TillyG

Hi everyone,

This is probably a 'how long is a piece of string' question but any rough ideas on how long it takes to get Citizenship granted? We are in Sydney, on a PR visa (came here originally on 457 then changed to an employer nominated PR visa), which expires at the start of July next year.

It's been on my to-do list since before my youngest daughter was born (she's over 3 now!), and we've now been in Australia for 6.5 years!

It's about time I pulled my finger out and got us sorted!

Thanks in advance,

TillyG

nbondi

About 2-3 weeks from online application to approval (which usually happens the day you take the test in Sydney) and then it depends on the council and if there is a waiting list.

TillyG

Wow that's quick! I will definitely pull my finger out and get the process started!

Thanks so much

Zen10

Depending on the council the wait for the ceremony can be many months. I have read of people waiting anything from a couple of weeks to six months.

jothefw

Once you have Citizenship you will need to consider getting Aussie passports, as your PR gets cancelled and you'll need evidence of citizenship in order to re-enter Australia.

If the ceremony has only just happened they can understand not yet having passports but we decided not to worry about UK passports and instead now just have Australian ones. 8 passports gets quite pricey!

tarunrajan

Application lodged May 17th, citizenship test August 8th, application approved 16th August, citizenship ceremony 28th October. All in all, 5 months and 10 days. I do know people who completed the whole process in under a month.

TillyG

Thanks everyone (and hi Jo! forgot you were on here LOL).

Maybe I'll hold fire until after our trip back to the UK then and get the ball rolling after that.

Will need to keep the UK passport current for DD2 as it's the only proof of being a UK citizen (as she was born here). I figured it'd be handy to keep all of us with both lots of passports but will do some number crunching later on

Zen10

One thing you should bear in mind is when you're in the process, after you have applied, there is a short window when you can't leave the country. I can't remember when this is. Or even if I dreamt it and it's not true at all. Someone who knows better will no doubt be along!

tarunrajan

I think that's after application approval and before the ceremony.

moneypenny20

But you can, you should let DIAC know when you're going to be overseas though.

nbondi

It's when they approve the application that you have to be in the country. At sydney cbd, all the people I knew had their applications approved within 2 hours of taking the test.
I think a two hour windows of not being able to leave the country is bearable.

roaringmouse

Not always like that though - I had about 6 weeks between appointment/test and the date of approval.

commonwealth

the crucial point is, you need to be in australia at he time the citizenship is approved. you can travel but need to contact DIAC so they don't approve it when you're away!

AlliF

We got our citizenships in Melbourne and whilst the test and interview only took that length of time or less, the official approval was only given by post as they still have to follow up with everyone and do afp police checks etc etc. Same for everyone else I know who has done it? Maybe Sydney is different though.

Ours was a standard letter issued by the immigration minister, took about 10 days to get to us, saying congrats you have been approved now wait for a date to make your pledge. so we only had to wait around 10days til we were able to travel.
Then the wait for the ceremony took around 6 months - just due to backlog of people waiting for spaces.
After we took the pledge we were advised we could not travel until we had our Aussie passports. Another couple of weeks for them to come through.

knockoff nige

So your visa is still applicable until the pledge?