14 February 2024
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
H. Hu
fyi-request-25500-
[email address]
Tēnā koe
OIA request 23/24 0523 Request for citizenship by grant applications received during January
2023
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 24 January 2024.
You requested –
1. Can you please provide a table that have the following details for the citizenship
applications submitted in January 2023?
- Date Received at DIA
- Country of birth
- Date Processing
- Started Date of Decision
- Outcome/Status
2. Number of applications (submitted in January 2023) that are not passed automatic
system check and need manual processing.
In response to your request, I can provide you with the following information.
Question one
Please refer to Appendix A, attached to this letter. Descriptions of workstreams in the data
provided are detailed below:
There are six different workstreams for managing citizenship by grant applications. All
applications start off by being placed into workstream two. They are then filtered into other
workstreams using system logic or automated assessment of applications.
Workstream one – Applications transferred from workstream two that have been pre-assessed
by an administrator for completeness, or have been automatically filtered to workstreams
three, five and six and, after the initial manual assessment, or it is deemed that further manual
assessment is required.
Workstream two – All applications begin in this queue and are filtered to other queues using
system logic. Applications that are not automatically able to go to workstream three, four, five
and six remain in this queue until they are picked up to be assessed.
Workstream three – Online applications that meet all automated checks.
Workstream four – Applications assessed under the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982.
Workstream five – Online applications that meet all automated checks except presence and/or
English. Manual assessment is required.
Workstream six – Applications submitted on paper that meet all automated checks.
It is important to mention here that we have removed the pre-assessment of
applications. These are internal operational matters and will not affect the current processing
of applications.
Question two
There were 3,411 applications received during January 2023. Of these, 1,158 were processed in
workstreams three and six. The other 2,253 applications that did not pass all the automated
checks were filtered into the other workstreams.
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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