Citizenship

What happens after your application has been approved by the Home Office

Congratulations on your successful application for British citizenship.

Once the Home Office informs you your application has been successful, you should then wait to receive a letter in the post from us inviting you to our next available group citizenship ceremony. 

If you have not received your letter from the Ealing Register office it means we have not received your certificate from the Home Office. We are unable to invite you to a ceremony until we have received it.

As soon as we receive your certificate we will send you a letter with your group ceremony invitation, until then stay safe and we look forward to seeing you on your big day.

Attending a citizenship ceremony

Applicants who have been granted British citizenship are required to attend citizenship ceremonies. If your application is successful the Home Office sends you a citizenship invitation. You then have three months to attend a ceremony. The letter tells you where to go for your ceremony.

If Ealing register office is your named office, you will be automatically allocated a place in the next available group ceremony. A letter is sent to your home address telling you the details of your ceremony.

Group ceremonies are usually held on a Thursday, subject to availability and are free. If it is not convenient for you to attend the ceremony you will need to contact us using the enquiry form to book another place. 

Documents you need to bring with you

  • Home Office invitation letter
  • Photo identification (eg passport, driving licence)

If you do not have a photo identification document, please bring a birth certificate or another form of identification. You will not be able to attend a ceremony if you do not bring these documents with you.

Children under the age of 18 are not legally required to attend a ceremony. You can collect their certificate for them. They can of course attend if you want them to be involved in the ceremony experience. If you are collecting their certificates you will need to bring identification for each child receiving citizenship. This doesn't need to be photo identification, a birth certificate is enough.

The ceremony is not suitable for children under 10 years of age, so unless your children are receiving their citizenship you will need to find someone to look after your children whilst you are in the ceremony (children under the age of 10 years and not receiving citizenship will not be admitted to the ceremony).

What happens during the ceremony

During the ceremony you will need to:

  • swear either an Oath or an Affirmation
  • make a Pledge. 

The Oath involves swearing to 'Almighty God'. This refers to whichever God you may believe in. The Affirmation is non-religious and makes no mention of God. It is up to you which of these to choose.

You will also need to make a pledge to the Queen that you will be a loyal subject and a faithful citizen of the United Kingdom.

This will be done in a group. You will only need to repeat the words, so you do not have to learn them. Once everyone has done this, you will be presented with your Certificate of Naturalisation. You can use this to apply for your British Passport.

Private ceremonies 

You can choose to have a private ceremony. This may be because you would like to attend a ceremony sooner or just prefer to have your ceremony alone.

These can usually be arranged within a week and are are held weekdays and Saturday. To book a private ceremony please contact us using the enquiry form.

A deposit is payable at the time of booking for a private citizenship appointment. If you attend the appointment, the deposit will be used towards payment for the service. If you need to cancel or make amendments to your appointment your fee maybe retained and an additional fee maybe applied. For more details please see our ceremony cancellation and amendments policy.