9 September 2022
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
Alexandr
[FYI request #20232 email]
Tēnā koe Alexandr
OIA request 22/23 0131 Request for citizenship by grant processing timeframes
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 15 August 2022.
You requested –
1. What the Department of Internal Affairs is planning to do to speed up applications that
did not pass automated checks?
2. What the Department of Internal Affairs is planning to do to speed up applications that
have been sitting in a queue for more than 12 months?
3. At this point, the Department of Internal Affairs's primary goal is to reduce a backlog of
citizenship applications by processing the latest submitted applications. Does the
Department of Internal Affairs give a processing priority to new applications?
4. Is there a process to push old paper applications to the new system and try to asses them
with automated checks?
5. How many case officers are working on an automated checks queue, and how many are
working on a failed automated checks queue?
6. How many case officers are working on applications sitting in a queue for longer than 12
months?
In response to your request, I can provide you with the following information.
Question one
The Department is currently doing further analysis of the applications that failed one or more
automated checks and are triaging them into workstreams to help expedite our processing.
Over the next month, we will be shifting additional Life and Identity Services Officers (LISO) into
this area to assist with processing.
Question two
As mentioned above, we are in the process of redirecting LISOs from passport processing back
to citizenship. These staff members will be focused on processing the oldest applications in the
queue.
Question three
The Department is committed to reducing our backlog of citizenship applications. Our current
approach is to rely on automated system checks to help triage the applications into different
processing queues. The applications can then be picked up for processing by citizenship trained
LISOs with different levels of experience (applications that do not pass automated checks
require additional training to process).
We always start with processing the oldest application in each queue and can assure you that
we do not arbitrarily process applications based on random choice or a personal whim.
Question four
The Department has a process in place for digitising paper applications into the new system so
that they can be assessed and processed there.
Question five
As of week, beginning 15 August 2022, I can confirm that there are 36 citizenship trained LISOs
assigned to the automated checks
queue and 25 citizenship trained LISOs assigned to the failed
automated checks queue. However, it is important to note that a LISO can be assigned to both
queues as some are cross-skilled, and they will work on the earliest-submitted application first.
Question six
As of week, beginning 15 August 2022, there are 50 citizenship trained LISOs processing
applications that are older than 12 months.
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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