David Ng

6 hours ago, pzuk said:

Hi all

I applied for citizenship from Melbourne in June 2020 and this morning received my invitation to interview!

I have an emailed scan of my birth certificate but not the real hard copy. Will this suffice or do I need to get my parents to send it from the UK?

Thanks

Yes if you want to be on the safe side.

They didn't ask for the hard copy of my birth certificate (many others reported the same). They did ask for my ID (I recalled that I used my Driver Licence, brought my Passport with me also). They also asked for my Medicare card and scanned it into their system. I'm also from Melbourne.

1 hour ago, IMA said:

Hi all, 

We are hoping to apply online next week. I have few quires and just wondering if anyone could help me with these.

1. Do we have to submit 2 different applications for me and my partner?
2. Do we have to have separate immi accounts to do so or can we do that in one immi account?
3. If we have to submit 2 separate applications, do we have to include our child in both applications or only in one?

Much appreciated if you guys could help me with this.

Cheers!

I was in exactly the same situation,

1. You'll need 2 applications for you and your partner

2. You can use a same immiAccount for both applications.

3. Your child will need to be included in 1 application only, better be the main one (if you apply using your immiAccount, include him/her in your application, just easier if there's any following up or additional requirements)

Apart from that, you'll need to mention in your partner's application that she/he has a child which is not in this application, but in another one. There's a section for that when you create the application.

Also, if you're living together and both from a same address, it will be much easier. If not, preparing for additional custody documents.

On 15/04/2021 at 17:03, Hasan84 said:

For me the case officer did ask to see the original through the glass along with passport, DL and medicare card. 

So I suppose err on the side of caution and try to get it here before the interview if you can.

I need to correct myself! They did ask for my ID, I'm pretty sure that I used my Victoria Driver License, not sure about Passport, but those are standard IDs and should absolutely be carried to the Interview day. They also asked for my Medicare card, which they then scanned it and returned it to me.

15 minutes ago, Cooey said:

I applied 22 May 2020 and just received a test interview in Melbourne (date in early June and easily rescheduled to late April)

I noticed on the letter that you need to bring your original birth certificate? I uploaded a copy for every visa before this and don't have the original document in the country. Does anyone have experience with this? I may need to reschedule to a later date to allow postage time from overseas... 

Don't worry about that. They will go through all your uploads on the day of your Interview. If you uploaded a high enough quality colour scan of your original birth certificate, that will be enough. I used the same scan for my Visa application 7 years ago, and for my Citizenship application, they didn't ask for any additional documents from me on my interview date.

They may still ask for it, but it is very unlikely!

19 minutes ago, Hasan84 said:

Hi David,

It appears that we dont get my email or message in this account once application is approved after test? We just have to keep checking out account ? 

For all members my timeline is below

Application date 7Oct20

Test invitation date 8Apr21 

Test date: 13Apr21 (rescheduled from 6May21)

Status: waiting for approval 

Council: Canterbury Bankstown (NSW)

Please feel free to ask me any questions about my application. 

Correct, I didn't get any notification when our applications were approved (the same was reported by many other users).

I just checked my ImmiAccount daily and saw my applications changed to approved (I know, I was a bit impatient but who wasn't?!)

10 hours ago, MMarie said:

 

Hi David. Just wanted to ask if have you received an email regarding the Ceremony invitation or by post? We are also waiting for ours. Hope it arrives soon.

Just emails and messages in the List of correspondence when logged into ImmiAccount

So, both me and my wife have just received our Ceremony invitations today  . Our timeline is below

Application date: 23/12/2019, 2 applications: me with my 8yo son and my wife

(First test appointment was around 05/2020 but was postponed due to Covid-19)

Test dates:
  - For me 05/02/2021, approved on spot
  - For my wife 22/02/2021, approved on 03/03/2021

Ceremony invitations: today 14/04/2021 for ceremony on 18/05/2021

I have tried to send an email to Victoria's virtual ceremony after my wife's approval, but didn't receive any response at all...

Application was in Melbourne VIC

54 minutes ago, MMarie said:

Hi guys. I just want to ask on how to reschedule the test appointment? Do you have to check all the time to see if there's any available slot? Thanks!

Yes, that what I did; which then enabled me to re-schedule to 20 days earlier than my initial appointment!

11 minutes ago, Gaurav99 said:

Hi, good morning. My wife and I both passed our test on 22nd February in Melbourne, has anyone received citizenship invites if they passed their test in either January 2021 / February 2021? Really keen to understand timelines in Melbourne for ceremony invites

On the same boat. My application was approved on 05/02/2021 (same day with my test) and my wife's test was on 22/02/2021 and her application was approved on 03/03/2021

Still waiting for our ceremony invitation. I used to live in Knox area , moved to Casey now

Any ceremony recently for VIC applications?

1 hour ago, Chef.pande said:

Hi congratulations on your approval,even I got approved yesterday, Did you received any email confirmation ?

 

 

No email at all. I've just logged into ImmiAccount to check almost daily...

Finally, I've just checked my Immi Account and my wife's application was approved! Below is our timeline

Application date: 23/12/2019

Test date:

• Me: 05/02/2021, approved same day
• My wife: 22/02/2021, approved 03/03/2021

Ceremony: waiting

Really tempted to send VIC online ceremony an email... Should I?

1 hour ago, hd2016 said:

Hi silent reader here and i just wanna share my timeline 

Date of Application: 19/07/2020

invitation to test: 19/02/2021 for 20/03/2021, got rescheduled to 05/03/2021

Parramatta CB

just wanna ask if it is a good idea to reschedule to a sooner date, does it affect the approval time? because as i can see here in the forum, some are super quick some are taking ages.

and also wanna ask about bring original document to the interview, i only have photocopy of my birth certificate, my original one is at my home country. will they accept it?

Nah, I rescheduled mine to 20 days earlier, and I rescheduled multiple times (say, 5 times, I know that's bad! keep checking back to see any sooner availability), got approved on spot. 

If you have colour-scanned and attached the original ones on Immi Account, they will probably not ask for any of those documents again.

20 hours ago, NRK said:

Hello

I took my test on 5th of February and my husband took it on 8th of Feb, his application got approved today while mine is still received. Can anyone help me why?

I guessed it's completely random and pure luck... My application was approved on the same day of my test. My wife took her test last Monday (22/02, 100%) and her application is not approved yet as of now... I would say her application was much less complicated than mine... I used to travel abroad a lot due to work, and I also included our 7yo with my applications...

24 minutes ago, expatica said:

Not sure if it's relevant to my approval (which I checked as soon as I got home)... but the way the rooms were setup I walked by my interviewer to leave after I passed the test and she didn't have anyone so I stood there with a huge smile and gave her a thumbs up, and she gave me a big smile and also a thumbs up back! lol I was just so excited. So maybe if it's possible, give your interviewer a thumbs up and act like a total dork once you pass the test, and maybe you'll get approved right then! lol

Haha, nice and positive way to look at it. I think (just my theory), that the approvals of applications are manual tasks, and since they have hundreds and thousands of applications they had to go through, sometimes they're just forgetful. If the one who has just checked all your documents did the approval, it would be very quick, since they've just done all the checks! Thumbs up is a good way to remind them that you've passed your test and they can do their approval!

Initially my interviewer asked me to go to the computer room, but then another officer there asked me to wait outside cause they had to limit number of people inside. Then she just waved to me behind her glass screen, and when I came back to her booth, she told me that she'd let me do the test on her iPad there. So she just logged in for me and handed me her iPad. I finished my test in less than 5 minutes, 100%, then she told me that she approved my application and it would show up on Immi Account shortly

21 hours ago, Melbournian said:

No reason not to acknowledge it - if you have seen the invite.

Its always good to acknowledge - if you have not Missed looking at the invite. 

The invitation emails will come from this address: noreply@mail.appointments.homeaffairs.gov.au

That "noreply" there means that it won't be monitored so there's no point in replying/acknowledging it.

It's also a good idea to whitelist *.homeaffairs.gov.au in your email settings, depending on which email service you are using.

After you've got an appointment, you can come back and change it any time to any available slot. Their appointment system is very flexible and easy to change. I brought forward my appointment 20 days sooner. You should check back multiple time as available slots will change frequently, I was able to book to even the next day when I was checking back in Jan, but I wasn't well prepared so I booked it in a week time.

1 minute ago, NRK said:

Melbourne CBD 

I took my interview in Melbourne CBD also, and the officer who processed my application on the day just told me that she approved my applications. From my conversation with her, it's mainly the documents uploaded to Immi account. For me, I'm pretty meticulous in preparing my scan documents. I always included a high quality original colour scan of any document, which is very readable, translations if required. I attached all the documents in the Required section; and to my best effort, all the documents I can get my hands on in the Additional document section.

I guess it wouldn't hurt just ask the one who process your application on the test day whether or not your application would be approved on spot, or what additional details they were looking for... etc

5 hours ago, Kamila said:

Hi there,

Do you mind sharing the link you practiced for your citizenship test? Thanks

I've just used this free practice site, and read the Our Common Bond booklet many times, it's very helpful!

https://www.easydrivingtest.com.au/citizenship-test

2 minutes ago, Act said:

Congratulations on the approval.

Could you please tell us how many applicants roughly were there with you. Your overall observation / guess on how many people attending the office each day for test ?

There were about 10 - 20 other people inside Home Affair Melbourne CBD office during my time there.

So I attended my Citizenship Interview today. The lady who took my case was very nice and friendly, she told me that she would look through all the documents I have uploaded and if she needed to see any additional documents, she would tell me. She didn't ask for any additional documents except my Medicare card (I have prepared everything in my bag just in case though).

She asked me only 1 question, whether or not I have had any offences including traffic offences before, I honestly told her that I had a couple speeding tickets, she asked me whether or not I had to go to court for those, I said no, then all good!

My timeline:

• 23/12/2019: application submitted, Melbourne Southeast surburb
• Some time in Feb 2020 I received invitation for Citizenship Interview on 27/05/2020, then it was postponed not long after due to the pandemic
• 28/01/2021: received invitation to a Citizenship Interview on 25/02/2021, rescheduled to 05/02/2021
• 05/02/2021: Citizenship Interview, all the process was verrry quick! I was inside only 20 minutes , approved on spot (the officer told me that she approved the application after I've got 100% mark on her iPad, it would show up immediately on my ImmiAccount, I've just logged in and had a look, my application was approved)
• waiting for ceremony invitation, the lady there tole me that I'll probably need to wait up to 6 months for it...

I've just got some good news (especially for the Melbourne folks!)

My wife was invited to a test just today (over email) on 24/02/2021. We applied on 2 separated applications on 23/12/2019. She was invited for a test in May 2020 but it was postponed until now. I'm still waiting for my test invitation...

On 26/01/2021 at 09:07, Tien1993 said:

Hi all. Anyone knows if your visa still matter after you have obtain citizenship ? I know it doesn't make sense to hold a visa and citizenship at the same time. I'm currently on 187 visa and have about 9 months left to go but I would have my citizenship around June. Can I leave my job early ? 

Well, Visa is for non-citizen only. You'll either need a Visa or an Australian Passport to enter Australia, which means:

- You use your foreign passport with a valid Visa

- OR, you use your Australian Passport

From my experience with Border Force 3 years ago when we travelled abroad: my kids had 2 passports, and when I accidentally handed them their foreign passports (cause I bought their flight tickets with those foreign passports), the lady custom officer were a bit upset and reminded me that they always preferred the Australian Passport on Australia land. Could be because my kids didn't have (didn't need to have) Visa so that caused a bit of time to look up for her, it was my bad 

On 11/01/2021 at 23:56, LeJJ4 said:

I have been following this forum for a while and I can't still understand what it is with some people here?

what kind of expectations do you have when the Doha is pretty clear saying that processing time is between 23and29 months? everything else that comes before that consider yourself LUCKY.

No to mention that people here keep calling obsessively and encouraging other to call Doha and council when in the approval letter they discourage you on doing so.

Seriously.

 

 

 

Well, simply put, people are impatient, and (a BIG and), I don't think DOHA is working effectively (pandemic is just a good detracting reason). They cost Australian a lot of tax money every year, yet their performance is questionable (during 2019 it seemed that they stopped processing Citizenship all together for 8 months just because of a speculation of new Citizenship requirement). Do a quick Google search about Department of Home Affairs efficiency, you'll get plenty of reports officially about the messy management, toxic/harassing/bullying culture, low morale work environment in DOHA, thanks to the big top guys... (you know who). But as long as they still have protection from the Fed Government, and as long as Dutton is still there; nothing will be changed I guess.

17 hours ago, Melb2016 said:

Hi all,

Applied from Melbourne in April 2020. Still no news, status is received. Anyone in VIC got through over the last few months?

Thanks. 

I and my wife applied from Melbourne on 23 Dec 2019. Wife was invited to the test in May 2020 but it has been postponed and we haven't heard anything since then... 

15 minutes ago, littlefoot said:

Glad I'm not the only one waiting for approval. I did my test in Melbourne on 21st December. Still showing as 'received'.

When did you apply for Citizenship? We applied on 23/12/2019 and are still waiting for our test. It has been scheduled in 05/2020 but then got cancelled due to the pandemic.