So our citizenship has now come through. A question for those who've already gone through theirs. How long is the ceremony from time of turning up to getting out of there? I ask as I was thinking of bringing some friends from work, but since it's the middle of the day wasn't sure how long I'd be stealing them from the office.

About 2 hours. Waiting for all to arrive. Go through the spiel, go home. I imagine that it would be much longer if you wanted a picture with the Citizenship Judge as everyone has to form an orderly line for that.

That may be too long. Also judging by many of the photos I've seen of the ceremony rooms there isn't room for guests really despite them telling people to bring them along.

Guess I'm going to do my big day on my own then.

The ceremony didn't take that long. IIRC, once you have pledged your allegiance, etc. they hand out the documents and you are free to leave. Our room was packed and lots brought all sorts with them. Our kiddies were asked if they wanted to help the Citizenship judge hand out items. So we had to stay right until the end of the process of everyone going up to collect their certificates and I can't actully recall if everyone had to stay for that. I would imagine that if you left once you have yours, there would be stern looks, but if you don't care ...

I agree with this - took about 2 hours for us from start to finish, and we did not wait for photos. Lots of people brought guests (we were at Hamilton). It was a nice ceremony, they asked where everyone was from, so many different nationalities were represented. It was a happy experience for all of us, apart from our 15 year old son who got very emotional during the national anthem and has been teased ever since by our 12 year old!

2hrs? Wow! My UK citizenship ceremony was 5 mins max. I guess Canadians make it a big deal