Australian citizenship approvals double and wait times drop

As per the Dept. of Home Affairs, Australian citizenship approvals have doubled as compared to last year.  The Dept. also added that the wait times for the approvals have also dropped. As per the latest data released by the Dept., the wait times have dropped by 10%. For 75% of the applications, the duration from filing to citizenship conferral has dropped to between 18 and 20 months. However, for 90% of the applications, the processing time remains the same at 23 months.

April 2019
Aus Citizenship appl. type	75% of appl. processed in	90% of appl. processed in
Conferral-lodgement to decision	16 months	20 months
Conferral-approval to ceremony	4 months	6 months
Conferral-lodgement to ceremony	20 months	23 months
Descent(Lodgement to decision)	54 days	4 months
Evidence(lodgement to decision)	5 days	12 days
Last updated: 26 April 2019 (for the month ending 31 Mar 2019)

 

May 2019
Aus Citizenship appl. type	75% of appl. processed in	90% of appl. processed in
Conferral-lodgement to decision	14 months	19 months
Conferral-approval to ceremony	5 months	6 months
Conferral-lodgement to ceremony	18 months	23 months
Descent(Lodgement to decision)	54 days	84 days
Evidence(lodgement to decision)	5 days	10 days
Last updated: 23 May 2019 (for the month ending 30 Apr 2019)

  Several reforms have been put in place which the Dept. attributes to the reduction in wait times. Australian citizenship is a great privilege, said the Dept. Thus, it takes its responsibility seriously to efficiently and effectively process the applications legally. Twice the number of people have been approved between 1^st July 2018 and 30^th April 2019 as compared to the same duration the previous year. Despite all the reforms implemented to streamline the process, more than 200,000 applications are still in the backlog. This is despite the fact that there has been a reduction in the wait times, as per SBS News. As per the Dept. of Home Affairs, there were 221,859 citizenship applications pending as of 26^th May 2019. The numbers have reduced as compared to the previous year where there were 250,000 pending applications. There has been a 30% increase in the Indian population in Australia in the last 2 years. Indians form the third largest migrant group in Australia. The Dept. of Home Affairs spokesperson said with increased focus, the citizenship application backlog will further reduce. If you are looking to Visit, Study, Work, Invest or Migrate to Australia, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Consultant. If you found this blog engaging, you may also like… Latest Australia Subclass 489 Visa update for Orana in NSW