Citizenship Ceremonies

Under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, all applicants over the age of 18, who are accepted as British citizens, are required to take part in a Citizenship Ceremony. Anyone under 18 years of age and accepted does not have a legal requirement to attend but may do so at their own request, particularly if their application was part of a family application.

The aim of the ceremony is to enable applicants to gain a full understanding of the rights and responsibilities that come with becoming a British Citizen and to ensure that they are properly welcomed into the community. As a British Citizen, you have a right of abode in the United Kingdom and are no longer subject to any form of immigration control.

The Citizenship Ceremony is hosted by an officiating Registrar with an assistant in attendance to give a short introduction to Inverclyde. When you receive your letter of invitation from the Home Office you should contact the Greenock Registration Office for confirmation that your certificate has been received. The Registrar will automatically write to you when the certificate is received in the office to invite you to the next group ceremony.

These ceremonies are held on demand, approximately once per month on a Wednesday. However, if you wish to have an individual ceremony, this can be arranged at an additional cost, so please contact the Registration Office and advise of the dates that would be convenient for you.

Each candidate must bring their Letter of Invitation from the Home Office with them. Candidates should note that guests are normally limited to two per candidate. We ask both candidates and guests to arrive 10 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony. The actual ceremony takes approximately 10 minutes, followed by the presentation of the certificate and the offering of a memento gift from Inverclyde Council. At the close of the ceremony everyone in attendance will be asked to stand for the National Anthem.

Inverclyde Council understands the importance of these ceremonies and does its utmost to make this final stage in becoming a British Citizen as enjoyable and meaningful as possible so that each new citizen will take away with them a feeling of being welcomed into the community and the British nation.

For further information, please contact the Registration Service (refer to Contacts section of the page).

Payment method is by debit or credit card.