NZ Citizenship - time taken for approval

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#2656511 15-Feb-2021 10:36

tchart:

Just got this email;

Your application has not yet been assigned to a case officer.

Assignment to a case officer can take five to seven months.

Most applicants will be advised of the outcome of their application within seven to twelve months of submitting a complete and correct application.

If there are any issues with the application, the case officer will be in contact with you.

If your application is approved, we will email you to confirm your approval for citizenship.

After your citizenship application has been approved, it normally takes between two to five months for you to be invited to attend a ceremony in your area. The waiting time to be invited to a ceremony is dependent on where you live and the schedule of your local council.

@rabba how long was it before you had any contact from them?

Crikey!

My wife and I really need to get our citizenship sorted...we've both been here since the early 1970's but both have always travelled on UK passports as UK citizens/NZ Permanent Residents.

Can't believe it takes so long!!

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tchart

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#2656514 15-Feb-2021 10:45

Handsomedan:

Crikey!

My wife and I really need to get our citizenship sorted...we've both been here since the early 1970's but both have always travelled on UK passports as UK citizens/NZ Permanent Residents.

Can't believe it takes so long!!

Agree.

I couldnt find any more recent stats but in 2018 35,737 people were granted citizenship. So roughly 750 per week (assuming 48 working weeks).

No idea how that is spread across any number of case officers but I can see how they could be backed up.

Kiwifruta

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#2656540 15-Feb-2021 11:22

Took my wife’s application a few months last year. Allow half a year.

rabba

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#2656545 15-Feb-2021 11:38

Received email on 6/1/21 to say approved so just short of 7 months of silence from lodgment to approval. Was a run of the mill application. Wife's 23/2 ceremony was brought forward to tomorrow and she has now received an email saying she will not have to attend due to COVID and that they will just post the certificate out. Bonus!

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#2656772 15-Feb-2021 14:45

rabba:
Received email on 6/1/21 to say approved so just short of 7 months of silence from lodgment to approval. Was a run of the mill application. Wife's 23/2 ceremony was brought forward to tomorrow and she has now received an email saying she will not have to attend due to COVID and that they will just post the certificate out. Bonus!

We still have Kevin, the plastic Kiwi some friends gave us after my wife’s public ceremony. Mine was attended only by 4 people including me. It did vaguely amuse me to swear allegiance to the Queen... who has been my Queen since I was born anyway. 😉

tchart

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#2702851 6-May-2021 10:44

Just an update for those who are interested.

My application (submitted October 2020) has still not been assigned to a case manager. I queried this given its been 7 months now.

Someone from DIA called me back (which was nice) and said they have a major backlog. He said they are busy processing applications from August 2020 at the moment.

Based on that Im guessing mine will be another 2 months before someone even looks at it.

I asked why and they said the demand for NZ passports (via citizenship applications) has increased since COVID - he didnt say whether this is from permananent residents within NZ or from elsewhere.

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#2702855 6-May-2021 10:57

FWIW. I submitted my application on 13th September 2020 and haven't heard a peep since.

I had just assumed backlog etc and that it would likely be closer to the 10 months than the 5 that they quoted!

tchart

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#2702858 6-May-2021 11:00

Item:

FWIW. I submitted my application on 13th September 2020 and haven't heard a peep since.

I had just assumed backlog etc and that it would likely be closer to the 10 months than the 5 that they quoted!

Hopefully you'll hear something soon since they are processing August 2020 at the moment. He did say that I would be contacted when a case manager was assigned.

Rmani

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#2703112 6-May-2021 23:29

I submitted mine in December 2020, so I guess it'd be at least another 4-5 months before I hear something.

Rmani

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#2703180 7-May-2021 09:14

I guess we should start thinking about putting our applications in, so we can travel in 2029...

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#2703237 7-May-2021 10:21

Informative thread, thanks for starting it @Rmani. Sounds like I should get the ball rolling on my wife's citizenship application sooner rather than later!

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#2708097 15-May-2021 21:49

I submitted my application today, website said to expect it to take 5 -10 months, the subsequent confirmation email said 7 -12 months. (The $470 payment processing took less than 2 seconds 😜.)

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