Citizenship ceremonies

Booking your public citizenship ceremony 

Your public citizenship ceremony will be held in the Old Court Room or the Kingswood Suite at Wakefield Town Hall. The ceremony is led by the Superintendent Registrar or by one of their deputies. The guest of honour is either the Mayor of Wakefield or the Deputy Mayor.

• the number of guests you can bring to your ceremony will be restricted to 2 per person (this does not include children under the age of 5 as they can sit on the knee of a parent/guardian attending as a guest)
  • If a guest has accessibility issues/individual needs please advise us of this prior to arrival
• you must arrive 15 minutes before your ceremony start time, if you arrive too early we may not be able to accommodate you straight away
  • in cases of lateness, we will not allow access to the ceremony and you will have to contact the Registration Service by telephone to reschedule to a later date
• parking information – If driving to the ceremony, please note that parking is limited around the Town Hall please ensure you leave enough time to locate parking and walk to the building to arrive 15 minutes prior to the start time
  • the ceremony is expected to be completed within 30 minutes of its start

During the ceremony you will be asked to swear or affirm an oath. After the national anthem, you will be given your certificate. Once the ceremony has concluded there will be time for photographs.

Children under 18 years old

If you have children under the age of 18 on your application, they do not have to attend the ceremony. Parent's will get their child's certificates.

If you wish for the child/ren to take part in the ceremony, they can attend the same ceremony as the parent. Please ensure they are included when you book your ceremony

Private Citizenship Ceremony

A public ceremony is a special occasion but if you are unable to attend you can book a private ceremony for an additional fee.

There will be no dignitaries at the ceremony. You will still swear or affirm an oath and join in standing for the National Anthem.

The ceremony is led by the Superintendent Registrar or by one of their deputies. You can invite a maximum of 25 guests. Children under the age of 5 are not included in guest numbers.

If you wish to book a private ceremony, please telephone 0345 4 852 888 and wait to speak to a member of the team.

Documents to bring

You are required to produce:

• The Home Office email or email confirming the appointment sent by Wakefield Registrars (paper or electronic version acceptable)
• photographic identification (such as passport, travel document or driving licence)

Failure to bring your identification to the ceremony will result in you being asked to leave and contact us to reschedule another ceremony.

Procedure for citizens wanting to change the venue of the ceremony to another district

If a citizen wishes to change the venue of the ceremony to another district, you must contact us to arrange for the necessary paperwork to be returned to the Home Office. They will then re-send the paperwork to the new register office conducting the ceremony. This will delay when the citizen can have the ceremony and receive their certificate.   

Replace or correct a UK citizenship certificate

You must pay a fee to order a replacement registration or naturalisation certificate, or to correct mistakes on a certificate.

How you order a certificate depends on when you became a citizen. Please see the Home Office website for more details.

Enquiries regarding citizenship

A prospective citizen who has not yet received an invitation letter or a member of the public with an enquiry about British citizenship and citizenship ceremonies should write to:

Home Office
Managed Migration
Nationality Group
PO Box 306
Liverpool 
L2 0QN

Further information may also be obtained from the Home Office website.