Waiting_in_vic

No, I left Australia countless times between application and test, and again between test and ceremony date (ceremony date was received while I was overseas, so it doesn’t even appear to put anything on hold). I’m also outside of Australia again now, 7 days after the ceremony (left on day 6), so we’ll see how returning goes, but my RRV still shows as active in VEVO, so I assume it’ll be fine. My passport application’s been lodged, as I’ve got a lot of overseas travel planned coming up, and eventually I’ll start getting issues using my other passports I expect.

Congrats! The wait between application and test was the worst for me, 15 months! Applied Nov 2020, test Feb 2022.

What is PCC? Police certificate? The police/Australian authorities will only give you a certificate of your Australian criminal history (or lack of it). You'll need to order one from the authorities of each of the relevant countries you've lived in for a year or more, I have no idea how it works in India, in the UK I had to apply to ACPO for a criminal record check, I assume there's some similar process for every country. I can't see why they'd go to your house, it's based on the information the Police hold on their systems, but again this might be different in India. Either way, it won't be the Aussie cops heading over to India to look into this for you!

Yes, because we basically shut down entirely for 18 months. We were hit way worse than any other state in the first year of the pandemic and everything ground to a halt. Coupled with high application rates (I don’t know the exact figures, but I assume that since Syd and Melb are Australia’s biggest cities, there’s a high draw in terms of lifestyle/employment), then it’s a perfect storm.

Thanks mate, it feels like a reward which has made all the waiting completely worth it!

My update (was overseas recently): So as previously posted, I applied in Nov 2020 for citizenship, invite for test etc. was in Jan/Feb 2022, passed and updated with some info about a different spelling of my name with little hassle other than me explaining it in a reply (as they'd approved my PR 5+ years earlier on the same basis). Got an invite to a ceremony on 18/8, I was overseas at the time. Date of ceremony was 17/9, (today) National Citizenship Day apparently, so my journey is done (other than applying for a passport). Almost seven years in total (including the 9 months of pissing about in the UK between PR grant and moving), 4y as PR, 2y waiting for citizenship (so 6 years as a PR in total). I'm aware my journey's been more simple than most, as I've never had any temp visas or employment restrictions to deal with, but it's still good for it to be done with. Good luck to everyone still waiting, it'll get there in the end! I'm in Victoria, so our state has been by far the slowest at processing things, from what I understand (given our almost total shutdown during COVID, particularly in late 2020/early 2021). Annoyingly I have to fly to NZ on Friday, so I'm going to have the hassle of travelling on an overseas passport without a visa, but I'll cross that bridge. Have another flight early Oct, so I think if I can fast track it I can organise a passport by then, but by next Friday I have no chance!

We applied 23 Nov 2020. Contacted 19/1/2022, tests 15/2/22, approved (me) 22/2/22 and (OH) 23/2/22. So very slightly shorter than yours, but still long haha. No ceremony invite yet, was advised 2-6 months, probably.

Thanks! They sure take their time hey. It was proof of change of name…which doesn’t exist . Won’t be an issue for normal people, but for as long as I’ve remembered I’ve spelled my middle name one letter different to how it is on my birth certificate. I explained this on my PR application, as my passports, driving licences, etc. all have “my” spelling, but this time they wanted to know how I’d been issued a passport with a different name to my birth certificate. I explained (truthfully) that I just filled the form in and nobody questioned it, about 20 years ago (very manual process, my original passport has a real photo laminated into it, so people were definitely involved!). The only proof I had, luckily, is that HMRC have always used my birth name spelling, and I had a letter from them with my full name which matched the address on my UK driving licence. So I bombarded Immi with letters linking my UK National Insurance number, UK employment and address, and it seemed to satisfy them that the two spellings were in fact the same person. Lucky I had all these docs actually as I imagine most people would have thrown out payslips and stuff relating to a job from a decade ago So if there’s any name discrepancy (even one letter it seems), find proof of how it links, even if Immi have never questioned it before.

And then some. Applied Nov 2020, test 15/2/2022, more info 19/2/22, approved 22/2/22 (today ). OH had the same application and test date (actually had the appointment/passed the test first) and is still “received”. Ceremony hopefully sometime this year…but so far, even sans ceremony, it’s been 15 months application to approval (would/will be 15 months tomorrow actually).

I’ve read elsewhere that you can delete it somehow, or request it’s deleted. You won’t need it ever again hopefully! All mine has in it is a few visitor visas from years ago, my Skilled Nominated, RRV and citizenship application (plus all the same for my OH). I’ll delete it if I can once it’s all done with, as it won’t serve any purpose any more. EDIT, this link has a copy of an Aus Gov doc showing exactly how to delete your immiaccount https://vdocuments.mx/immiaccount-how-to-delete-your-immiaccountpdf-immiaccount-how-to-delete.html?page=1

I did mine at Centrelink in Bendigo, definitely good to know they’re going again. The lady administering the test told me they’re working extra to clear the backlog, so hopefully things will pick up.

I think so, I did my test in Bendigo, they said they were doing them all day, rather than part day like pre covid (apparently) to try and clear the backlog, so that’s something

Appointment and test pass about half an hour ago. I was in the Centrelink building for all of about half an hour in total. More annoyed I'd paid for parking until 16:00

It's only the travel facility that expires. If you never leave Australia, you never have to do anything. The visa itself remains in effect. If you are planning to leave Aus before you become a citizen, you need to apply and pay for a RRV, which costs about $400 IIRC and will be approved very quickly.

Not really, Vic got smashed all through 2020 and most of 2021, NSW was largely unaffected until late 2021. Remember Melbourne was the most locked down city in the world throughout the whole pandemic, I’m not surprised we’re miles behind in Vic tbh. It’s a pita I agree, but in terms of planning and seeing family etc., my recommendation is just live your life as you would and put the citizenship stuff to the back of your mind, it’ll happen eventually. I’ve just been travelling in and out of Australia as I would have anyway, if you’re offshore when you reach the front it’ll just wait until you’re back, you don’t go to the back of the queue. It’s more of a formality than anything else anyway, the only real difference is that we can (have to) vote once we’re citizens (not quite the only difference, but PR is no hardship really, when you consider how many people on temp visas etc have had their lives on hold for years now, and still have). Ok, so having to renew my RRV to renew my travel facility was an annoyance, but never mind .