Approved on 30/11 with Ceremony in February 2022, anyone else?

[ItalianPilot]

Hi Everyone,

I got my email approving my application on the aforementioned date, called my council yesterday just to be told that the next ceremony is in February 2022, to me it seems crazy especially considering is as long as the Home Office took to approve the application with I believe way more work behind the scene there.

It is a borough in London, which makes it even sillier.

I tried to mentioned private ceremony and the person was dismissive, I will have to speak with my solicitor today to see what can be done, if anything, however I was curious to know what's the feedback out there?

Home Office has been SUPER considering the amount of work they have, and have been having since the pandemic and Brexit, I am just concerned about my council of which Boris is local MP.......

[secret.simon]

It is up to the local council as to how often they conduct citizenship ceremonies. Some do it once a week, while others just do it once a month. So your mileage may vary depending on the local council.

It is really a council (not a Home Office) decision as to how often to hold the citizenship ceremonies and for how people at a time.

I am not sure what a solicitor can do in these circumstances. As it has been mentioned multiple times on these forums, naturalisation is not a right.

Even if your local MP is the PM, you can still email his constituency office and request them to liaise with and nudge the local council.

In any case, between the new Covid variant and Christmas, I suspect that December will be a write-off for much council work interfacing with the public anyway.

[ItalianPilot]

It is up to the local council as to how often they conduct citizenship ceremonies. Some do it once a week, while others just do it once a month. So your mileage may vary depending on the local council.

It is really a council (not a Home Office) decision as to how often to hold the citizenship ceremonies and for how people at a time.

I am not sure what a solicitor can do in these circumstances. As it has been mentioned multiple times on these forums, naturalisation is not a right.

Even if your local MP is the PM, you can still email his constituency office and request them to liaise with and nudge the local council.

In any case, between the new Covid variant and Christmas, I suspect that December will be a write-off for much council work interfacing with the public anyway.

Checked with him and the answer is "nothing", although being a central London based (respected) solicitor he said he is the longest he has seen in the past couple of years.

Called the council again and spoke with the same guy, now with more time in my hands, so he said that they have no staff...pretty much...trained to do the job, he suggested to email and check if they can do a private one in January (which would already be a win!) so now I am waiting.

Of course I am not blaming them, it is the fault of whoever manage not of people taking calls or doing the ceremonies, by all means they do what they can with the tools they have been given.

I would escalate it for the decision makers there not really caring.

With regards to variant many council here in London do online ceremony or facilitate private one for that reason, quite a lot can be booked online directly.

Oh well...not much I can do but wait and see what they say, I explained also a couple of reasons why it is rather stressful having to postpone until February.

Also my approval states 3 MONTHS to do the ceremony, the website 6 MONTHS, of course 3 would make this borderline and something should go wrong I am out of the three months stated on the letter.