Aug2017ACT Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 On 13/09/2019 at 14:39, MrGrieves said: 80-100 people gaining citizenship from what I've read, but not sure how reliable is the source (another forum). It also said the backlog was currently about 400 people (but I suspect it has gotten worse with all the new approvals in the last couple of months, so hard to say). What I know is there has been 3 ceremonies since my approval (including the September one which I'm sure I'm not on the list), and no news from Council. Soon my waiting time from approval to ceremony is going to be longer than from lodgement to approval Did you not find a sooner date for your test date? back log is nearly 200.000 !!! https://www.sbs.com.au/news/lives-are-on-hold-government-pressured-to-address-citizenship-backlog 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGrieves Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 9 hours ago, Aug2017ACT said: back log is nearly 200.000 !!! I was talking in my Council, hey?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millski88 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 9 hours ago, Aug2017ACT said: back log is nearly 200.000 !!! https://www.sbs.com.au/news/lives-are-on-hold-government-pressured-to-address-citizenship-backlog Interesting article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAG Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 9 hours ago, Aug2017ACT said: back log is nearly 200.000 !!! https://www.sbs.com.au/news/lives-are-on-hold-government-pressured-to-address-citizenship-backlog And Moonee Valley is taking 60 per ceremony... this is going to be a long wait... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runni Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Got my approval. Online application submitted/received – 31 Jan 2019 Council – North Sydney Test invitation received 16 Sep 2019 for late Nov, rescheduled Interview/Test date at Parramatta office -- 17 Sep 2019 Date of approval – 17 Sep 2019 Ceremony : TBA (held once a month at the council) 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGrieves Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 30 minutes ago, LAG said: And Moonee Valley is taking 60 per ceremony... this is going to be a long wait... Don't worry, I would expect DOHA ceremonies to help clear the backlog, and hopefully your wait should not be longer than the expected 6 months (if not 3 as it was the case for me). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millski88 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 1 hour ago, runni said: Got my approval. Online application submitted/received – 31 Jan 2019 Council – North Sydney Test invitation received 16 Sep 2019 for late Nov, rescheduled Interview/Test date at Parramatta office -- 17 Sep 2019 Date of approval – 17 Sep 2019 Ceremony : TBA (held once a month at the council) Dreamy timeline! Congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoriB Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 So excited! Got email for Citizenship appointment + test today. Timeline for us was: Online application submitted 12 June 2019 Council – Gold Coast QLD Email received for Citizenship Appointment + Test 18 September 2019 Date of the Citizenship Interview / Test 30 October 2019 That will be 4 months from Application to Interview / Test. Beyond excited as I thought we were looking at a 2 year wait. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millski88 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, LoriB said: So excited! Got email for Citizenship appointment + test today. Timeline for us was: Online application submitted 12 June 2019 Council – Gold Coast QLD Email received for Citizenship Appointment + Test 18 September 2019 Date of the Citizenship Interview / Test 30 October 2019 That will be 4 months from Application to Interview / Test. Beyond excited as I thought we were looking at a 2 year wait. Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausa0000 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 Congrats! Just curious, did you obtain permanent residency by way of being a skilled migrant? It seems as though citizenship applicants who have come to Australia on a skilled migrant visa get faster processing than other permanent residents. Either way, it is good to see people getting fast test invites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millski88 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 1 hour ago, Ausa0000 said: Congrats! Just curious, did you obtain permanent residency by way of being a skilled migrant? It seems as though citizenship applicants who have come to Australia on a skilled migrant visa get faster processing than other permanent residents. Either way, it is good to see people getting fast test invites. I don't believe PR pathway is a factor in processing time. Citizenship eligibility only goes as far as the time spent as a permanent resident - it doesn't go any more granular than that in regards to type of PR an applicant has. There's no reason the type of PR would be used as a variable in the processing of citizenship. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milano Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 1 hour ago, millski88 said: I don't believe PR pathway is a factor in processing time. Citizenship eligibility only goes as far as the time spent as a permanent resident - it doesn't go any more granular than that in regards to type of PR an applicant has. There's no reason the type of PR would be used as a variable in the processing of citizenship. I agree with you. One of my friends, who was on humanitarian humanitarian permanent resident visa, applied and acquired Australian citizenship within a year (which is very fast considering that he applied in August 2017 when processing of citizenship applications was on hold and the backlog was gigantic). Another friend, who was on partner permanent resident visa and then subsequently on RRV, applied and Australian citizenship within 8 months (he applied on Jan 2019). DoHA's process is simply a mystery to us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausa0000 Posted September 18, 2019 Share Posted September 18, 2019 1 hour ago, millski88 said: I don't believe PR pathway is a factor in processing time. Citizenship eligibility only goes as far as the time spent as a permanent resident - it doesn't go any more granular than that in regards to type of PR an applicant has. There's no reason the type of PR would be used as a variable in the processing of citizenship. Supposedly how you gained permanent residency does factor somewhat into the processing of citizenship applications according to the ANAO audit that was done on DOHA. It stated that applications were often put into separate groups according to whether they were skilled migrants, partner visa, humanitarian stream, etc. Supposedly certain teams are assigned to each different batch, with the most complex cases being handled by a special task force (recently confirmed by Minister for Immigration David Coleman ). The exact wording of the ANAO citizenship application audit reads: "The type of visa held by the applicant is used to categorise their citizenship application as having come from the skilled stream, family stream, humanitarian stream or other migration stream. Citizenship applications from the humanitarian stream have been identified by Home Affairs as being the most complex to process on average and applications from the skilled stream as being the least complex. The ANAO therefore used the migration stream as a proxy measure of complexity. " After following many applicants, it seems there may actually be quicker average processing times overall for certain applicants depending on their visa history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parkesy Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 Got my appointment and test today. Scheduled late Jan. Pretty fast turnaround of 2.7 months to get the invite. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millski88 Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 (edited) 32 minutes ago, Parkesy said: Got my appointment and test today. Scheduled late Jan. Pretty fast turnaround of 2.7 months to get the invite. Yes mate! Good stuff. You going to get that itch to check the appointments site every 3 seconds now haha. Just checked, lots of appointments 18 & 19 December if you're free then. Can always shift it again... Edited September 19, 2019 by millski88 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaundennis Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 Just a curious question. Following your citizenship interview/test has anyone ever received their approval letter before a status change to approved in Immi? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millski88 Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 4 hours ago, Ausa0000 said: Supposedly how you gained permanent residency does factor somewhat into the processing of citizenship applications according to the ANAO audit that was done on DOHA. It stated that applications were often put into separate groups according to whether they were skilled migrants, partner visa, humanitarian stream, etc. Supposedly certain teams are assigned to each different batch, with the most complex cases being handled by a special task force (recently confirmed by Minister for Immigration David Coleman ). The exact wording of the ANAO citizenship application audit reads: "The type of visa held by the applicant is used to categorise their citizenship application as having come from the skilled stream, family stream, humanitarian stream or other migration stream. Citizenship applications from the humanitarian stream have been identified by Home Affairs as being the most complex to process on average and applications from the skilled stream as being the least complex. The ANAO therefore used the migration stream as a proxy measure of complexity. " After following many applicants, it seems there may actually be quicker average processing times overall for certain applicants depending on their visa history. I see where you are coming from. Certainly an interesting read. Further down in the audit though they talk about the 'skilled' and 'family' streams presenting similar low-complexity (or 'business as usual'). It mentions that the low complexity is due to previous visa applications providing readily available records and checks on the applicant, which makes sense. The 'family stream' applicants in the audit are current visa holders for citizenship by conferral, so their original PR application would have required similar history, health and character checks as a primary skilled visa holder. I can't see anywhere where it mentions a different measure of processing time between 'skilled' and 'family' streams. The other remaining stream ('Humanitarian') is obviously an outlier, with what must be frequent lack of readily available records (or difficulty attaining them), but i'd question if we have any applicants in that stream on the forum. Complex cases too, as they state in the audit - for sure, that'd definitely increase processing time, but a complex case could occur across any of the 'streams'. Putting humanitarian aside, i'm still not sure we have enough to go on to consider a systematic difference in processing time based on PR type. I'd basically talking my way out of this as i'd rather not have another potential process to overthink 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imthedave Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 On 13/09/2019 at 20:16, imthedave said: Update on mine.... Applied online: 22/03/2019 Test invite: 24/06/2019 Test appointment date: 13/09/2019 (for both wife and I at same time as I linked the applications) Test taken: 13/09/2019 @ 3.30pm in Melbourne CBD. Both passed 100%. I went first, wife went about 10 mins after. Status changed to ‘approved’ on Wife and daughter (linked to her application) Immi account by 5pm Mine still shows ‘received’ We got interviewed by the same lady who confirmed our applications were linked and said as such, one won’t progress without the other to be approved so I’m guessing mine just fell off the end of the day and may update Monday. She did say confirmation would come in the post too. Region: Yarra Ranges, VIC It’s been a week and mine still says ‘received’ Wife and daughters moved to approved within minutes. I phoned to ask about this (without giving any of my details) and said the interviewer said they would progress together because the applications are linked. The lady on the phone was very helpful and said this wasn’t exactly true. Each application is assessed independently and may get approved at different times. However neither will progress to the citizenship ceremony stage until they are both approved. That’s the point where they link, not before. She didn’t have my details but said there should be no reason to worry and to just be patient. It’ll get approved but the department has no clear timeline for the stage of taking a test to approval. Being patient is difficult.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LouDYorkie Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 It’s been a week and mine still says ‘received’ [emoji3525] Wife and daughters moved to approved within minutes. I phoned to ask about this (without giving any of my details) and said the interviewer said they would progress together because the applications are linked. The lady on the phone was very helpful and said this wasn’t exactly true. Each application is assessed independently and may get approved at different times. However neither will progress to the citizenship ceremony stage until they are both approved. That’s the point where they link, not before. She didn’t have my details but said there should be no reason to worry and to just be patient. It’ll get approved but the department has no clear timeline for the stage of taking a test to approval. Being patient is difficult.... It is difficult, I did my test 4 months ago and still waiting to be approved. OH was approved the day of the test [emoji53] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausa0000 Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 12 hours ago, millski88 said: I see where you are coming from. Certainly an interesting read. Further down in the audit though they talk about the 'skilled' and 'family' streams presenting similar low-complexity (or 'business as usual'). It mentions that the low complexity is due to previous visa applications providing readily available records and checks on the applicant, which makes sense. The 'family stream' applicants in the audit are current visa holders for citizenship by conferral, so their original PR application would have required similar history, health and character checks as a primary skilled visa holder. I can't see anywhere where it mentions a different measure of processing time between 'skilled' and 'family' streams. The other remaining stream ('Humanitarian') is obviously an outlier, with what must be frequent lack of readily available records (or difficulty attaining them), but i'd question if we have any applicants in that stream on the forum. Complex cases too, as they state in the audit - for sure, that'd definitely increase processing time, but a complex case could occur across any of the 'streams'. Putting humanitarian aside, i'm still not sure we have enough to go on to consider a systematic difference in processing time based on PR type. I'd basically talking my way out of this as i'd rather not have another potential process to overthink Yeah, I may have a habit of overthinking just about every aspect of the process. Sadly, there is a lot of time to do so, but eventually it will all be over. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
millski88 Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 25 minutes ago, Ausa0000 said: Yeah, I may have a habit of overthinking just about every aspect of the process. Sadly, there is a lot of time to do so, but eventually it will all be over. It's hard not to for sure. I'm very grateful our citizenship apps have gone quite quickly so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
runni Posted September 22, 2019 Share Posted September 22, 2019 (edited) Interesting bit that I forgot to mention. Turns out, the eligibility to sit the test is only confirmed after all the background checks are complete. Some are done by the processing centres and some (newly introduced) are done in Canberra (which can take time). Only after these return all clear, the candidate will be allowed to sit the test. Furthermore, only after the test is passed successfully, immi processes the final onshore police check (AFP?) and the application can only get approved after it shows all clear. For some people, the results come back the same day, for some... we all know it can take a while. The above were the answers to my questions from an immi officer about the processing timelines discrepancies between candidates. I didn't ask any questions about application buckets or anything like that. In cases where a family sits the test together and not everyone gets the approval on the same day - my (somewhat random) theory is that the rarer your name is, the quicker you will get approval if your police history is clear. Because surely there's plenty of John Smiths with rich criminal history to check against before they make sure you're in the good books. Just my 5 cents! Edited September 22, 2019 by runni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewajp002 Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 Hi all I don't get on here as much as I would like, general life and work has taken over and its starting to feel like home now (after 4 years), I have just started my citizenship application and embarrassingly as an IT worker I fell for a stupid non government website to start the process and later found out it was not a registered site and charged me $160 just to download the forms, doh. Word of warning, the only 2 ways to apply for citizenship is either through a registered agent or through the government website (immi account) for $285, i learnt the hard way. OK, now for my real reason for the post I do not have access to a birth certificate, can you still complete the citizen application without one? I more then cover the minimum 100 points requirement without it, I have a UK passport and drivers licence, bank account, rental lease, medicare card, car insurance / rego etc. It would be a pain to have to get a birth certificate from the UK and would make life sooo much easier if I didn't have to Thanks in advance Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LouDYorkie Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 I now have approval -yay!Just a wait for the ceremony now [emoji16] 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yousuf Abdul Ghaffar Posted September 23, 2019 Share Posted September 23, 2019 58 minutes ago, LouDYorkie said: I now have approval -yay! Just a wait for the ceremony now Congrats. dear. What was the date of your test? Can you guide us or highlight the reasons why the department take so much time to approve. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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