Response.pdf

21 November 2025
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
Ms M Willemse
fyi-request-32647-
[email address]

Tēnā koe Ms M Willemse,
OIA request 25/26 0452 Request for information on Auckland Citizenship Ceremonies
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 23 October 2025.
You requested –
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?

Question three - This part of your request does not show due particularity, and it relates more
to operational and business processes rather than information held under the Official
Information Act. Your feedback and comments have been referred to the relevant business
area, and a response will be provided to you in due course.

In response to the remainder of your request, I can provide you with the following information.
Question one

I can provide information for the confirmed Auckland venues for this year only. Future
ceremonies beyond these confirmed venues have not yet been scheduled. Therefore, I must
refuse this part of your request under 18(e) of the Act; that the document alleged to contain the
information requested does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be
found. 
The following table lists the venue name, the scheduled date of each ceremony, and the current
allocation of applicants for each ceremony. I note that the allocation figure represents the
number of applicants assigned to the ceremony; not all have been invited yet, but invitations
will be sent over the coming week.
Scheduled Citizenship Ceremonies in Auckland Region
– Confirmed Venues for 2025
Venue
Ceremony Date
Allocation
Te Atatu Peninsula Community Centre
17/11/2025 14:30
312
Te Atatu Peninsula Community Centre
17/11/2025 19:00
312
Clevedon Community Hall
19/11/2025 13:00
140
Fickling Convention Centre
24/11/2025 14:00
100
Fickling Convention Centre
24/11/2025 19:00
100
Auckland Town Hall
25/11/2025 14:00
520
Auckland Town Hall
25/11/2025 18:30
519
Due Drop Event Centre
26/11/2025 10:30
319
Due Drop Event Centre
26/11/2025 14:00
318
Due Drop Event Centre
26/11/2025 18:30
319
Westlake Girls High School
01/12/2025 18:30
493
Due Drop Event Centre
02/12/2025 10:30
281
Due Drop Event Centre
02/12/2025 14:00
319
Due Drop Event Centre
02/12/2025 18:30
319
Orewa College
09/12/2025 18:30
292
Westlake Girls High School
12/12/2025 18:30
381
Westlake Girls High School
15/12/2025 18:30
205
Auckland Town Hall
16/12/2025 14:00
293
Auckland Town Hall
16/12/2025 18:30
287
Question two
Caveats:
-  This data was collated on 20 November 2025 and is accurate as at this date.
-  As the data is extracted from dynamic systems, there may be small variances when
compared with prior or future datasets.
-  The data includes applications that have been approved and currently have a status of
either ‘Allocated to Ceremony’ or ‘Waiting for Ceremony’.

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Number of Approved Citizenship Applicants in Auckland Region
Allocated to Ceremony or Waiting for Ceremony
Allocated to
Waiting for
Auckland Area
Ceremony
Ceremony
Total
Auckland - Franklin/Papakura
473
104
577
Auckland Central - CBD
1069
33
1102
Auckland Council (North)
823
83
906
Auckland Council (Rodney &
Hibiscus & Bays)
749
78
827
Auckland South - Manukau
1548
49
1597
Auckland West - Henderson
279
209
488
Manurewa, Auckland
477
13
490
Maungkiekie - Tamaki, Auckland
342
5
347
Puketapapa, Auckland
111
8
119
Total
5871
582
6453

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.
Nāku noa, nā

Micheala Ngaia
Official Correspondence Manager
Regulatory and Identity Services

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