DranP

FINAL UPDATE: At last, we attended the ceremony last night. And we are the Australian citizens! Date applied: 21/07/2016 Council: Greater Dandenong Online/Paper: Online Acknowledgement Email: 21/07/2016 Citizenship Test: 29/08/2016 (Initially it was scheduled for 27/09/2016) Date of Approval: 29/08/2016 Date of Ceremony: 07/12/2016

I received the acknowledgement email within half hour of submitting the application.

There is a link to reschedule the appointment in the appointment email received from DIBP. If you have been notified by letter, then you can only do it via call.

The easiest way is to do it online. You can do it by calling the Immi & Border protection, but you have to wait longer on phone.

My Timelines are below: UPDATED. Finally ceremony date has been allocated. Date applied: 21/07/2016 Council: Greater Dandenong Online/Paper: Online Acknowledgement Email: 21/07/2016 Citizenship Test: 29/08/2016 (Initially it was scheduled for 27/09/2016) Date of Approval: 29/08/2016 Date of Ceremony: 07/12/2016 (Letter received on 11/11/2016)

Any updates on City of Greater Dandenong? I have done my test and approved on 29 August 2016 and still waiting for ceremony.

The appointment for verification and test wont take much time. But the waiting time to see the CO may vary. I would say, better look for alternate arrangements to pick your son.

Yes, they do ask for originals and make a photo copy. But they don't ask for the old passport, as all the entry and exit would be noted and available in their system. I took my old passport and they said its not required, as they could see the entries in the system.

Thats correct. They don't ask for the old passport, as all the entry and exit would be noted and available in their system. Infact they have pics of us that was taken everytime when we enter Australia too. My CO was showing my pic which was like 4 years old So dont need to worry about that..

They do the federal police check. But if you have traveled outside Australia while you were a permanent resident for more than 90 days. Then they might ask to get one for the country you have traveled.

The letters are printed and sent from Canberra. It took more than two weeks for my friend to receive it. Apparently, its not a big deal whether you receive it or not, as long as your CO has confirmed it. Also, the status of the application remains same throughout. So don't bother much about the status in the application. You should receive the letter sooner

Nope. Your kid do not require to attend the interview/test. But you should carry all the documents of yours and your Kid during the appointment.

Could be. Again it depends whether you have travelled outside of Australia after getting your PR. In our case, we didn't travel at all after our PR. So its less complicated and they could approve immediately on the same day. I had my test on 29th August.

The approval letter is issued based on the Australian Federal Police Clearance. As soon as they receive the clearance from AFP, they approve and issue the letter. In most cases, they receive the clearance on the same day. So it totally depends on the processing from AFP.

I remember reading somewhere in this forum. Someone has mentioned about no. of people waiting for their ceremony. Would it be possible to get that info by any chance? I wish I should have asked this question with Case Officer. She was very kind and helpful. Now I cant reach her anymore..