29 October 2021
45 Pipitea Street, Wel ington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
Rakesh
fyi-request-16952-
[email address]
Tēnā koe Rakesh
Official Information Act 1982 request 2021-0273 – citizenship processing timeframes
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 30 September 2021.
You requested, in relation to citizenship processing timeframes –
1. Why I have not got any communication even about allocation of a case officer for my
case submitted on 11.2.21?
2. Which month you are processing at present?
3. How long I have to wait?
In response to your request I can provide you with the fol owing information.
Question one
Once an application has been received, it waits in a queue to be al ocated to a citizenship
trained Life and Identity Services Officer (LISO). Only once an application has been allocated to a
LISO, will the applicant receive further communication from the Department. If you are yet to
receive communication from the Department about your application, this indicates that it has
not yet been al ocated for processing.
It currently takes between 10 and 11 months for applications to be al ocated to a LISO for
processing, however, there is no set standard processing timeframe for citizenship applications
because every application is different. For that reason, there is no ‘normal’ timeframe.
It may be helpful for me to explain that the processing timeframe covers the entire application
process, which starts when an applicant submits their application. The application then
undergoes an assessment, a recommendation, review of the assessment and recommendation,
and a decision on the outcome is made. Only when an applicant receives their Citizenship
certificate (or confirmation that their application has not been approved) is the process
complete. In most cases, an applicant must attend a ceremony to receive their certificate.
Questions two and three
I am unable to give you an estimate on when your application will be assigned to a LISO for
assessment, as timeframes can change as time goes on. However, I can advise that as at 27
October 2021, the oldest unassigned paper application was received on 10 November 2020. The
oldest unassigned online application was received on 20 December 2020. I can also confirm that
timeframes for processing citizenship by grant applications are regularly updated at Application
timeframes | New Zealand Government (www.govt.nz).
I understand from your request that there may have been some confusion around processing
timeframes because of the recent Radio New Zealand Article regarding citizenship processing
delays. It is important for me to explain that the applications referred to that have been
approved this year, were received by the Department in 2020.
Should you wish to gain further insight into the current processing timeframes, you can find a
number of proactively released Official Information Act responses regarding these timeframes
on the Department’s website here: https://www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-Requests-
2.
Further comments
I would also like acknowledge your frustration surrounding the current citizenship processing
times and would like to reassure you the Department has initiatives underway to reduce the
citizenship application backlog, speed up processing, and improve general customer experience.
In the immediate term this includes hiring additional temporary staff who wil focus on reducing
the backlog of paper applications, freeing up most existing staff to work exclusively on online
applications.
We expect that the time taken for staff to process in the online system should reduce as they
become more familiar with our new system. We are also continuing to develop this new system
and train more existing staff to process citizenship applications. Together, this range of
initiatives should see a significant decrease in the backlog in coming months.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi
Julia Taylor
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Service Delivery and Operations
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