Waiting_in_vic

On 22/09/2022 at 13:21, Iman said:

Hi everyone

I applied for citizenship sep 2021. I was overseas the past 4 months and came back to Australia a couple of days ago. I also calked the department two days ago and informed them that I am back. I notice many Victorians who applied Nov 2021 are receiving invites so its definitely past our turn. No news from the department yet. Does this mean I have lost my spot in the queue? Most of those who applied the same time as me received their invites 2 months ago. Does this mean that I have been pushed back in the line for four months? Or would I still be treated as someone who applied in Sep 2021?

Thanks

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.

On 21/09/2022 at 02:30, sarens said:

I finally got the ceremony invite , this is my timeline:

Application Date - 29 Jan 2021 

Test Invite Received: 31 March 2022

Test Date - 9 April  2022 rescheduled to 5th April 2022

Approval Date-5th April 2022

Ceremony invite received- 20th September 2022

Ceremony Date  12th October 2022 

@Stonnington Council, VIC

Based on your approval date, I believe your invite should come soon too.

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

37 minutes ago, MSingh1 said:

Hello Guys,

I will be applying for citizenship in last week of October.

Need some advice regarding pcc 

1. Did anyone apply for PCC from VFS Sydney? 
2. Do they (police) go to the address in India ?

Reason I asked because:

• The house is locked. 
• Nobody in the neighbourhood knows me because I was living there on rent and left the place almost 7 years ago when I left India in 2015. 
• Parents moved to another district and other nearby residents I know now live in USA. 

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!

8 hours ago, R.Vic said:

hi everyone,

Does anyone have any idea why Victoria is way way behind in processing citizenship applications. its so ridicules, all other states are moving quicker and clearing their backlogs except Victoria. is there anything we can do or communicate to anyone in that regard.

thank 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.

2 hours ago, Usman Jav said:

All the best and congratulations for finally getting the citizenship. Enjoy!

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!

3 hours ago, MerryPumpkin said:

Update: We finally had out interview and test done 21/02 for me I moved from original test date of 10/03. My husband's finished his test and interview  today and we both received our approval within an hour of finishing the test. Council: Glen Eira

We're also interested to find our if anyone in Victoria who applied Sept or Oct 2020 have receive invites for ceremony? Or what the current timeline is. Thanks!

Goodluck on those still waiting. It feels good to know it is finally moving.

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.

1 minute ago, Mixology said:

Wow! Congratulations on approval of the application.

What was the extra information that was asked? And do you know why it was asked? Something we can do to provide that info already so it doesn't delay the application?

Thanks!

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.

On 18/02/2022 at 18:23, Ultimatemenace said:

In other words most VIC submissions are taking around 13 - 14 months 

 

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).

3 hours ago, Jonleahy said:

Hi after  citizenship ceremony what does everyone do with their immi account?

How long do you keep it for?

Will it be required for anything else?

Thanks

Jonathan 

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

36 minutes ago, VIC-APPLI said:

Congratulations . Good to know that tests have resumed in Centrelink. Could you please share which Centrelink??

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.

5 hours ago, MLB_Applicant said:

Is it opened most of the centrelinks  for test or interview? May I know which centrelink had your test?

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 

On 11/02/2022 at 14:13, Sk8009 said:

Hi just lodged my citizenship and my current visa which is skilled permant resident visa expires March 7th. Will I get an email once this clocks over to a bridging visa or will it just all be automatic?

thanks for the advice 

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.

15 hours ago, VIC-WAIT-GAME (NO WAY HOME) said:

13 to 24 months to process is pretty unfair I think. Specially when we see other states doing so well when it comes to processing citizenship applications. Victoria is the second largest state (population wise) after NSW. Yet, NSW is way  ahead of us. NSW has suffered lot more than any other state. Victoria was on the second. The processing times for applications have been pathetic. 

Patience is being tested big time as one can not plan anything. Have not seen family in years. But I am hopeful that I will hear something in the next couple of months from the department. Everyone out there, waiting, stay strong, stay connected. You all are super-awesome. Live the dream and stay blessed. Hope you guys hear from the department soon. 

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 .

On 24/01/2022 at 11:09, username303 said:

Wow that's a pretty long wait. How is it people who applied mid-2021 from Vic/NSW got their letter already? 

No idea mate. NSW I get, because they were functioning much more normally, but all of Vic’s been a state (no pun intended) because of how hard we were hit with lockdowns. Basically ground to a halt.

On 24/01/2022 at 12:47, RKPuj said:

Hi, I applied on Feb 3rd 2021 in Melbourne. By looking at your timeline, Since you just got test appointment last week where your application date is Nov 23 2020. So I should hear something in next 2 months based on current processing rate. Is this correct assumption?

That’s what I’d think yes - I was assuming I’d be waiting another month or two, based on others’ experiences, but I’m in Regional Vic so it’s seems it’s been a very tiny bit quicker (but by a month, nothing to sell your house and move for haha).

On 24/01/2022 at 01:14, MerryPumpkin said:

Congratulations on the first contact! Do you mind sharing what council please? My husband applied 18/11/2020 and I applied 23/11/2020 as well and we haven't heard any yet, also from Melbourne. Just hoping something will move soon! 

Sorry for the late reply - City of Greater Bendigo, so non-metro, but seems like all of Vic is moving at the same glacial pace. Fingers crossed you get one soon!

On 22/01/2022 at 15:05, Muhammmad Umair said:

If we move from Melbourne to another state like NT or SA will the process be faster or they will assess the application as same as Victoria?

Move from Melb to any other state and it’ll be faster. Vic is by far the slowest because of how hard we were hit in 2020/21 with lockdowns etc.. a friend in WA applied around the same time as me, had the appointment and ceremony all done within a couple of months! Of course WA is only now starting to enter the pandemic with the rest of us, life has been pretty much normal there (other than travel of course).

Now that Omicron is taking hold all over the country though, who knows how that’ll affect things in the short-medium term.

8 hours ago, username303 said:

Application date: 30th June 2021 from Melbourne. Status on Immi is still showing as Received. Anyone else on the same boat as me?

Yeah, applied 23/11/2020, only got my appointment letter last week, but still shows as received in immi. That won’t change until after the appointment/test, from what I’ve gathered.

On 19/01/2022 at 23:39, MLB_Applicant said:

Can you please share the date of lodgement?

Yeah sure, 23/11/2020. Still shows as received in immiaccount, from what I’ve read that won’t change until after the test though.

My post yesterday must have brought me luck - got an email at 15:30 today with my appointment and interview mid Feb. So just short of 14 months until this first contact, 15 months from application to interview.

See how that goes, then hopefully the ceremony.

On 16/01/2022 at 02:16, Mano said:

I have applied from Victoria in March 2021, and need to travel overseas for a couple of months.

Does anyone know whether I am legally allowed to travel while awaiting an outcome of the application?

You're all good, I've been overseas twice while I've been waiting. If your visa's travel facility has expired you'll need to pay for a RRV, and it won't progress while you're overseas (so if your time comes, it'll wait until you're back onshore before you get the approval), but no issues with coming and going other than that though.

If you applied in March 2021 you've prob got 5-6 months to go until you hear anything anyway.

On 17/01/2022 at 03:16, Deep1984 said:

I applied in sept 2020. Just received the appointment letter for the test on 7 Feb. The waiting period for open files in Melbourne is 17 months. Just have patience soon will be open yours. Good luck .

Great to know, thanks. I applied in Nov 2020, nothing has happened since, but hopefully won't be much longer.

Not really bothered now since I've had to pay for a RRV already anyway!