cybervoodoo

Thank you! Hopefully yours comes through very soon! I know of so many people who applied after me and had their test and ceremony before I'd been approved, really unfair to not do it in order. 2018 was definitely not the best year to apply unfortunately

Date applied: 11 March 2018 City/Council area: Rockingham, Western Australia Online / Paper: Online Date received the acknowledgement email: 11 March 2018 Date of the Citizenship Test: 11 March 2019 Date of ceremony: 26 January 2020 Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal): I requested urgent but I ended up having a normal ceremony, 6 months after my application was approved (I also didn't ask for Australia day but just got given that one) After 22 months, I've finally had my ceremony and am now an Australian citizen. Glad to finally have it, but I still find it frustrating how long the process took, if there was an effective way to make a formal complaint that would actually be listened to and not just filed away somewhere I'd do it (a complaint to the dept of home affairs, not my council, they have been nothing but lovely and accomodating). Hope everyone else's experiences are more pleasant than mine.

And I thought the nightmare of this process would soon be over... Application approved on 10th August but I need ceremony ASAP for uni purposes. Called my local council today to see if they could fit me in soon, only to find out that dept of home affairs hasn't even passed on my details to them yet. Lady on the phone was really nice, but obviously nothing she could do without my info from home affairs, but she did tell me that the next available ceremony was FEBRUARY 2020, but by the time my info has been sent through I could be waiting until March or April 2020, which would put me at twenty-five months from when I put my application in....really not acceptable in my eyes. So, next port of call was dept of home affairs. After a relatively shot wait on hold, was told that they can't tell me how long my application will take to be sent to the council, but I can send off an email to ceremonies.wa to see if I'm eligible for an urgent ceremony. So did that this afternoon and attached my uni fee invoice as evidence. Here's hoping they agree to let me have it urgent I've thought about emailing my federal MP, but not sure what use that would be? I'm not sure they could do anything? Now just another waiting game...

Has anyone here applied for an urgent ceremony? and what is the process for doing this? Do I just call the immi number? Also, do you think I should try my luck just ringing my local council, explaining my situation and seeing if they can fit me in a September ceremony?

My parents applied July 2018, sat their test May 2019. My mum got approved May 2019 and my dad July 2019. My brother applied at the same time and sat his test on the same day but he is still on 'received', so not sure they were under the new system.

I'VE BEEN APPROVED!!! So bloody happy and relieved. I last checked my account about 5pm on Friday evening and it was still 'received'. Presumed there wouldn't be anything happening over the weekend, but just decided to check today on the off-chance (Sunday) and my status had changed to approved. Here's my updated timeline: Date applied: 11 March 2018 City/Council area: Rockingham, WA Online / Paper: Online Date received the acknowledgement email: 11 March 2018 Date of the Citizenship Test: 11 March 2019 Date of Approval: 11 August 2019 Date of ceremony: TBA Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal): Urgent, if possible. Now just to get onto the council to get me a ceremony in time for me to access HECS this semester...

My mum got her ceremony letter about ten days after she was approved, but I think it depends on the council.

If you have been out of Australia for four years, they may not grant you a 5 year one, but instead a shorter one, so make sure you read the paperwork carefully if you do get one. My friend, who had spent significant time outside of Australia, thought she had been granted a 5 year RRV, but when she was returning from holiday one time, tried to board a flight at KL airport and was denied because they said she had an expired visa. She did manage to get back to Aus, but only after multiple calls to immigration and a long few hours spent in KL airport after having to miss multiple flights whilst sorting it out. So just be wary!

It doesn't "expire" as such, but you only have free movement in and out of Aus for a set number of years (It was five years for my visa, not sure about others) on your original PR visa, and after that if you for example wish to leave Aus on holiday, you need to have a Return Residents Visa to get back into the country or it can cause big problems when you're trying to get back through customs in Aus. It's a money making scheme basically imo.

Get an RRV. They're over $300 (I think), but will enable you to be able to come and go as your please until you get citizenship. However, it seems like a lot of applications made in 2019 are going through pretty quickly so you might actually get it before the end of the year, in which case, there wouldn't be much point in spending on an RRV for the sake of a few months.

Update: my dads application has been accepted today. Applied July 2018, test May 2019, accepted July 2019. Just find it super odd that my brother's application hasn't been accepted yet when he still a minor (17), but both of my parents have and they all applied together? I've lost all hope about my application by this point

So after my mum received her letter for ceremony in August, despite myself, my dad and brother still having 'received' on our immi accounts, she called our local council (Rockingham WA) and asked to be taken off the ceremony as she would rather wait until the whole family has been approved and we can do it together as intended (bearing in mind my mum, dad, and brother's applications have been linked since they first applied, so why she's been approved and they haven't is beyond me). Fast forward two weeks from then, the rest of us still haven't been approved, and she receives another letter for a ceremony in September. Honestly EVERYTHING in this process seems so disorganised from start to finish. I honestly don't know how they're getting away with being so severely inept.

You may be waiting a while. It doesn't seem to go in any coherent order. I applied 11 March 2018, test 11 March 2019 and have heard nothing yet.

I sat my test in March 2019 and still waiting for approval.

Thanks for the info I'm think it still may be worth doing one just to see where the hold up is, but not sure if that will just make me more frustrated