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I got my naturalisation application approved and received the letter from Home office. It was mentioned on the letter that I need to call City Council to schedule it. When I called them yesterday, they told me that council will automatically schedule the ceremony. Today afternoon, I got a letter from council which mentioned that my ceremony is in the first week of July. Is it normal to have ceremony 45 days after approval ?

jkcool wrote: ↑

Tue May 21, 2019 10:55 pm

I got my naturalisation application approved and received the letter from Home office. It was mentioned on the letter that I need to call City Council to schedule it. When I called them yesterday, they told me that council will automatically schedule the ceremony. Today afternoon, I got a letter from council which mentioned that my ceremony is in the first week of July. Is it normal to have ceremony 45 days after approval ?

Can you not ask for a private ceremony? It's not free as I understand but much quicker.

jkcool wrote: ↑

Tue May 21, 2019 10:55 pm

I got my naturalisation application approved and received the letter from Home office. It was mentioned on the letter that I need to call City Council to schedule it. When I called them yesterday, they told me that council will automatically schedule the ceremony. Today afternoon, I got a letter from council which mentioned that my ceremony is in the first week of July. Is it normal to have ceremony 45 days after approval ?

It varies Council to Council depending on their availability. You can go for 'private ceremony' but it will cost you extra (again the amount varies). Call your Council and they would be able to tell you how much and whether it would be any sooner if you want to do it privately. When I booked my ceremony the date I was given was three weeks after but then for a £80 fee I am going to do it privately and one week earlier than the date I was given originally for a group ceremony.

Some councils either don't hold ceremonies that often (because of demand) or ceremonies are overbooked, meaning yours is even later. How quickly you can have a private ceremony also depends on availability. My council can often do ceremonies within 48 hours, but Westminster for instance once told me their next availability was more than a month away.

Along with my application, I sent my daughter's British citizenship registration application. It is also approved. can I book a private ceremony to do mine and collect my daughter's registration certificate ?

Do I have pay for collecting my daughter's as well ?

Yes you can.

No you don't pay to collect your daughters cert!

can one change the council after approval of naturalisation, to a council that might offer a nearer ceremony, or is it not possible?

hamalt66 wrote: ↑

Wed May 22, 2019 7:23 am

can one change the council after approval of naturalisation, to a council that might offer a nearer ceremony, or is it not possible?

Not so easy. You have to notify HO. Council then has to send your cert back to HO who then sends it on to another council. It can take a few weeks.

The wait in Cambridge for a public ceremony was over 60 days when I applied. So 45 days seems to still be pretty good...

hamalt66 wrote: ↑

Wed May 22, 2019 7:23 am

can one change the council after approval of naturalisation, to a council that might offer a nearer ceremony, or is it not possible?

Yes. I was told to expect a change to take up to 6 weeks (can't say if that was accurate, or they were just looking to discourage the change). You'll need to contact Home Office, who will then request the certificate from the current council if they've sent it out already, and then forward it to the new council and then send you a new invitation letter.

If you've not received a decision yet, it may be much quicker, and they can get back to you within a couple of weeks confirming that the LA in your application has been changed to the new one.

Thank you CR001 and others for the replies.

I called them up and got it scheduled a month earlier. It costed me £112 for a Monday - Thursday appointment. For Friday and Saturday, it was £153.