Applying for Citizenship

An application for citizenship of the Velocity Interoperability Network is made to the Citizenship Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network on one of five routes: residence, service with a member organisation, descent, adoption, or grant by resolution of the Network Assembly. The requirements of each route, and the manner in which the qualifying period is counted, are set out on the Eligibility and Residence page. Read that page before you apply.

There is no charge for an application, for the knowledge assessment, for a ceremony or for a certificate of citizenship. An applicant may hold an application on only one route at a time; if you would qualify on more than one, apply on the route whose qualifying period you have already completed.

The steps of an application. Every application passes through the nine stages below, whichever route it relies upon.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check that you are eligible

   Establish which of the five routes to citizenship you rely upon and satisfy yourself that you meet its requirements on the day you apply. An application made before the required period of residence, service or care is complete is refused, and the fact of the refusal is recorded.

2. 2

   Step 2: Assemble your documents

   Every application requires proof of identity. An application relying on residence or service requires in addition a record of the address or addresses at which you have resided during the qualifying period and two references from citizens of the Network or from officers of a member organisation; an application by adoption requires the record of the adoption and two references. The documents required on each route are set out in the table below.

3. 3

   Step 3: Submit the application

   Write to the Office enclosing the completed particulars and your documents. Documents are accepted as scanned copies; the Office asks for the originals only where a copy is unclear or where the record it is checked against does not agree with it.

4. 4

   Step 4: Receive an acknowledgement and reference number

   The Office acknowledges every application by email within three working days and issues a reference number. Quote that number in all later correspondence. If you have not received an acknowledgement within ten working days, write to the Office rather than applying a second time.

5. 5

   Step 5: Verification of residence and records

   The Office verifies the residence, service or descent on which the application relies against its own records and against returns supplied by member organisations. Where a period cannot be verified you are asked for further evidence and given twenty-eight days to supply it.

6. 6

   Step 6: The knowledge assessment

   Applicants relying on residence, service or adoption sit a short assessment on the institutions of the Network, the rights and obligations of citizenship, and the working of the member organisations. The assessment is taken by appointment and may be retaken once without a further application. Applicants by descent or by grant are not assessed, nor is a person adopted who is under sixteen.

7. 7

   Step 7: Decision

   The Office decides the application and notifies you by email. A refusal states the requirement that was not met and explains how a review may be requested. The median time from receipt to decision during the transition period was thirty-one days.

8. 8

   Step 8: Invitation to a ceremony

   An approved applicant is invited to the next ceremony at which a place is available, ordinarily at the site nearest the address of residence recorded in the application. Invitations are issued seven days before the ceremony and must be accepted within three days.

9. 9

   Step 9: Make the affirmation and receive your certificate

   At the ceremony you make the affirmation of citizenship before the presiding officer and receive your certificate. Your entry is made in the Register of Citizens with effect from the date of the ceremony, and your register number is stated on the certificate.

Documents required. The table below sets out the documents that must accompany an application on each route. Where a document is in a language other than that of the Network, supply a translation with it.

How long each stage takes. The periods below are those the Office works to. Where a period is exceeded the Office writes to the applicant with the reason and a revised date.

The schedule of ceremonies. Six ceremonies are held between 19 September and 14 November 2026 at five principal sites of the Network, offering 540 places in all. Invitations are issued seven days before each ceremony to approved applicants who have not yet attended one. The schedule for the first half of 2027 will be announced in the Newsroom.

If your application is refused. A refusal states the requirement that was not met. You may ask the Office to review the decision within twenty-eight days, and the review is decided within forty-two days of the request. A review is conducted by an officer who took no part in the original decision. A refusal does not prevent a further application once the requirement in question has been met.

Applications and enquiries may be sent to contact@citizenship.gov.vin. For what happens on the day, see Ceremonies; for the entry that follows, see The Register of Citizens; for answers to common questions, see the frequently asked questions.