Citizenship ceremonies - Auckland
Marié Willemse made this Official Information request to Department of Internal Affairs
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From: Marié Willemse
Dear Department of Internal Affairs,
Please can you provide the below information. I am a permanent resident of New Zealand, residing in Auckland and wish to know the below please.
1. I would like to know the current scheduled citizenship ceremonies for all venues in Auckland for the next 12 months please, from date of your response. Please list the venue name, and the relevant dates for each venue, as well as the current amount of applicants invited per venue, per date please.
Please provide the information in a table format with the following headers:
a.Venue name,
b.Date ceremony is scheduled for,
c. Amount of Applicants invited to date for this ceremony for the relevant date
2. I would also like to know how many applicants, who have been approved for citizenship to date, await to be notified for their ceremonies in the same region as question 1. As well as how many has been notified for their ceremony.
3. Why is there no functionality - like using the 'RealMe' account to track the citizenship ceremony process? And by tracking, I mean a close mirror to all the information available to the staff of DIA that work on these ceremonies. Why the secrecy to the applicant? I believe that Auckland council specifically do not avail this information for security reasons. What about the rest of New Zealand councils? What makes Auckland special?
Seems like this is existing information that can be made available to all online applicants as you have this information in a system currently. Instead of sending out generic emails of little value to your new to-be-citizens, allow people to use their login details and provide meaningful information that reflect the current system statuses, so people do not have to call and send emails all over the place. Your emails indicate that you have very high volumes of emails to respond to, the sensible thing to do is to provide a view to the applicants so they do not have to call or email.
When I say meaningful information - please do better than the citizen application process that simply moves from 'application received' to 'application approved' and do not expose any of the myriad statuses that is published on the immigration website and indicate no service level agreements or timeframes. Your customers will be far more at ease if they can see progress. Please consider this as a suggestion to work smarter, reduce unsatisfactory customers and share the information as it becomes available. Waiting for a monthly update is bizarre in today's day and age with all the technology available.
Yours faithfully,
Ms M Willemse
From: RIS Official Correspondence
Department of Internal Affairs
Tçnâ koe Ms M Willemse
Thank you for your OIA request to the Department of Internal Affairs.
The Department will provide its response to your request as soon as practicable and within twenty working days. The 20th working day is 21 November 2025.
Please note that in cases where the Department’s response provides information that is identified to be of general public interest, the response may also be published on the Department of Internal Affairs website. If the Department publishes its response to your OIA request, all personal information, including your name and contact details, will be removed.
Ngâ mihi
Krystle Courtier (she/her) | Advisor Official Correspondence
Regulatory and Identity Services
The Department of Internal Affairs | Te Tari Taiwhenua
http://www.dia.govt.nz/
*If you’re wondering about the use of pronouns she/her on this signature you can find more information about how sharing pronouns can help to create a sense of belonging and respect here.
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From: RIS Official Correspondence
Department of Internal Affairs
Tēnā koe Ms M Willemse,
Please see attached for the response to your Official Information Act 1982
request.
Ngā mihi,
Vi Saena| Official Correspondence Advisor
Regulatory and Identity Services | Taituarā
The Department of Internal Affairs | Te Tari Taiwhenua
7 Waterloo Quay, Wellington
[1]www.dia.govt.nz
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dia.govt.nz/
From: Complaints
Department of Internal Affairs
Tçnâ koe Ms M Willemse,
This response relates to one of your questions from your recent OIA
request and reflects the operational and business viewpoint.
Question 3: Why is there no functionality - like using the 'RealMe'
account to track the citizenship ceremony process? And by tracking, I mean
a close mirror to all the information available to the staff of DIA that
work on these ceremonies. Why the secrecy to the applicant? I believe that
Auckland council specifically do not avail this information for security
reasons. What about the rest of New Zealand councils? What makes Auckland
special?
Response: Once an applicant has been approved by the Minister, they
receive an email outlining the ceremony process. After they are allocated
to a ceremony, they will receive a formal ceremony invitation via email.
Applicants can view their application status on the online dashboard by
logging in with their RealMe account. Please note that the available
statuses are limited:
- Approved – displayed once the Minister has approved the
grant of citizenship.
- Completed – displayed after the applicant has attended their
ceremony.
We appreciate the feedback regarding the lack of visibility of an
applicant’s ceremony information, including position in the queue.
Enhancing the online dashboard to provide more information is something we
hope to offer in the future.
We are unable to comment on what information individual councils provide
on their websites or to applicants attending ceremonies. We recommend
contacting the relevant council directly.
Ngâ mihi
Ella
Service Advice and Support Team
Department of Internal Affairs | Te Tari Taiwhenua
[1]www.dia.govt.nz
[2]DIA logo
References
Visible links
1. http://www.dia.govt.nz/
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