AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP TIMELINES 2020-2021

[Ken]

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

If its Hume City Council, according to the information available on Immi tracker, someone who applied in March 2020, took the test in March 2021 and got approved in April 2021. They attended online ceremony in October 2021 (6 months after the approval) - 19 months from submission to ceremony. 
backlog backlog and lots of backlog - no idea when things will go back to real-normal. 
To the best of my knowledge, the department and all the councils are working to their full capacity. 

As far as I know you should hear about the ceremony at least 1 month in advance. 

Find attached the upcoming ceremonies in this area (you might already have this information) -  don't know if the above information applies to you but things have geared up since then:

"To the best of my knowledge, the department and all the councils are working to their full capacity"? I can't see how that can be true.  Your own schedule shows they are only holding ceremonies on Tuesdays and not even on every Tuesday. That's an awful lot of spare capacity once you realise there are 6 other days of the week.

[Gee!]

Finally got my invite to the Citizenship Ceremony. Here is my timeline:

Applied: 1st September 2021

Application Approved: 18th March 2022

Ceremony Invitation Received: 17th June 2022

Ceremony Date: 8th July 2022

Council: North Sydney Council, NSW

Exactly 3 weeks to go!

[VIC-WAIT-GAME (NO WAY HOME)]

4 hours ago, Ken said:

"To the best of my knowledge, the department and all the councils are working to their full capacity"? I can't see how that can be true.  Your own schedule shows they are only holding ceremonies on Tuesdays and not even on every Tuesday. That's an awful lot of spare capacity once you realise there are 6 other days of the week.

I couldn't agree more. More should be done to clear the backlog. But were they doing ceremonies every week in normal times? I am sorry but what I meant was post-covid time, when I said they are working to their full capacity (that too in my best knowledge) because I have seen things get speed up a little, lately. Whittlesea (my council) is even worse, doing 1 ceremony a month. 

Hume city council's schedule I shared was for someone who has been inquiring frequently as they wait for the ceremony. He was not getting a response so I thought I can share some information. 

[VIC-WAIT-GAME (NO WAY HOME)]

2 hours ago, Gee! said:

Finally got my invite to the Citizenship Ceremony. Here is my timeline:

Applied: 1st September 2021

Application Approved: 18th March 2022

Ceremony Invitation Received: 17th June 2022

Ceremony Date: 8th July 2022

Council: North Sydney Council, NSW

Exactly 3 weeks to go!

wow, amazing... congratulations. Sydneysiders are lucky to have their applications processed within a year. 

[Ding]

Hi guys, 
I've been away from this thread for a while since I've became official Aussie-:)

Now one of my friends has some issue of her application, I'm coming here to ask for advice. She has been away and living in UK since the application submission in early 2021, not test arranged yet. Now she's planning to go back soon. Just wondering once she's onshore, how long should we expect to be invited to the interview & test? Is there any tips that could help to be the luck guy who'll be invited as soon as she's being onshore? 
Thanks. 

[Aussiedream20]

Hi,

Any idea how long does it take to get approval after the test? My test was on 2nd June but has not been approved yet.

I was out of the country for more than a year after filing my application and received invite  for test within two weeks of landing back in Australia. 

Just wondering on the timeline for approval. 

[Danish Saleem]

1 minute ago, Aussiedream20 said:

Hi,

Any idea how long does it take to get approval after the test? My test was on 2nd June but has not been approved yet.

I was out of the country for more than a year after filing my application and received invite  for test within two weeks of landing back in Australia. 

Just wondering on the timeline for approval. 

The timeline varies significantly, some get in in hours, others have to wait for weeks, months, and sometimes more than a year so as long as your application progress is under the given processing time you should be fine.

[kevinfearsatan]

7 hours ago, Aussiedream20 said:

Hi,

Any idea how long does it take to get approval after the test? My test was on 2nd June but has not been approved yet.

I was out of the country for more than a year after filing my application and received invite  for test within two weeks of landing back in Australia. 

Just wondering on the timeline for approval. 

My test was 4 weeks today and still waiting on approval. Still saying further assessment. Nothing to do but wait I suppose. 

[Danish Saleem]

Hello ,

anyone from back town city council Sydney who received their ceremony invite for July 2nd ? Need to get an idea of wait time so please share your approval date 

 

thanks

danish 

[Athens07]

18 hours ago, kevinfearsatan said:

My test was 4 weeks today and still waiting on approval. Still saying further assessment. Nothing to do but wait I suppose. 

My test was 13 months ago ( May 28th 2021) still waiting for approval!!!

[Rhiteshpanthi]

Any one waiting ceremony from Moreland councel VIC ,It’s been 2months 
Thanks 

[Kiwifruit]

Attached is the list of people waiting for a citizenship ceremony in Australia as at 27 May 2022 by state and council. The backlog at some councils is simply astonishing so unless DHA organises mass ceremonies for citizenship day (17 September) many people will be waiting for a year or longer to become citizens after being approved. Unfortunately I live in one of those councils.

fa-220501033-document-released (1).pdf

Edited June 22, 2022 by Kiwifruit

[username303]

Applied june 30th 2021

Interview invitation received june 17th 2022

Interview scheduled for late July

Applied from Melbourne, Wyndham Council.

How long does it take for ceremony after interview?

Edited June 23, 2022 by username303

[Kiwifruit]

2 hours ago, username303 said:

Applied june 30th 2021

Interview invitation received june 17th 2022

Interview scheduled for late July

Applied from Melbourne, Wyndham Council.

How long does it take for ceremony after interview?

As at 13 May 2022, there were 2,369 people whose applications for Australian citizenship by conferral had been approved and who were waiting to attend an Australian citizenship ceremony conducted by Wyndham City Council (VIC). Of these, 2,049 were approved prior to 2 May 2022.  There were 480 people invited to attend the Australian citizenship ceremony held on 8 May 2022 by Wyndham City Council (VIC).

[microstarba]

My final update as I got my passport today. From start to end for me was a c.20-month process.

Region: Melbourne, VIC

 Number of applicants: 1

Citizenship application: Oct 2020

 Appointment letter received: Jan 2022 (15 months from application)

 Test: 7 Mar 2022 (16.5 months from application), and passed

 Application approval: 10 Mar 2022 (3 days after the test)

Ceremony date: 11 Apr 2022 (1 month from approval, c.17.5 months from application).Ceremony in Manningham (VIC) council

Passport application: 20 Apr 2022

Passport collection: 23 Jun 2022 (9-10 weeks from application). I collected in person in Melbourne, spent 4 hours at the passport office

[VIC-WAIT-GAME (NO WAY HOME)]

City of Whittlesea organised one ceremony in May and one in June 2022. According to the old update, City of Whittlesea council had scheduled only 1 ceremony for the month of July 2022 and that was on the 12th. Based on the updated schedule, they will be conducting 3 ceremonies in July, and 1 each month till January 2023 afterwards. The pressure is on the councils now to conduct more ceremonies to accommodate as many people as possible to clear the backlog. More frequent ceremonies and accommodating larger population would help the department to come back on track. Current wait times are simply ridiculous.

 

[abey1]

16 minutes ago, microstarba said:

My final update as I got my passport today. From start to end for me was a c.20-month process.

Region: Melbourne, VIC

 Number of applicants: 1

Citizenship application: Oct 2020

 Appointment letter received: Jan 2022 (15 months from application)

 Test: 7 Mar 2022 (16.5 months from application), and passed

 Application approval: 10 Mar 2022 (3 days after the test)

Ceremony date: 11 Apr 2022 (1 month from approval, c.17.5 months from application).Ceremony in Manningham (VIC) council

Passport application: 20 Apr 2022

Passport collection: 23 Jun 2022 (9-10 weeks from application). I collected in person in Melbourne, spent 4 hours at the passport office

Congratulations finally the process completed!

did you receive an email to collect the passport?

 

[VIC-WAIT-GAME (NO WAY HOME)]

14 minutes ago, microstarba said:

My final update as I got my passport today. From start to end for me was a c.20-month process.

Region: Melbourne, VIC

 Number of applicants: 1

Citizenship application: Oct 2020

 Appointment letter received: Jan 2022 (15 months from application)

 Test: 7 Mar 2022 (16.5 months from application), and passed

 Application approval: 10 Mar 2022 (3 days after the test)

Ceremony date: 11 Apr 2022 (1 month from approval, c.17.5 months from application).Ceremony in Manningham (VIC) council

Passport application: 20 Apr 2022

Passport collection: 23 Jun 2022 (9-10 weeks from application). I collected in person in Melbourne, spent 4 hours at the passport office

Congratulations champ. Spending 4 hours at the passport office must have been a nightmare, one can only imagine. I am happy that you finally got the passport. 

[microstarba]

7 minutes ago, abey1 said:

Congratulations finally the process completed!

did you receive an email to collect the passport?

 

Yes I got the email yesterday and went to collect this morning. Note that 2 weeks ago I called the passport office (on wait line for 2 hours) to follow up + change to collect in person

[abey1]

2 minutes ago, microstarba said:

Yes I got the email yesterday and went to collect this morning. Note that 2 weeks ago I called the passport office (on wait line for 2 hours) to follow up + change to collect in person

Thanks for the info!!

[microstarba]

32 minutes ago, VIC-WAIT-GAME (NO WAY HOME) said:

Congratulations champ. Spending 4 hours at the passport office must have been a nightmare, one can only imagine. I am happy that you finally got the passport. 

Hope things go smoothly for you too and look forward to hearing your update. FYI, rocked up at 6:30am this morning at the passport office and the line was already out of control and we spent most of the queuing time outdoor on the street (freezing). So if you are to pick it up in person, be prepared as we're heading into winter

[VIC-WAIT-GAME (NO WAY HOME)]

6 hours ago, microstarba said:

Hope things go smoothly for you too and look forward to hearing your update. FYI, rocked up at 6:30am this morning at the passport office and the line was already out of control and we spent most of the queuing time outdoor on the street (freezing). So if you are to pick it up in person, be prepared as we're heading into winter

Thanks Microstarba.  
I will keep you posted.
And thanks for the passport update. Our queue outside the test centre was nothing compared to yours outside the passport office. You did the right thing to have turned up early. Wait time will be the real test on the day (specially outside). Lets hope that the passport office manages to hire more staff. 
Congratulations once again!
 

[VIC-WAIT-GAME (NO WAY HOME)]

17 hours ago, Kiwifruit said:

Attached is the list of people waiting for a citizenship ceremony in Australia as at 27 May 2022 by state and council. The backlog at some councils is simply astonishing so unless DHA organises mass ceremonies for citizenship day (17 September) many people will be waiting for a year or longer to become citizens after being approved. Unfortunately I live in one of those councils.

fa-220501033-document-released (1).pdf

This is a very useful information. Thanks for sharing. 

[HP2019]

 

Number of pending citizenship applications and processing times as of end of May 2022.

Source: Citizenship processing times (homeaffairs.gov.au)

[Arsa0107]

On 23/06/2022 at 14:59, Kiwifruit said:

As at 13 May 2022, there were 2,369 people whose applications for Australian citizenship by conferral had been approved and who were waiting to attend an Australian citizenship ceremony conducted by Wyndham City Council (VIC). Of these, 2,049 were approved prior to 2 May 2022.  There were 480 people invited to attend the Australian citizenship ceremony held on 8 May 2022 by Wyndham City Council (VIC).

Hi….
 
Thanks for your enquiry, the Events team manage the Citizenship Program at Council and as such your enquiry has been passed on to me to provide a response.
 
We currently schedule 160-180 people per ceremony with three ceremonies scheduled each of the remaining dates for the year. These dates are listed on the website - https://www.wyndham.vic.gov.au/about-council/your-council/australian-citizenship-ceremonies
 
People have already been allocated to the upcoming ceremonies on June 26th where we will confer 480 new citizens.
 
From July to Dec people have not yet been allocated to ceremonies. This period sees the majority of our ceremonies for the year scheduled, we will have 15 ceremonies (across 5 dates) and there will be 2,460 people invited. That will bring the total number of people invited to attend a ceremony to 4,000 for the year which is the number Wyndham is currently resourced to deliver. There is no plan for a special large/extra ceremony.
 
While Council does not schedule the ceremonies, it is estimated that most people who were approved prior to May 31 will be invited to a ceremony this year.
 
Kind Regards
 
Greg