Citizenship Ceremony cancelled due to Covid-19

[Desmond123]

It really is a joke.
Why cant we collect in person to just speed up this process? Some of the other councils are doing it. Why not Manchester?

Its things like these which create backlogs, delays and unnecessary inefficiencies across the whole process!!!

My ceremony was on the 1st Feb and still waiting for the certificate to be delivered....

Exactly. This wait seems like it is never ending.

I received my Citizenship Certificate this morning from Manchester City Council. Thanks to Almighty God. Over to passport tread. Wish everyone best of luck.

Amazing news. So it seems like they have posted them then. Did you have to sign for the post?

No, the post man just popped through my door, thou it was special delivery with white envelope, I think the postman did that bcs of social distance

[myukqueries]

Just got a response from the Manchester Council - Similar to jasmine89 earlier...

"Hi, Please can you bear with us, as we were sending out the certificates via special delivery last night the franking machine broke down.
We will endeavour to get it to you by weekend, however please note someone has to be in to sign for it."

So I guess they may have printed and posted some which is why Desmond has received it already.

Congratulations to you Desmond.

[PhantomPermit]

UK home office is a real disgrace to the country. They provide substandard service, high on fees low on delivery. All that fees (£3200 for super priority ILR) + £1300 for citizenship and they can't deliver a bloody document on time

[naruto]

One more- happy update.

Although last week around the 14th I got an email saying my invitation hasn't been printed yet- I just received it!

Approval date: 1 October
Ceremony invitation letter dated 7 December
Arrived: 21 December

Earliest ceremony for Barnet - 25th of February! WHY!

No private ceremonies at the moment either. Gutted.

Congratulations mate

I was approved on October too and still no invitation letter I’m also with Barnet council

Fingers crossed that we get this done ASAP

perhaps we'll have a ceremony together! If there's any room left on the 25th.. They said only 15 can join each ceremony and they had two available on the 25th - 10am and 1pm. Good luck!

Hi mate how are you?

I was just wondering if you managed to do your ceremony yet at Barnet council?

As I’m still on the waiting game

Regards

[naruto]

Dear all respected members,

can i just ask if there is someone from barnet council here? Has done the ceremony or anything thank you..

[jasmine89]

Just got a response from the Manchester Council - Similar to jasmine89 earlier...

"Hi, Please can you bear with us, as we were sending out the certificates via special delivery last night the franking machine broke down.
We will endeavour to get it to you by weekend, however please note someone has to be in to sign for it."

So I guess they may have printed and posted some which is why Desmond has received it already.

Congratulations to you Desmond.

What i dont get is why cant we collect them
In person like some of the councils did. The fact that it is taking them close to 10 days to deliver a certificate post ceremony within the same city is disgraceful. I live 15 mins away from the council office

[jasmine89]

Just got a response from the Manchester Council - Similar to jasmine89 earlier...

"Hi, Please can you bear with us, as we were sending out the certificates via special delivery last night the franking machine broke down.
We will endeavour to get it to you by weekend, however please note someone has to be in to sign for it."

So I guess they may have printed and posted some which is why Desmond has received it already.

Congratulations to you Desmond.

If its not there by tomorrow it would be best to ask for it to be collected. Instead of waiting for the “franking machine issues”

[myukqueries]

Just got a response from the Manchester Council - Similar to jasmine89 earlier...

"Hi, Please can you bear with us, as we were sending out the certificates via special delivery last night the franking machine broke down.
We will endeavour to get it to you by weekend, however please note someone has to be in to sign for it."

So I guess they may have printed and posted some which is why Desmond has received it already.

Congratulations to you Desmond.

If its not there by tomorrow it would be best to ask for it to be collected. Instead of waiting for the “franking machine issues”

I literally asked them if I could do that and got a reply immediately saying - NO - you cant do that...
Unbelievable!

I live 10-15mins from council too and to think that my certificate has been with the council for almost a month a now is ridiculous.

[jasmine89]

Just got a response from the Manchester Council - Similar to jasmine89 earlier...

"Hi, Please can you bear with us, as we were sending out the certificates via special delivery last night the franking machine broke down.
We will endeavour to get it to you by weekend, however please note someone has to be in to sign for it."

So I guess they may have printed and posted some which is why Desmond has received it already.

Congratulations to you Desmond.

If its not there by tomorrow it would be best to ask for it to be collected. Instead of waiting for the “franking machine issues”

I literally asked them if I could do that and got a reply immediately saying - NO - you cant do that...
Unbelievable!

I live 10-15mins from council too and to think that my certificate has been with the council for almost a month a now is ridiculous.

Lets hope we get it tomorrow.

[Missi]

Finally my journey form ILR to citizenship ended..
Application submitted: 6th September 2020
Biometric date:21st September 2020
Approval date: 12th November 2020
Invitation dater received: 6th January 20121
Citizenship ceremony virtual: 8th February 2021
Collected by certificate same day after 30 minutes of my ceremony.
Applied for passport 8th February 2021
All the very best for all the members.

[jasmine89]

Hi syed. Can you please let me know when you get thr certificate. I have not received anything.

Hello jasmin, I haven't received yet. I will let you know when I receive that.

Got another email from council saying you will have the certificate by the end of the week. This is an absolute joke. How can they take 10 days to deliver a certificate within the same city. When they say please be patient i think the don’t realise how long we have been waiting and have been patient and the emotional strain of this draining process that we have had to go through

Did you email them? This is shame jasmine. We can't do anything but wait. It's hard to wait for the certificate after finishing everything. I live one mile away from the city centre and still have to wait 10 days.

Hi syed. Did you receive your certificate by any chance today?

[asifmahmood36]

Hi, Anyone just had the ceremony with Wandsworth Council? Your experience Please. I have sent my invitation letter last month but still waiting for an appointment. They sent me reply by email that a team member will touch you but still waiting

[nnn15]

Hi everyone, I have emailed to the home office numerous times to send my invitation letter via email or by post as my local council has received my naturalization certificate. But they are not giving me any reply. Now I have to cancel my citizenship ceremony which is tomorrow.

It is really frustrating now. Can anyone please help me in this matter

Some councils do citizenship ceremonies without the invitation letter, they ask for the approval letter instead. Try that first. If your council refuses, I'd recommend submitting a complaint to the Home Office (https://www.ukvi-complaints.homeoffice.gov.uk/reason) and reaching out to your MP. There is a Home Office hotline for the MPs, so your MP can either force a response from the Home Office or convince your council to do your citizenship ceremony just with the approval letter as other councils do that (apparently invitation letters going astray in the post is a common issue).

[Shirin22]

Hey everyone I had received my ceremony confirmation letter last week confirming the date and time of my ceremony but both my approval letter and ceremony invitation letter are not yet received. I have contacted the home office numerous time but not getting any response from them. Any suggestions on my situation as my ceremony is approaching very soon and is likely to be cancelled if I didn’t get my invitation letter from the home office before then

[russn]

Ealing Council

Finally booked for me private ceremony after 2 weeks . that is 2 months after invitation letter date and 5 months after approval

It’s free

Ealing Council

I just checked my post box yesterday and I got a letter from Ealing Council asking me to write to them... Wondering if you also got a letter and then they booked you in. Would you mind sharing the date of your ceremony ? Just want to know what to expect. Thanks !

Yea if you write to them. They will reply with a date. You can then either select that date or ask for another date

They booked me earliest available 12.02.2021

Oh nice thank you ! Yea I sent the email on Monday - hope they will reply soon... Enjoy your ceremony on Friday !

[jasmine89]

Just got a response from the Manchester Council - Similar to jasmine89 earlier...

"Hi, Please can you bear with us, as we were sending out the certificates via special delivery last night the franking machine broke down.
We will endeavour to get it to you by weekend, however please note someone has to be in to sign for it."

So I guess they may have printed and posted some which is why Desmond has received it already.

Congratulations to you Desmond.

If its not there by tomorrow it would be best to ask for it to be collected. Instead of waiting for the “franking machine issues”

I literally asked them if I could do that and got a reply immediately saying - NO - you cant do that...
Unbelievable!

I live 10-15mins from council too and to think that my certificate has been with the council for almost a month a now is ridiculous.

Just got my certificate in post.Finally Thank the Almighty God.I am sure you will get it soon i think they have started sending them Out in order. Best of luck to everyone that is waiting.

[myukqueries]

Just got a response from the Manchester Council - Similar to jasmine89 earlier...

"Hi, Please can you bear with us, as we were sending out the certificates via special delivery last night the franking machine broke down.
We will endeavour to get it to you by weekend, however please note someone has to be in to sign for it."

So I guess they may have printed and posted some which is why Desmond has received it already.

Congratulations to you Desmond.

If its not there by tomorrow it would be best to ask for it to be collected. Instead of waiting for the “franking machine issues”

I literally asked them if I could do that and got a reply immediately saying - NO - you cant do that...
Unbelievable!

I live 10-15mins from council too and to think that my certificate has been with the council for almost a month a now is ridiculous.

Just got my certificate in post.Finally Thank the Almighty God.I am sure you will get it soon i think they have started sending them Out in order. Best of luck to everyone that is waiting.

Congratulations!!

I have just received mine too.

On to the passport thread...

Thank you all and Good luck.

[Kindsoul]

Hi everyone, I have emailed to the home office numerous times to send my invitation letter via email or by post as my local council has received my naturalization certificate. But they are not giving me any reply. Now I have to cancel my citizenship ceremony which is tomorrow.

It is really frustrating now. Can anyone please help me in this matter

Some councils do citizenship ceremonies without the invitation letter, they ask for the approval letter instead. Try that first. If your council refuses, I'd recommend submitting a complaint to the Home Office (https://www.ukvi-complaints.homeoffice.gov.uk/reason) and reaching out to your MP. There is a Home Office hotline for the MPs, so your MP can either force a response from the Home Office or convince your council to do your citizenship ceremony just with the approval letter as other councils do that (apparently invitation letters going astray in the post is a common issue).

Unfortunately, my local council is not doing the Citizenship ceremony without invitation letter. Today they called me and asked about the invitation letter ( which I did not receive so far). Now they have cancelled my oath ceremony and just said they can't help me in this matter.
It is very disappointing.

[tariq1956]

Hello Everyone,

I applied on 21 Sep and received the approval on 25 Nov. And sine then I haven't got any update from the council or the HO.

I tried to call the council today but they literally pick up the phone and hang up at the same moment

Has anyone with same approval interval received the invitation yet ? And do you know which dates are the HO currently handling?

Many thanks

[Gard]

Hello jasmin, I haven't received yet. I will let you know when I receive that.

Got another email from council saying you will have the certificate by the end of the week. This is an absolute joke. How can they take 10 days to deliver a certificate within the same city. When they say please be patient i think the don’t realise how long we have been waiting and have been patient and the emotional strain of this draining process that we have had to go through

Did you email them? This is shame jasmine. We can't do anything but wait. It's hard to wait for the certificate after finishing everything. I live one mile away from the city centre and still have to wait 10 days.

Hi syed. Did you receive your certificate by any chance today?

Hi jasmine, I have received the certificate today. What about you?

[PhantomPermit]

anyone still waiting around 15th october approvals?

[MALCOM2]

Hello Everyone,

I applied on 21 Sep and received the approval on 25 Nov. And sine then I haven't got any update from the council or the HO.

I tried to call the council today but they literally pick up the phone and hang up at the same moment

Has anyone with same approval interval received the invitation yet ? And do you know which dates are the HO currently handling?

Many thanks

Yes I got the same approval as you but I did email Southwark council and the told me that I should phone them on 15 of February to find out if my certificate of naturalisation is been received. I will let you know know the outcome.let keep in touch

[tariq1956]

Hello Everyone,

I applied on 21 Sep and received the approval on 25 Nov. And sine then I haven't got any update from the council or the HO.

I tried to call the council today but they literally pick up the phone and hang up at the same moment

Has anyone with same approval interval received the invitation yet ? And do you know which dates are the HO currently handling?

Many thanks

Yes I got the same approval as you but I did email Southwark council and the told me that I should phone them on 15 of February to find out if my certificate of naturalisation is been received. I will let you know know the outcome.let keep in touch

Thanks a lot. I will keep you updated as well. But you still haven't received the invitation, correct?

[Bengomango]

Hi calinun my friend which you all the best . I have a question please . What details I need to collect from countersignatory to fill in passport application such as:

Name like in the passport
Passport number
Phone number and e mail
Adress

Anything else ? Please

Thanks a lot man

[MALCOM2]

Hello Everyone,

I applied on 21 Sep and received the approval on 25 Nov. And sine then I haven't got any update from the council or the HO.

I tried to call the council today but they literally pick up the phone and hang up at the same moment

Has anyone with same approval interval received the invitation yet ? And do you know which dates are the HO currently handling?

Many thanks

Yes I got the same approval as you but I did email Southwark council and the told me that I should phone them on 15 of February to find out if my certificate of naturalisation is been received. I will let you know know the outcome.let keep in touch

Thanks a lot. I will keep you updated as well. But you still haven't received the invitation, correct?

I didn’t receive my invitation letter yet . But I will let you know as soon as I get it .my target is definitely next week we should received it .