Have applied for NZ citizenship early December 2020. No updates yet. The helpline people say due to covid-19 applications are taking a while to be processed. While few of my friends who have applied during lockdown have got their citizenship in couple of weeks.

What exactly happens once I apply and why it takes so long. Yes, the website says 7-12 months and I do not have any travel plans for this year. But would like to understand why it would take so long for some and 15 days for some.

Would like to know people's experiences on this.