Citizenship ceremonies in Manchester

When you receive your letter of approval from the Home Office, you should telephone the Citizenship Team at the Manchester Register Office to make an appointment for your ceremony. (Tel: 0161 234 5531) 

Due to high demand for appointments at the moment, this telephone line is currently very busy.  We apologise if you have difficulty getting through to us.  We are in the process of putting more resources in place to improve our ability to answer all telephone calls faster. In the meantime, if you have a problem contacting us by telephone, you can e-mail us at  registeroffice@manchester.gov.uk , giving us a telephone number we can contact you on, and we will try to phone you back as soon as possible.

You are required to attend the ceremony within 3 months of the approval being granted, otherwise you may have to make a new application.

At the Manchester Register Office we endeavour to provide the ceremony date within one week of you contacting us.

The Ceremony 

The ceremony will take approximately 30 minutes, but you can expect to be at the register office no longer than one hour which will include time for registration before the ceremony and photograph opportunities after the ceremony has ended.

Refreshments are provided before and after the ceremony.

You are required to bring: 

• Your Home Office citizenship invitation with you. Failure to do so may result in your ceremony being postponed.
• Friends and family are welcome to attend but due to limited space we can only allow 2 invited guests per citizen. Citizenship ceremonies are held in groups of 20 or less. Access to the group ceremony will be by invitation only.

Private ceremonies

 You can have an individual ceremony or a small family group ceremony. There is an additional fee for this service. For further information enquire at our citizenship ceremony section on 0161 234 5531.

What happens at the ceremony?

• When you arrive at the register office our citizenship ceremony staff will be available to welcome you and make sure you understand what is going to happen.
• After you have signed in and your documents have been checked, you and your guests will be seated with the other new citizens attending the ceremony.
• The ceremony is conducted by the Superintendent Registrar who will formally welcome the new citizens on behalf of Manchester City Council.
• The applicants will then swear of affirm allegiance to the Queen and make a pledge of loyalty. Both swearing and affirming allegiance to the Queen has the same meaning. The difference between the two is a matter of religious belief or practice. Swearing the oath is calling on God as witness. Affirming the oath is confirming a promise without reference to God. Anyone wishing to swear the oath whilst holding a holy book is welcome to do so and asked to bring their own holy book to the ceremony. Both the Oath and the Pledge will be repeated as a group after the Superintendent Registrar conducting the ceremony.
• You will then be presented with the nationality certificate along with the information pack. The nationality certificate can subsequently be used to support passport applications and to prove an individual is a British citizen.
• The ceremony will end with the national anthem after which there will be informal celebrations with light refreshments and the citizens have the opportunity to take photographs with their guests.

 At Manchester Register Office we do our best to ensure that the ceremonies are enjoyable and meaningful, creating a friendly environment for new citizens. We hope that the ceremonies will encourage all new citizens to play an active part in the Manchester community.