20 March 2024
45 Pipitea Street, Wel ington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
John
fyi-request-25810-
[email address]
Tēnā koe John
OIA request 23/24 0634 Request for citizenship timeframes/processing
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 21 February 2024.
You requested –
1. What measures have the DIA implemented to reduce the citizenship application backlog?
2. How effective of these measures in reducing the backlog?
3. Is there any timeframe that DIA estimates the backlog can be cleaned and return to
normal timeframe of citizenship application? and how is the progress?
4. Any further planned measures to further reduce the backlog and what is the timeline of
the planned measures implementation, and the expected results and effectiveness of the
planned measures?
On the same day you submitted additional questions –
5. after an online application has been submitted, when the automated check wil be
initiated?
6. If the application passes al automated checks, when wil it be moved to the appropriate
workstream?
In response to your combined requests which have been numbered for ease of reference, I can
provide you with the fol owing information.
Questions one and four
The Department regularly reviews and updates published citizenship application information
based on feedback and commonly asked questions. I can advise that this information wil soon
be publicly available at the fol owing website: https://www.govt.nz/browse/passports-
citizenship-and-identity/nz-citizenship/how-to-apply-for-nz-citizenship/application-timeframes/
As such, I must refuse this portion of your request pursuant to section 18(d) of the Act: that the
information requested is or wil soon be publicly available.
Questions two and three
It is important to explain there is no obligation on an agency to form an opinion to answer a
request, however, the fol owing dataset is regularly updated and wil provide you relevant
information regarding measures: https://catalogue.data.govt.nz/dataset/status-of-citizenship-
by-grant-applications-by-date-received-at-dia
It is also important to explain there is no set standard processing timeframe for citizenship
applications because every application is different. For that reason, there is no ‘normal’
timeframe.
Questions five and six
Automated checks initiates as soon as the application is submitted. On completion of the
automated checks, the application is automatical y assigned to the appropriate workstream.
It might be helpful to also explain that the Department continual y introduces and improves
automated checks to the processing system. When an automated check is newly introduced or
improved, the check is applied to al applications in the processing system. This is done
regardless of when the application was received or the workstream it is in.
You may be interested to know that there is a lot of publicly available information online about
citizenship and the timeframes for processing citizenship applications. The Department, for
example, regularly proactively publishes Official Information Act responses on its website,
including information about citizenship timeframes. Responses have been proactively released
here https://www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-Requests-2. You can use the search
criteria ‘citizenship’ to find the relevant responses.
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. Al requestor data,
including your name and contact details, wil be removed prior to release. The released
response wil 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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