my approval was on 23 Sept. So the table is giving me around 13-18 Nov.
I know it's a model but hoping it will arrive sooner for all of us waiting!

[vicky000]

Westminster council told me today that they are still on the April backlog. And that the HO sends certificates irregularly, so they don't know when certificates for a given approval date will arrive, but the HO told them they expect to clear the backlog by the end of November.

In August it was "by the end of October", back in spring it was 28 days, the timelines are shifting further in the future

As new approvals are being added to the backlog, the Home Office needs to work through pending invitations much faster than they normally do in order to catch up, but that might not be feasible during the pandemic.

However, provided they are indeed working in "strict date order", as quoted in recent posts on this thread, perhaps it would be useful to suggest that they start publishing a running update, along the lines of:

"Update as of dd/mm/2020. We are currently sending citizenship invitations to individuals whose applications were approved between date-1 and date-2 (alternatively, in month xyz of 2020"

If anything, posting such an update would greatly reduce the volume of relevant individual enquiries they are receiving (even if they do not concern themselves much with customer service qu ality).

My own experience, it is not on "strict date order" for sure, it really depends on a bit of luck.

[vicky000]

I've been advised by the Home Office helpline this morning that there does not seem to be a particular order in which they are clearing the backlog of ceremony invitations.

One of the issues with this is that the date on the ceremony invitation letter could be too far into the past once the letter has finally been received. This can happen if a ceremony invite letter is prepared by the Home Office long before it is sent.

This is totally true, here is no particular order. I got approval in August and had my ceremony two weeks later, luckily the council received my certificate as well.

[Raihanul]

OK, I have futher refined the model using additional info from the timeline threads and based on:

four May approvals and one June approval where the approval dates and ceremony invite letter dates are both disclosed (2x 14 May/7 Sep, 20 May/8 Sep, 27 May/9 Sep and 9 June/20 Sep)

indication that the Home Office stopped sending invites for approvals granted after 18 March and that they started clearing the backlog of those approvals on 7 August

I working out weekdays instead of calendar days to estimate the delays, but that did not make much difference, naturally

As you can see from the list below (which you can interpolate and/or extrapolate for any given approval date), the median expectation of the delay in printing the invitation letter drops from just over 14 weeks for 15-June approvals to 7 weeks for 29-Sep approvals.

One should another 9-20 days to this median delay to allow for postal delivery.

Median projection for the date on the ceremony invite date
Approval Dt - Invite Letter Date (add 9-20 days for delivery)
15/06/2020 - 23/09/2020
01/07/2020 - 01/10/2020
08/07/2020 - 06/10/2020
15/07/2020 - 08/10/2020
22/07/2020 - 13/10/2020
30/07/2020 - 16/10/2020
01/08/2020 - 19/10/2020
08/08/2020 - 21/10/2020
15/08/2020 - 26/10/2020
22/08/2020 - 28/10/2020
29/08/2020 - 02/11/2020
01/09/2020 - 03/11/2020
08/09/2020 - 06/11/2020
15/09/2020 - 10/11/2020
22/09/2020 - 13/11/2020
29/09/2020 - 17/11/2020

Hi tell me mine please. My approval dated was 16th of June, received 19th of June.

[Iggy23]

To everyone, as it will get messy in a moment with posts and questions, not sure why this is creating problems as it's super easy to understand..

You literally look at the left column find what is the closest date to your approval date, look at the corresponding date on the right column and add 20 days to it = your estimated invitation letter date...

[baybars1]

To everyone, as it will get messy in a moment with posts and questions, not sure why this is creating problems as it's super easy to understand..

You literally look at the left column find what is the closest date to your approval date, look at the corresponding date on the right column and add 20 days to it = your estimated invitation letter date...

Thanks.

Also, while the output of the model is a date estimate, the idea is more to show that, after long postal delivery is taken into account, the wait time with respect to the ceremony invite should gradually decline from about 17 weeks for approvals granted in the middle of June to about 12 weeks for approvals issued at the end of August 2020 and then it drops to 10 weeks for approvals issued at the end of September.

October and later approvals are yet to be issued, but according to the model, the wait time should decline to 8 weeks by the end of October, 5 weeks by the end of November and 4 weeks by the end of the year.

Finally, it is perhaps fair to say that few would complain if they do better than the model, but those whose delays are longer than predicted, forums such as this and perhaps even the model I have shared, can alert the concerned member of the community that they might be affected by an undue delay.

Incidentally, my own timeline from filling in the paper application back in September 2010 to having my first British passport delivered at my doorstep was 40 days in total, which included having my paperwork checked and scanned at the council, mailing the application, receiving the invitation letter, scheduling and attending the ceremony, filling in the paper form for the passport, getting the referee to do their bit, mailing the form to the Passport Office, being invited and attending the passport interview in person and finally receiving the maroon booklet. There were no biometric registrations at the time.

Sharing this model - imperfect though it may be - is my way of saying thank you to the community, as I myself benefited from this forum 10 years ago, when I was advised by some savvy members about the way to expedite my passport interview invitation by calling a certain number, getting some code and then calling another number with that code. It worked. I can't remember the numbers, nor what code I needed, but I do remember that from the date of the ceremony to the date of my passport only 7 calendar days passed, thanks to the tips on this forum - it took me longer to receive my renewed (blue) passport (14 calendar days) in September 2020, although I am impressed by how granular the online tracking is nowadays, for passport applications at least.

[Zigzag1100]

Yes I think we need to get the MP involved. It’s so not right to wait all the while for certificate and now for ceremony. Not to talk about passport yet!

I had a brief call today, I have been booked for the 13th of October. I have sent comment to the council suggesting they bring back private ceremony or move to virtual ceremony. Hopefully something will change by the time you get yours. A lot can change in 2 weeks so I am not holding my breath. Ahah

We might see on that day haha

[moh12]

UPDATE - fixed the formula in B6 to refer to correct rows

A quick and simple Excel model for approval-ceremony date relationship. Disclaimer: this is only as good as the data and assumptions underpinning it

If I've followed these instructions correctly then approval date via letter was 14th July and that has brought out a date of 8th October so shoudl expect to receive end of October.

[rayyfar]

hiya, thank you so much for this model it has given all of us hope. I have tried following the steps but I failed I am not very good with Excel. can you tell me please what my results will be my approval date is 23rd of July 2020

[mr_iyamu]

Not a long post today...
Just pure appreciation.
Finally, I'm British.

Thank you all.
From the bottom of my heart.

[baybars1]

hiya, thank you so much for this model it has given all of us hope. I have tried following the steps but I failed I am not very good with Excel. can you tell me please what my results will be my approval date is 23rd of July 2020

Your ceremony invite should be printed on 14 October and it should reach you by 3 November 2020.

Good luck!