4 August 2022
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
Mohamed Zakaria
fyi-request-19848-
[email address]
Tēnā koe Mohamed
OIA request 22/23 0020 Request for information relating to citizenship processing timeframes
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 7 July 2022.
You requested –
Today the announcement for processing times as per the below link added a further 2
months weeks of delays in processing time from the time in March 2022 ( 14 months vs
16 + months announced today)
What makes me and thousands of applicants who applied either on paper or an earlier
time in 2021 is unfairly allocated to case officer considering they don't appear on the
automated check group which.
it is understood processing of applications time might be different from one applicant to
another but allocation should be fairly on first come first served bases. otherwise, there is
huge unfairness in that process.
I think the processing team is giving indirect priority to handling and reducing the back
long on the expenses of other applicants who have been waiting for more than a year for
the processing of their citizenship applications.
I would assume the priority for the department is supporting applicants in their
submission/eligibility bases but not just reducing backlog numbers. Could you please
confirm this?
Also, Need to know what it is your plans to have the assignment to the case officers
allocation enhanced from today's range of 2-14 Months!!!
Finally, I would be looking for a number of approved / in-process applications and their
submission date from June 2021 till June 2021.
In response to the first portion of your request, I can confirm that the time taken for
applications to be processed has not increased. The timeframes on the website have simply
been updated to more accurately reflect how long it can take for an application to be allocated
to a citizenship trained Life and Identity Services Officer (LISO) in some instances.
Initially the website stipulated up to 11 months for allocation, however, it has now been
updated to reflect that in some instances, it can actually take up to 13 months. This in turn has
affected the total timeframe range, taking it up to 16 months. It is important for me to explain
that these timeframe ranges are estimates, and that 16 months is the highest end of the
estimate. It does not mean that all applications now take 16 months.
In response to the data portion of your request, please refer to Appendix A attached alongside
this letter.
In response to the remainder of your request, I must reiterate what was previously advised to
you in our email of 17 June 2022.
In an effort to reduce the backlog of New Zealand citizenship by grant applications and speed up
processing where possible, the Department has moved to assessing applications using more
automated checks. These automated checks include matching the information the applicant
supplies with Immigration New Zealand (INZ) records. We can then use the INZ information to
confirm an applicant’s eligibility, including automatically calculating whether they meet the
presence requirement.
This means that some applications are now processed much more quickly than others, as they
require fewer checks to be made by a LISO or are simpler to process and can be worked on by
LISOs who are more recently trained. These applications that are identified using automated
checks for a streamlined processing are grouped together, and then processed based on the
date they were received. It is important for me to note that the majority of LISOs processing
citizenship by grant applications are still working on the earliest-submitted applications first.
Reducing overall timeframes is of top priority for the Department in addition to reducing the
backlog and I can confirm that the average time to process applications is now decreasing along
with the backlog already having decreased by several thousand applications. This is a result of a
range of factors including recruitment and training of additional LISOs, and review of our
processes and policies which has resulted in the increased use of our system’s automated
checking capabilities.
These changes are expected to continue to reduce not only the backlog of applications awaiting
allocation to an officer, but also the longest time applicants wait before their application is
allocated.
I would like to note here that the Department has now responded to a significant number of
requests from you for information relating to citizenship processing timeframes. The
Department has no further information to provide regarding the citizenship backlog and
processing timeframes, and considers the responses already provided to have been
comprehensive.
Should you have an application that is of concern to you, I encourage you to contact the
citizenship office directly on 0800 22 52 52 or at [email address] for an update.
However, I trust this letter has addressed the last of your concerns regarding official
information.
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As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, the Department has
decided to proactively release a copy of this response on the DIA website. All requestor data,
including your name and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released
response will be made available here:
https://www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-
Requests-2.
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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