British citizenship ceremonies

Invitation from Home Office

If your application for British citizenship is successful, the Home Office will ask you to go to a citizenship ceremony. You must attend a citizenship ceremony within three months of receiving your invitation or you may need to apply again. When you receive your invitation from the Home Office Atlas Notifications:

• Send the Home Office email to us at citizenship@norfolk.gov.uk
• Include your full name and telephone number in your email

Before contacting us, please check that your invitation email is from 'Home Office Atlas Notifications'. Usually the Home Office send invitations on Monday mornings from 10am onwards.

Arranging the ceremony

We hold citizenship ceremonies at County Hall in Norwich. We also offer express ceremonies from County Hall. Express ceremonies are smaller group ceremonies for a fee of £150 per person.

When we receive your details and the Home Office Atlas Notifications invitation, we'll contact you. On your caller display we will appear as 'no caller ID' or as a private number. During the call we'll help arrange your citizenship ceremony and ask you some questions. Please let us know the following information when we call:

• If you hold a BRP (biometric residence permit) card or travel document?
• If you wish to say the Oath of Allegiance or Affirmation of Allegiance? You can read the words of the oath by using the first link in your Home Office invitation.
• If you have any travel plans booked as this could affect when your ceremony can take place. Once you have completed your Citizenship Ceremony your settled status will change. This means you will no longer be able to use travel documentation which was valid in the past.

Travel documentation

The Home Office have asked us to make you aware that you should not make any further travel plans, until you receive your British Passport.

You can only apply for a passport after the ceremony has taken place. As a British Citizen you will no longer be able to enter the UK using your BRP or by presenting your citizenship certificate at the UK border. For travel purposes, you will need to apply for either:

• A British Passport.
• A certificate of entitlement to the right of abode. You can place this in a valid foreign passport to gain entry back into the United Kingdom.

We look forward to helping arrange your citizenship ceremony. If you have any questions please contact us at citizenship@norfolk.gov.uk.

To apply to become a British citizen or for more information visit the Home Office website.