Sheila

Approvals now started pouring in. Stay tight, just a matter of few more weeks. 3-4 weeks.

 I think from  1st Nov - 15 Nov most of us will receive the approval letters.

16th April is the date when Eliot applied for citizenship. The guy who approved on 4th applied on 9th April. So he applied 7 days late than that guy. 16-9= 7. So he can expect approved  7 days later than his approval.  4+7= 11th October ( two extra days for 13, just in case ).

Complex maths.

Your  letter should receive by 20th October

Some movement @ Melbourne office. Here is a timeline for a victorian applicant. NOT me

Council: City of Casey, Melbourne
Test place: Melbourne CBD office
Applied: 9 th April 17 (Online)
Email Notification for Test appointment on June 1st : Scheduled on 06 Sep17
Rescheduled Test date online: 31 July 17
Approval Received: 12/10/17( Post), issue date: 4/10/17
Ceremony Date: Waiting

I think they might clear the backlog first before processing applications after 20 April 2017. That is kind of assumption I think

Same here 111 days - 23 June test and passed with 100%

Lady is not from Victoria

someone in another forum posted her update that she received an approval letter on 5th October dated 26 September- test date 22 June. State council  not mentioned

There is no citizenship test booked in Nov in Melbourne. I think everyone will be finished with the test in next couple of weeks

You can fight for an early ceremony as you are Council-less, therefore can be accommodated in any council or immediately next available ceremony. Hoping for the good result in next few weeks.

All indicators pointing towards end of October, 1-month Dementia would be helpful:)

That is correct Elliot, as there is definitely something unusual.  As the whole system is working differently as compared to 6 months ago. The previous pattern was more waiting time after approval letters and before ceremonies.

No, it is not official but an opinion from someone from another forum 

"People who all are waiting for approval mails, don't press panic button. I believe it should be happening for a reason, most of you guys are aware that DIBP stopped processing applications the people who lodged after April 20th, so only work DIBP have is to process the applications lodged before April 20th and it reported to senate committee that they will close the processing of old applications by Oct end, we should take this as liberals word as government officials follow what potato Dutton tells. if DIBP process all applications and keep with empty hand until new bill passes, can government handles the pressure from opposition, other communities and common people? It has slowed down the process till new law passes, it would get pile of applications from Oct 19th to process, so they will try to close the old ones by end of Oct, So wait for another 30 days everything will be all right. "

Another opinion

I called today as well. They said, No approval yet. Wait. This time they actually looked in the file.

overall things are not bad 4 us @Elliot Tsao

In a bigger picture, it is just 5 months since lodgement. Department increased expected time frame 4 a known reason. From the pattern, it is evident that a huge number of applications are pending.

TEST dates       Approval letter  Approval date        Not approved 30  - Approved 21 Approval rate 40%

In my council, next ceremony is on 5 December.  if I receive the letter by 5 Nov so that I can be included in the ceremony I am happy.

The citizenship test is usually scheduled for next 2 -3months after test Email.  Now there is only appointments in the month of October and few on Ist Nov only. So waiting period (between test email and citizenship test ) is now squeezed to almost 1 month. DIBP don't have enough applications to process now. As I applied on 18 April around 11 pm and there were only 24 hours left before new rules were introduced and people who applied during that period are still at test stage. I think in mid or end of Nov everybody will be done with the test.  Unless the start processing applications post 20 April, in a month time DIBP will have pretty much nothing to do as everybody will be done with the test. So hopefully in next 3-4 weeks, most of us will get approval letters 

it is not us, a lot of people are waiting

 I think,delay may not be related to LR/ HR issue. it is more like lack of staff

I am from LR country too..!!

On 9/20/2017 at 22:53, Felix123 said:

Hello boys and girls,

OK. Pleased to report I have my invitation for ceremony taking place on Thursday 5th October. Got the letter today and it was dated 12th September. 

I need a passport very quickly after ceremony as I travel frequently for work and am due to travel 11th October. As the PR visa gets cancelled on Citizenship what's the chance in arranging a passport before my travel date? Has anyone arrange a passport quickly after ceremony?

Thanks in advance for advice.

Felix

Congrats ...!!

Get the Form from Post office, get it is signed by a person who is Australian Citizen and know you more than 12 months. That person must be from certain professions, I think same as Identity declaration form for citizen application. Drs, nurses, police officers, pharmacists etc. You can book urgent passport appointment at DIBP office Melbourne the next day of the ceremony.  You will get passport delivered in 3-4 days at your home or ready to be collected from DIBP in 2-3 days if you choose to collect from the office. You are lucky that you get all steps completed in time. Good luck and all the best.

47 minutes ago, seeker said:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JYRvi6XH4LKUvdCW5vmCG44U7VG469oZNQeKgceVDO4/edit?ts=589cfc5c#gid=0

some active members who lodged citizenship applications are updating status in the above sheet. looks like all the people who lodged before April 20th got the dates for exam, most of them got approvals , though approvals delayed than usual time. Number of people attended citizenship ceremonies this month is reduced by 2/3 in some councils, this clearly tells that DIBP people are doesn't have any work to do by end of this month.this may also put the pressure on government to take decision quickly. if the bill doesn't pass and DIBP has to process the applications for old rules and more than 65000 people lodged the applications from April 20th( figures told by DIBP), so expect massive delays in processing...

Great analysis. ... !!! Hope for the best