whiskey21

4 hours ago, cinfo100 said:

Hi, 

does anybody know whether form 1195 requires you to have a copy of the person who certified the document, their proof of citizenship?

for example if you had a Justice of Peace sign your form 1195, did you also have to ask them for proof of citizenship so you could put it into the application?

thank you all

No, I did not provide the proof of citizenship of the person who made the identity declaration for me. The person's occupation is in group 3 (Bank officer with 5 or more years of continuous service). 

On 16/03/2021 at 19:34, 04April2017DE said:

Congrats. Which council? What excuse did you give them for virtual ceremony? I emailed them many times with no reply. Thanks.

Sydney/Georges River Council

7 hours ago, Kevin6370 said:

Did you send any evidence attached with the email? 

Yes I did. I attached a letter from my recruiter attesting I have applied for a government job. I haven't been accepted for that job yet but they cannot start processing my application either until I am eligible to apply for a baseline security clearance. Only Australian citizens can apply for that clearance.

4 hours ago, Sordello said:

Mine had nothing, simply changed to “Finalised – Acquired” after ceremony.

Mine had nothing too. My ceremony is on Friday, 19 March 2021 and status is still 'Approved'. I browsed through the menus/submenus and found nothing related to me being invited in the virtual ceremony. 

19 hours ago, sj88 said:

Amazing. Thank you. Sounds like it worked out well for you. I'm in bayside council so not sure if it's same procedure but will give it a whirl when my time comes. 

No worries at all! This forum has been very informative and in return I am happy to share what worked out for me.

I found that it also helped to come prepared with your questions because the interview is an opportunity to ask queries directly to your case officer. You may have  questions unique to your circumstance for which the case officer may or may not have answers to. But yes, definitely worth asking.

One more detail here, in the email I sent to virtual.ceremony.nsw, I attached the email from my recruiter showing the pending job application with the government department.

All the best to everyone's application!

I forgot to mention that I also phoned my local council (Georges River Council) to ask when the next ceremony date will be. Their reply was no dates yet. Their website has no mention of upcoming ceremony dates too.

I got to know of the email address virtual.ceremony.nsw@homeaffairs.gov.au from forums including this one, and not from the case officer.

During my interview, I asked the case officer if there is a way I can attend the next available ceremony, reason being is I am applying for a government job requiring a baseline security clearance which only Australian citizens can apply for. The case officer mentioned that I would have to wait for the invite coming from my local council. She (case officer) kindly checked how many are in queue in my council, and said there's 'quite a large queue' without specifying the numbers (I didn't ask either how many to be exact). Got home and I saw from the forums that I can request a virtual ceremony so I thought to give it a shot. 

Sharing my timeline below:

City/Council: Sydney/Georges River Council
Citizenship Application Submitted : 19 Jul 2020
Test Invitation : 19 Feb 2021
Test Date: 15 Mar 2021
Rescheduled Test Date: 25 Feb 2021
Citizenship Approved: 25 Feb 2021 (Immi Account online)
Ceremony Invite: 12 Mar 2021
Ceremony Date: 19 Mar 2021 (Virtual Ceremony)

I sent two emails to virtual.ceremony.nsw@homeaffairs.gov.au requesting to be considered for a virtual ceremony. First email was sent on 26 Feb 2021 and the second email on 9-Mar 2021.