New Processing Time for Australian Citizenship Applications
Australian Citizenship Processing Times to Speed Up
More resources are being placed in processing Australian citizenship applications resulting in faster processing times.
In 2017 and 2018, there have been many announcements and attempts to change the citizenship laws which would result in tightened requirements for Australian citizenship. This resulted in a boom of applications aimed at avoiding being affected by the law changes. Consequently, the processing time for the applications ballooned out of control.
Prior to 2018, the processing times were under 12 months. As of May 2018, the processing times increased to 13 to 16 months. In December 2018, the average processing time increased to 19 to 22 months.
| Australian Citizenship application type | 75% of applications processed in | 90% of applications processed in |
|---|---|---|
| Conferral (lodgement to ceremony**) | 19 months | 22 months |
| Descent (lodgement to decision) | 2 months | 4 months |
| Evidence (lodgement to decision) | 10 days | 22 days |
Last updated: 19 December 2018 (for month ending 30 November 2018)
There has been a recent announcement by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, David Coleman, that he expects the number of approvals to rise by 20,000 in the next two months. The Department is now channeling more resources towards processing these Australian citizenship applications. They have now established a taskforce to specifically deal with complex citizenship cases which will solve a lot of the backlog issues.
Coleman further revealed that one of the other reasons causing a backlog is the additional integrity measures imposed to ensure that all people granted with Australian Citizenship are of good character.
If you have had any past criminal record including driving offences or other more trivial offences, you may still be flagged for the Special Task Force to assess. You should seek professional legal advice to ensure that your Australian citizenship application is processed smoothly to avoid delays. Please contact us immediately by contacting info@ahclawyers.com or calling (02)-7200 2700