21 September 2022
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
Robin via FYI
fyi-request-20317-
[email address]
Tēnā koe Robin
OIA request 22/23 0161 Request for Citizenship Timeframes
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 23 August 2022.
You requested –
1. Can you please provide - what was the number of pending applications as per their
application month for last six months? I mean for each month for ex March 2022 - Need
both paper and online based applications that were pending for each month before
March 2022.
2. Can you also break the data as per paper and as per online for each month please?
3 What is the precise reason that June 2021 applications haven't been assigned yet for last
4 months?
4 How many years will it take to process say July 2021 pending applications? or may be
August 2021 applications so on?
5 Applications for which months were being processed in July 2022 and August 2022 if not
June2021 applications? why was it done so?
You were contacted of 7 September 2022 to clarify question one as we were not sure of what
was being asked and unclear of the specific time frames requested. We did not receive a
response therefore we have interpreted question one to mean the number of unassigned
papers and online applications (and applications being processed) received in each of the past
six months.
In response to your request, I can provide you with the following information.
Questions one and two
Online Applications from March 2022 to August 2022
Month
Processing Unassigned
Completed (Approved/Withdrawn)
Total
March
144
1489
1428
3061
April
73
1465
1151
2689
May
63
1670
1152
2885
June
83
1609
1072
2764
July
123
1722
1059
2904
August
700
1922
481
3103
Total
1186
9877
6343
17406
Paper Applications from March 2022 to August 2022
Month
Processing Unassigned
Completed (Approved/Withdrawn)
Total
March
8
697
23
728
April
9
440
46
495
May
14
547
58
619
June
7
490
47
544
July
7
498
13
518
August
9
657
14
680
Total
54
3329
201
3584
Page 6 of 6
Caveats:
- The statuses of the applications were collated at the date of 13 September 2022
- Applications within our system can be picked up by any Life and Identity Services Officer
(LISO) - processes citizenship applications, in any office.
- As the data is extracted from a dynamic system, there may be small variances when
compared with prior or future datasets.
Question three
Most applications received in June 2021 have been processed. In June 2021, we received a total of 3,328
applications. As at 9 September 2022, 2,910 of these applications had either been approved, withdrawn
or declined. A further 382 are being processed and only 36 remained unassigned. This is likely to be
because they have not met the automated checks and additional work is needed. Our priority is
processing our oldest applications and we are currently training additional staff to be able to process
them.
Month
Received
Approved/Withdrawn/Declined Processing Unassigned
Total
June-2021
2910
382
36
3328
Question Four
It is difficult to predict when processing will be completed for these applications because it can
be dependent on things like:
- whether the applicant has clearly met the criteria for citizenship or further information is
needed either from the applicant or from an external agency dependent on the time
taken for them to provide that information.
- if the application will require a submission to the Minister. Sometimes obtaining
additional information can add significant time to an application, particularly if an
applicant is required to contact overseas authorities for that information.
The Department is prioritising reducing the volume of unassigned applications, with a particular
focus on the oldest applications.
Question Five
Our new online system lets us make automated checks to see if an applicant meets certain
requirements for citizenship.
As an example of an automated check, the system matches an application with the Immigration
New Zealand record. It then uses this information to calculate if a person meets the presence
requirement.
This means that some applications are processed faster than others, because a case officer does
not need to carry out as many manual checks. Applications that need extra manual checks may
take longer.
Page 6 of 6
Please see the link for further information
https://www.govt.nz/browse/passports-citizenship-
and-identity/nz-citizenship/how-to-apply-for-nz-citizenship/application-timeframes/
Received month for Citizenship by Grant applications completed in
July and August 2022
Date Created
July-2022
August-2022
Total
April-2018
1
0
1
January-2019
1
1
2
April-2019
2
0
2
July-2019
1
0
1
October-2019
0
3
3
December-2019
1
1
2
January-2020
1
1
2
February-2020
2
0
2
May-2020
1
0
1
June-2020
0
1
1
July-2020
3
1
4
August-2020
7
5
12
September-2020
5
3
8
October-2020
5
4
9
November-2020
16
1
17
December-2020
8
5
13
January-2021
16
16
32
Page 6 of 6
February-2021
27
12
39
March-2021
27
32
59
April-2021
66
44
110
May-2021
571
111
682
June-2021
521
701
1222
July-2021
212
379
591
August-2021
283
248
531
September-2021
426
228
654
October-2021
235
223
458
November-2021
216
188
404
December-2021
265
153
418
January-2022
396
232
628
February-2022
529
130
659
March-2022
393
215
608
April-2022
838
97
935
May-2022
1007
139
1146
June-2022
453
626
1079
July-2022
21
946
967
August-2022
0
6
6
All
6556
4752
11308
Page 6 of 6
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
Page 6 of 6
