Citizenship

Well it’s official!!! My husband in now a UK Citizen….  He attended his ceremony this morning, he had to be there at 10:45am for the ceremony to start at 11:00am. Once he cleared security he had his paperwork checked and was shown to his seat.  At 11:00am the ceremony started with introductions and a brief history of the ancient county of Angus and our place in the history of Scotland and UK. Then it was on to the oath there was two options one oath that included the word God and one that did not.  Everyone was given a card with the words on it but were asked to repeat after the presiding officer, so no one had to speak on their own. After the Oath the presiding officer then talked about the importance of citizenship and how it is a special thing.  They were then allowed to take photos and the ceremony was done.. All in all he was finished by 11:30am.  We then went to a family lunch at a local hotel to celebrate..

He was not asked for his BRP card so I am going to have to search for info on where we return it to.  We are moving into our own home next week so its going to be  a very stressful week! Once we are unpacked we will apply for a passport.. STAB US WITH A FORK WE ARE DONE!!!!!!!

Huge congratulations!

There was a BRP return address of:

Naturalisation BRP Returns
PO Box 195
Bristol
BS20 1BT

on the page here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-spouse/after-you-get-your-certificate

However, I think you don't have to do it straight away, more after the certificate arrives. Our registrar quite pointedly said that we didn't have to return it until after we had our passport, which seemed quite relaxed to me! (edit: and in contravention of what that page says, too )

Huge congratulations!

There was a BRP return address of:

Naturalisation BRP Returns
PO Box 195
Bristol
BS20 1BT

on the page here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-spouse/after-you-get-your-certificate

However, I think you don't have to do it straight away, more after the certificate arrives. Our registrar quite pointedly said that we didn't have to return it until after we had our passport, which seemed quite relaxed to me! (edit: and in contravention of what that page says, too )

Thank you biscuits, as he got the certificate at the ceremony, I will get the BRP in the mail tomorrow..

Well it’s official!!! My husband in now a UK Citizen….  He attended his ceremony this morning, he had to be there at 10:45am for the ceremony to start at 11:00am. Once he cleared security he had his paperwork checked and was shown to his seat.  At 11:00am the ceremony started with introductions and a brief history of the ancient county of Angus and our place in the history of Scotland and UK. Then it was on to the oath there was two options one oath that included the word God and one that did not.  Everyone was given a card with the words on it but were asked to repeat after the presiding officer, so no one had to speak on their own. After the Oath the presiding officer then talked about the importance of citizenship and how it is a special thing.  They were then allowed to take photos and the ceremony was done.. All in all he was finished by 11:30am.  We then went to a family lunch at a local hotel to celebrate..

He was not asked for his BRP card so I am going to have to search for info on where we return it to.  We are moving into our own home next week so its going to be  a very stressful week! Once we are unpacked we will apply for a passport.. STAB US WITH A FORK WE ARE DONE!!!!!!!

This is a great recap of the big day. Congratulations to you both! And congratulations on the move too. You have had a very eventful month.

I didn't even think about taking pictures, although now I might try to be "patriotic" and get a few snaps. I only took the morning off, so no big celebrations for us. I'll have to go back to work once I get home. I hadn't even thought about bringing my BRP, but maybe I will. I will also ask about whether or not I can hold onto it until I receive my UK passport, which I plan to apply for as soon as I receive my certificate. Who knows whether or not they'll give it to me on the spot...but it would be great if they did.

As expected, my experience was completely different from both of the ones described here. Arrived early as requested, and the room began to fill. In all, I think there were about 40 people--some with companions and others alone. We were brought into the official ceremony room in Islington Town Hall, which was pretty impressive.

The center of the room had a portrait of the Queen with a British flag and Islington flag in front. We were asked for identification before entering the room (I used my BRP) and then asked which oath we wanted to take (I said the one without religion, because I couldn't remember the different choices). The organizer separated two different groups (loosely) and he briefly went through some stuff about the Islington flag and its history. We were given envelopes with three pieces of paper, including one with instructions about applying for a British passport. We were also given a paper with the two different things we needed to repeat.

We were asked to remove our masks, and each person stated their full name on their own. Then the two groups repeated their oaths in unison - one after the other.

There were then photos taken with our certificates alone, and then we were given a little plastic British flag and our guest was allowed to pose for photos (WITHOUT MASKS). The guy doing the photos was having printing problems, so I'm not sure if I'm going to bother with the photos (they are charging £10 for each photo).

I asked about returning my BRP and the gentleman said I could do it after my British passport arrived. He also urged me to apply for my passport ASAP (even today, if possible), stating that it's taking about three or four weeks right now. He highly recommended going the online route.

I think that's it!

Ah, our post-ceremony celebration included two Donut Time creations (one of my favorite vegan decadent treats) and an iced coffee (so American, I know).

Now I must get back to work, but tonight I will contact my council so I can vote, and I go through passport application stuff.

Yaaay! Congratulations Heidi!     

Thanks! I could not have done it without you (and the process was made much more enjoyable by my three virtual amigos).

Congrats Heidi, your ceremony sounds so much better than my husbands. I did present him with a Scottish flag after his ceremony but there was no official photos, just the ones I took on the steps afterwards.  We have mailed back the BRP but we have not started the passport yet as we are moving house this week and its a bit hectic right now!!

Congratulations Heidi

We're going to do the passport photo tomorrow for the application. Today we registered to vote. Exciting stuff!

Geez, finding the person who can confirm my identity is not so easy. Most of the people I know do NOT have British passports.

Congratulations Heidi

We're going to do the passport photo tomorrow for the application. Today we registered to vote. Exciting stuff!

I was able to do everything for the passport last night (I just took my photo for my US passport in April), but in pulling together the documents, I realize there is no mention of a completed application form (to include with the mailed in submission). Did you do the application online? Or did you use a paper form?

I'm a bit nervous about sending everything without a paper version of my application, but they didn't send me one via email after I completed the process. This goes against what the instructions say, which is "complete the application form online, in which case HMPO will print out the completed form and send it to you to sign and return with the supporting documents."

Anyone have experience with this?

Hi Heidi,

Sorry, I was so waylaid yesterday I never got back to the forums here.

We saw the same message. It is a little conflicting in the documents we received with our certificate and so on, however, I am pretty confident that the application reference number that's generated online is pretty tightly done, and we will be going all online with it. We have submitted it and so far, so good. Our friend should verify us in the next day or so, then we will be posting the required documents (passports and naturalisation certificate) by special delivery to the passport office as per their instructions.

As special delivery is insured to at least the cost of a replacement naturalisation certificate, I'm not overly concerned by it! No experience yet, but willing to find out

In the past, I've done paper forms for myself and those have been fine too - though the very last one I did was online, I never had to post anything for signing backwards and forwards. I'm trying to remember now if there was anything unusual about it but I don't think so.

Hi Heidi,

Sorry, I was so waylaid yesterday I never got back to the forums here.

We saw the same message. It is a little conflicting in the documents we received with our certificate and so on, however, I am pretty confident that the application reference number that's generated online is pretty tightly done, and we will be going all online with it. We have submitted it and so far, so good. Our friend should verify us in the next day or so, then we will be posting the required documents (passports and naturalisation certificate) by special delivery to the passport office as per their instructions.

As special delivery is insured to at least the cost of a replacement naturalisation certificate, I'm not overly concerned by it! No experience yet, but willing to find out

In the past, I've done paper forms for myself and those have been fine too - though the very last one I did was online, I never had to post anything for signing backwards and forwards. I'm trying to remember now if there was anything unusual about it but I don't think so.

Thanks for getting back on this. I actually called the passport office and read the misleading language to the guy who said they've never sent out completed forms, so I suggested they change the wording or stop giving that information to people. It was very odd and goes against what the actual application advises in terms of documents.

Yes, I think the reference number is the most important thing.

Anyway, I sent my stuff off on Tuesday (1st class, signed) and it arrived yesterday. I was able to ask the husband of my former boss to act as my reference, and he did it immediately on Monday night (with me on the phone to answer questions for him so he could respond to the email he received). He's one of the few people I know who has a British passport (his wife is Canadian!), and fortunately, we've stayed friendly even after I left my job over a year ago.

More waiting now...I started a new thread about waiting times (on first UK passports), but I don't think anyone responded yet. I see you liked it! 

Ours is on the way out the door tomorrow I think, so I'll probably populate that thread of yours a little more when I get the detail.

That's great that you got the clarification from HMPO, and wow, your ex-boss's husband sounds really nice to expedite that for you too

Ours is on the way out the door tomorrow I think, so I'll probably populate that thread of yours a little more when I get the detail.

That's great that you got the clarification from HMPO, and wow, your ex-boss's husband sounds really nice to expedite that for you too

Oh, there will be thank you chocolate once I receive my passport. He is such a great person.