Nora

8 hours ago, Melbournian said:

If you don't get your passport by that time, postpone your test.

You will see that option in the email , which will be sent to you. 

If you don't have your passport, you can show your australian driver's license  that would suffice. You can also show your expired passport. I DID this for my test and ceremony. 

Finally Australians!!! ❤

297 new citizens today at Moreton Bay Regional council from more than 30 countries! 

What a Journey! All the best everyone. Your day will come. 

✌

1 hour ago, Jack91 said:

Big day tomorrow! Interview and test in Brisbane! 

You will do just fine. Be honest with your responses, and stay calm during test. Questions are pretty straight forward.

On 29/10/2021 at 18:01, Aayush said:

Hi Guys,

I am waiting for a call / letter for the ceremony. But I am traveling soon and would like to make sure that the ceremony isn't scheduled while I am away. Is there a way to notify the council / department to not to schedule the ceremony during my travel period?

Council - Moreton Bay Regional Council

Cheers.

Hi, they will invite you to your Ceremony via email. If you need to check if you are in their list for the next ceremony you can ring the Moreton Bay Regional Council customer service line. If you are schedule, and cannot make it, you can reschedule it and they will allocate you on the next available date. 

Hope this answers question.

4 hours ago, mikesmyth said:

Applied in May 2021 (Melbourne - Whittlesea). Included my son's application as well (born last year).

Still showing as "Received".

Have moved to Wyndham Vale since, wondering if it would affect timing for processing.

Maybe you will be allocated to a different city council? Allocated to their queue, it may be longer or shorter the waiting time. 

3 hours ago, Ddl said:

Hi guys, 

I applied mine and my wife’s citizenship on 15th of April this year in parramatta office. And I haven’t heard anything yet. Problem is my wife’s overseas passport is expiring January next year. Does she need to have valid passport to attend the test and interview? Or ceremony?

thanks guys.

She can bring her Australian driver's license, plus any other ID, doesn't matter if it has been expired. I was told this when calling at their customer service line. 

12 hours ago, microstarba said:

Thank you. Yes that would be the preferred approach. Many people mentioned 'phone calls' so I wonder if it's different by state / case / current visa scheme etc.

For the test/interview date, we got an email from DHA and a notification/message on our immi account. We were based in Melbourne back then. 

And for the ceremony, we were invited via email from our Moreton Bay Regional Council (Qld) by their marketing team. They only sent one email to my hubby with the invitation for all applicants. I have friends in BNE who were invited via mail postage. 

3 hours ago, benmonavale said:

Hi

any idea of how to get the identity declaration 1195  done ?

I do not know anyone on this list, i m here 5 years, 3 years as permanent resident

I never been to the doctor/dentist/chemist ... 

So basically i do not know anyone who can sign it for me, i even tried JUSTICE of peace but  they must know you for at least 1 year !

So i m stuck with this ..

 

Any idea?

 

thanks

 

 

Do you have children attending school? That perhaps you may know their teacher for +12 months? 

We had our school principle sign for us. We weren't "friends", just acquaintance. 

For those in Moreton Bay Regional Council. We have been invited via email to attend our ceremony on the 4th/Nov/2021.

Fingers crossed we don't go into lockdown. I hope you all get your invites soon too! It will have taken us 8 months from our approval date to ceremony. 

2 hours ago, GL9 said:

Hi All, I got an VC invite with only my name and Cust ID, but my application also contains  my son (who is Minor) , so ideally he is not mandatory to attend the ceremony as he is below 16, so my question is :

• Once my ceremony completed, does my son's applications also get finalized along with me ? (Asking as his name is not listed in the VC Invite)

Yes. Once you attend your VC your application and those dependant attached will be finalised. As you can see, there is only one file on your immi account, the one under your name and once you click on the (+) tab it will show your dependants. But as a whole, they will finalise your application.

It only came with your name because you the main applicant and are the only one legally required to attend the ceremony. I was told this by citizen officer on the test date as my husband has our school-age daughter attached to his app.

Look at the title: it says immigration and citizenship. That's from their officail website.

Yes, I did use this form for Citizenship. 

On 23/09/2021 at 22:44, citseeker said:

Hi guys,

in the question related to where we have lived in the past 5 years.. I was in UAE from Sept 2016-Arpil 2018 in UAE but by mistake I wrote April 2021 instead of April 2018 - obviously I was not in UAE then, I was in Australia...

Is this a major error? Do I need to cancel and redo my application for this? Can I just add a document explaining this and upload it?

 

please help

There is NO need to re-apply. Just upload the form 1023-Notification of incorrect answers form and that is it (just download it from searching it in Google: form 1023). It happened to us as well with other questions and did this. That is the purpose of this form.

Cheers.

1 hour ago, Scott 2020 said:

Hi, 

Just a quick question about the application for citizenship. 

My partner and I are de facto with two children. We have applied for all previous visas together on the same application but this time I can't see anywhere to add her. 

Do we have to apply individually? 

Might be a silly question but hope some one can clear it up for me 

Thanks 

Yes, separate per applicant over 16 years of age. 

I would recommend Melbourne Eastern Suburbs. They are quite nice, and probably 38-45 min from Melbourne CBD.

I.e.: Croydon  Mooroolbark, Ringwood, or even the Yarra Valley area. Have a good look.

We lived in Croydon for.3.years and loved the life stlye we had qith two school kids. Bjt we always wanted to moved up back to Qld because of the weather. 

53 minutes ago, Anoop said:

Hi all

applied for citizenship by conferral 

my self , husband and son 

applied on 12/5/2021 

cairns far North Queensland 

Haven’t heard any thing yet 

does any one had any idea approximately how long they take to send you invitation for a test? 
thx 

They make it very clear, it is a waiting game.

Those waiting in Moreton Bay Regional Council, I have raised a FOI, and they have replied with: "(...)as of 20th August 2021 there were 1582 people whose applications been approved and were waiting to attend their ceremony."

Now, within these numbers, there may be people waiting from 0-8 months already (or longer, who knows) since they got their applications approved. 

Moreton Bay Council don't publish upcoming events they have left for this year. However, Moreton bay Regional Council did say over the phone that they organise ceremonies every 2 months . 

1 hour ago, Kkk7 said:

Hi everyone, 

Just quick question, I’m waiting for my ceremony I’m planning to move inter state, if I transfer my file, Would there be delays in getting Ceremony in  another state. 
thanks 

You will be allocated to their queue, so it could be a long or short one, who knows. Once you move interstate, you will have to update your residential address on immi account and also call the DHA so they can allocate you to your new council. This is what I did.

Cheers. 

1 hour ago, Aayush said:

Yeah.

Citizenship Application: 04/05/2021
Invitation to sit test received: 15/06/2021
Test Date: 13/07/2021
Approval: 13/07/2021
Ceremony: TBA

Yours came quick. That's nice, hope you hear from them soon too. When been waiting 6 months now, and now the waiting time from approval to ceremony is 6-8 months. 

3 hours ago, Darth Vader said:

Dear All, 

I have a question, Is there any form of identification document for children under 5 years other than their passport ?

The reason I want to ask is, by the time I apply for my Citizenship, my son's Indian passport will have less than 4 months to expire. Since he was born offshore, his passport was issued only for 3 years. 

/Thanks,
Darth Vader

You can use the expired one. We used our children's expired ones (it was over 10 months expired) and it was fine, no dramas. 

People in this forum living in Moreton Bay Regional council still waiting for ceremony?

On 17/08/2021 at 11:17, Andyt0904 said:

Hi - I live on the Sunny Coast. Had test on 10th June (100%) and immi account changed to approved on 7th August. Happy days!!!

Questions

1. How long until you receive a note in the post re the approval and next steps? I know that comms do not come via immi account once approved which seems strange?

2. How long before we hear about ceremony dates?

Any one have any similar experience? Thanks

Andy

May take a week or 2 for you to receive a mail with your approval letter. 

From there, it will take from 0-8months to get to your ceremony, times can vary of course. I am also in Sunny Coast (Moreton Bay Regional Council), and been waiting 6 months already. 

All the best for you.

Nora

1 hour ago, XoXo11 said:

Hi , Thank you for replying 

yes I am aware It may need to be lodged especially  , But can pcc be submitted or uploaded on immi account later in 1-2 months after I have lodge my citizenship application and not at the time of application? 
 

 

We submitted ours like 8 months after we lodged application, they didn't asked for it, we used the same pcc used for PR bc we didnt go out of the country after PR was granted (we haven't been overseas since we first arrive to Au to tell you the truth). I uploaded it bc I didnt want them to ask for one and delay the process, nor I wanted to prompt them to ask for a new upto date pcc. 

And on my test/interview date in Melbourne,  my officer checked it and said: :oh you have your pcc..but haven't been out since then,  so that is good"

If I were you, if you have one, upload it..if you dont, just apply for one while you lodge your application and later add it on if you want or wait wait for them to ask for it. 

46 minutes ago, ozshuttler said:

There may be alternate options as you said, but you cannot decide for others anyway. There is always some reason that they find is more compelling based on their individual circumstance and even if it isn't compelling, the mere fact of proudly calling yourself an Australian officially is a good enough reason for people to seek getting to ceremony quicker. We all have been through so many hurdles to get here and it does makes sense for people to want to get it done ASAP particularly when they have been approved and the only last step is a ceremony. 

Spot on! 

33 minutes ago, Ken said:

All seems a bit rich to me. Before the pandemic it took 6 to 8 months between approval and ceremony (sometimes longer) but now there's a pandemic messing up all the processes they expect it to be done quicker!

I honestly do not look at other people's times, nor their reasons to want it quicker, each to their own. 

3 hours ago, ToowoombaBlue said:

Every day I read posts from people getting more and more impatient that the date for their citizenship ceremony hasn’t been set.

Whats the rush? Why are people so keen to get the process completed, the test has been passed, most likely the status on the Immi account has been changed to approved, so why are people so desperate? 

Id be interested to know other peoples views, I’m waiting for my ceremony, but am not expecting it to happen for at least 6-8 months and that’s being optimistic!

Well, there are several reasons, many would want to get a grant from the government; like the Low Deposit Scheme for their homeloan, HECS, scholarships, get their Au passport to travel for whatever reason, provide citizenship for a position that requires you to be citizen, etc etc. All the mentioned normally have set timeliness, so that may be a reason people will get desperate. I personally believe that everyone has a reason to want their citizenship come through asap, and that is none of our business. If one requests a urgent citizenship, it is upto the citizenship officer to decide whether or not it is a compelling reason.

I too want it urgently, but the reason I have isn't for compelling nor compassionate reasons, so all I do is wait and hope it comes on time for my plans.