Tçnâ koe HM,

Thank you for your OIA request to the Department of Internal Affairs (included with this email)

The Department will provide its response to your request as soon as practicable and within twenty working days. The 20th working day is 7 March 2022

Please note that in cases where the Department’s response provides information that is identified to be of general public interest, the response may also be published on the Department of Internal Affairs website. If the Department publishes its response to your OIA request, all personal information, including your name and contact details, will be removed.

Nâku, nâ

Michelle Reed (she/her)  
Kaitohutohu Ârahi, te Ture Pârongo Ôkawa | Lead Advisor Official Correspondence 
Te Urûngi | Organisational Strategy & Performance
Level 6, 45 Pipitea St | PO Box 805, Wellington 6140, New Zealand |  www.dia.govt.nz

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Dear HM,

 

Thank you for your questions.

 

 1. As of today, 16 February 2022, the oldest citizenship by grant
applications currently waiting to be assigned to a case officer were
submitted 9^th March 2021.

 

 2. Yes, overall processing was slower in December and January due to
there being less working days caused by statutory holidays and
additional staff leave over the holiday period.

 

 3. We considered many options when deciding how to reflect the timeframes
on our website. We have chosen to update the website as soon as the
month of the oldest application changes. If we publish an actual date
it would become inaccurate quickly and be an administrative burden to
update more frequently.

 

 4. No. A complete application requires both the form and the fee
([1]Citizenship Regulations 2002). The date of application is based on
having received both these things, and the date of application is used
to calculate the ‘presence in New Zealand’ requirement. In addition,
the processing time would be extended if we were to request payment at
a later date for every application.

 

Haley

Advisor | Service Advice and Support

Mauri o te Tangata | Services and Access

The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua

[2]Logo-test

 

 

Dear Department of Internal Affairs,

 

I am aware of month being published online every week. Can you please
advise the following for citizenship:

1- oldest application is from which date that is currently being processed
(currently it shows Feb' 21 - I am requesting for a date in Feb)

2- Based on information published on 4th Nov' 21 - applications from 6th
Jan' 21 were being in that week - is the overall processing slower than
usual if only 1 month of applications have been processed in last 3
months?

3- Has your office considered publishing the date of oldest application
rather than just the month?

4- Is DIA considering charging the citizenship fees on assignment of
processing officer rather than charging it a year in advance?

 

Yours faithfully,

 

HM

 

 

 

 

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