I emailed citizenship@dia.govt.nz and was advised that my application was approved on 04 Feb 2022.
So just a week shy of a full year wait, as I applied just after the Waitangi Day last year.
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I emailed citizenship@dia.govt.nz and was advised that my application was approved on 04 Feb 2022.
So just a week shy of a full year wait, as I applied just after the Waitangi Day last year.
:nice1 Congratulations!
Congratulations! I'm happy for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by l00k
It's a shame we're still at a 1 year wait though. Hopefully those promised reduced times kick in soon.
Reduced?Quote:
Originally Posted by MajorLiggs
From https://www.govt.nz/browse/passports...on-timeframes/Quote:
How processing times are being improved
The Citizenship Office has brought in a team of temporary staff to process the applications left in the old system, freeing up permanent staff to increase proficiency and speed in the new system.
An increase of staff numbers and extra training in citizenship application processing has begun, and will continue in 2022.
Further developments to the online system will likely see a positive impact in reducing processing timeframes.
When processing times will reduce
The Citizenship Office expects waiting times to reduce by mid-2022.
Govt website just updated to say “ The oldest applications now being assessed were submitted in March 2021.” That means all Feb-21 applications should be completed now.
https://www.govt.nz/browse/passports...on-timeframes/
However, OIA releases that as at today, there are still 439 online applications and 18 paper applications submitted in Feb-2021 that haven’t been allocated. There are also 2 online applications and 8 paper applications submitted in Jan-2021 that haven’t been allocated.
https://fyi.org.nz/request/18194/res...122%200415.pdf
So that’s conflicting information.
I read their responses as: backlog will continue to grow until mid 2022, then growth will slow and eventually start to reduce.Quote:
Originally Posted by MajorLiggs
I did notice the unallocated cases rose monthly from 18,231 in January 2021 to 33,357 in November. December however showed a decline to 33,284. Not a big decline, but hopefully we've peaked. Potentially it's just noise from the holiday period however.Quote:
Originally Posted by LemonAndPaeroa
"The Citizenship Office expects waiting times to reduce by mid-2022."
I'm probably impatiently over analysing.
I sent another email asking about the official approval email and today I received an email from the Citizenship team stating that no citizenship ceremony will be held while any part of the country is under orange level. Thus, they will be printing the citizenship certificate and post it on 21 Feb 2022.
So if you applied in Feb-21 and still haven’t got any news, it’s a good idea to email citizenship@dia.govt.nz; as according to the government website, the oldest application being assessed is from Mar-21 i.e. all Feb-21 should be done now.
It took me exactly a year today.
Applied in person, Wellington office: 11 Feb 2021.
CO allocated: 29 Dec 2021.
Email to confirm details: 30 Dec 2021.
Approved in principle: 04 Feb 2022 (no email notifications, I only knew this until I emailed citizenship@dia.govt.nz and they replied)
Citizenship certificate to be printed: 21 Feb 2022.
So last year they've processed on average 427 application each month, while the unallocated applications (as per DIA website) grew each month by well over 1,000 - except in December. So they're not even processing half of what comes in each month, which means that over the course of the year your wait time more than doubles (triples, as per below)?!
More specifically, the backlog grew by 15,053 over 11 months (end of Jan to end of Dec) while 5,124 applications were processed over Jan-Dec. So roughly, over 12 months time, 5,000 applications are processed while the backlog grows by 16,000. So essentially they received 21,000 applications over the year.
Please tell me I am interpreting this wrongly?
Sources:
https://www.govt.nz/browse/passports...on-timeframes/
https://fyi.org.nz/request/17814/res...pendix%20A.pdf