Citizenship and time from applying
 

ok folks

I know a fair amount of you have applied and become citizens of Aus

We've applied but are waiting to hear

how long did you wait?

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

We'll be applying in June so I'd love to know too!

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

hi
we sat our test on the 6th june(08)and we had our letters before xmas and have our ceremony on aus day.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

We applied in August '07, had our interviews (no tests for us baby :lol: ) in November and our ceremony on Australia Day last year :)

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

We applied January 2007, and got a ceremony June 2007.

I think it depends on where you are, many people seem to have had shorter waits than ours.

Mxxx

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Did you apply in June, or just sit the tests? Somehow I was expecting about a 3 month wait from application to getting the letter. So I'm a bit shocked about the 6-7 months bit :ohmy::blink:

I was hoping we'd apply on June 1st, then get our letter by the end of August and attend the ceremony by the end of November. So about 6 months in total. I don't really care what day the ceremony is, I just want the first date available.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Applied for test appt in Jul 08.

Sat test & lodged application Sep 08. Got approval in post 2 days later.

Ceremony is on Monday.

This is in Brisbane btw.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

So that's about 4 months from the date you were approved to the date of your ceremony, seems like a long time?

The 2 day application result is great though! I assume you applied online?

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

No, lodged documents there and then in the office having passed the test. Easiest way to do it I think.....very little form filling involved.

Brisbane doesn't have that many ceremonies I think so there can be a long wait. I know you're in Capalaba but are you in the Brisbane part or the former Redlandshire part (not sure what you call it now?), they might have a different schedule.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

We're in the Redland Shire, so technically not part of Brisbane at all.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

In that case I think your ceremony will be run by Redland Shire at Cleveland rather than BCC - they might run them more frequently??

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

I hope they do... there are quite a few british people in the area :D

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Applied for test in Feb. Test on 16th May. Confirmation 21st May. Offer of ceremony 25th May. Ceremony 25th June.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

I know....my ex used to work for the shire and was involved in organising the Australia Day ceremony at Cleveland one year.....all poms & South Africans apparently.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Now that's the speed I like to see! :D

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

applied in nov 07, had the test in december 07 and ceremony australia day 08

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Few and far between unfortunately. I think I spent most of that time in total shock at the speed:lol:

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Applied Sept 07 (under old rules and no test needed but HUGE rush for everyone to get their citizenship before rules and charges changed), interview early Dec, accepted on the spot, ceremony end of March 08.

By the way, was living in Perth at the time and was told by DIAC at the interview that given that I lived within the Wanneroo shire area, it was the 2nd worst to apply from given waiting times. Apparently Joondalup is the worst. Too many immigrants in those areas and long queues.....

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

So do you have to have your ceremony in the shire where you live? We want to do ours over in Adelaide with friends of ours in May. My husband is doing his test on 12th Feb here in Perth.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

I took the test on the Sunshine Coast 6 Nov 08.
Applied online for both my husband and I on 2 Dec 08.
I got an email within a couple of weeks asking for the police clearances from the UK which I had applied for in November.
As soon as I recieved these and sent them in for both of us and my husbands ID, photo etc (he didn't have to do the test), I was approved on 23 Dec.
My husband however didn't hear anything at all until last week when they phoned to give him an appt for the inteview which he had yesterday. I checked online later and saw he had been approved. Seems there is no approximate timeline having read posts on here.
So now we are awaiting a ceremony date and have no idea when that could be. Pity we missed the Australia day one but at least we have been approved.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

We took our test in April 08,applied in May,our Ceromony date is Australia day 09 thats 7-8 months wait. Terri

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

So i've got a bit of a wait then

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Sat the test mid-Nov 08, applied 26 Nov 08, approved 1st week Dec, ceremony Jan 26 on Sandy Bay beach.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

It was about 3 weeks from sitting the test. But here in Vic you can apply for fast tracking if you have flights booked etc.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Sat the test, put our application in, got approval in about a week, had our ceremony 7 weeks after that :thumbsup:

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

I don't think you have to. We had our interview on the Gold Coast because the first available slot in Brisbane was months away, though we did have our ceremont at the local church hall.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

So can you sit the test before you've been here 2 years to help cut down on the wait?

Our 2 years will be in June.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Yes, our two years is up in June also. I called a week or two ago to book my test. There was a two week wait time in Brisbane so I'm glad I did.

So if you want to cut down the wait time I would book your test now. You can't apply until you've written the test.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

We've had a 6 week holiday back to the UK - Will that be added on to our 2 years?

It's not really urgent that we get citizenship - I'm just wondering....

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

Yes it will. You have to be 730 days in the country.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

You cannot count your 6 weeks out of the country as part of your stay in Oz. Any time you spend out of Oz you have to subtract from your total time here.

For example:
We arrived here in May 2007 but we have spent about a month overseas. So we can't actually count us as having two years here until June.

Re: Citizenship and time from applying
 

That's what I thought - so instead of getting citizenship after 27/6/09 - it will now most likely be after mid August.

More time to study the test then I suppose..............