Citizenship Ceremony waiting time

[Jenny]

We applied earlier in the year for citizenship and received our acceptance letters from the minister on August 1st, still no word on when our ceremony will be so I rang TTG council today to see if they could give us any idea of when it might be and was advised to ring the citizenship information line to check with them as we aren't even on TTG list yet. I've spent nearly all day just waiting to speak to someone - no joy though - it doesn't seem as if anyone is answering!! Has anyone else had a long wait? I know there is quite a waiting list, but is this a normal waiting time. I was wondering whether to go into the office on Currie Street and see if they can help. Anyone else been in this situation? Maybe I'm just being impatient.

 

Jenny

[ILSA]

Hi Jenny

 

I am also awaiting a date for a ceremony. I took my test on 31 July and have spoken to some one from Immigration on the phone yesterday. They told me it is up to my local council to confirm the date. I did enquiry as to how much notice they have to give us in terms of sending the letters out and apparently they can send the letter out 2 weeks before a ceremony date. They told me it can take up to 6 months to get a ceremony date through. I know that there will be ceremonies take place next month for Australia day so why can't they start sending the letters out now! It's so frustrating.

[Jenny]

The man from the council told me that they just get a list from Immigration and they only send out the dates if your on that list and that's why he told me to ring Immigration because our names aren't on any lists yet, he said he would have thought they'd have had our names by now - that's why he thought I should speak to Immigration, in case we'd been overlooked. Which number did you ring to speak to Immigration - I rang the one on the letter , in fact its the only one I could find for them but I just kept getting the recorded messages. The thing is when I do speak to them they'll probably tell me the same as they told you!!!! then what do we do. It it is very frustrating isn't it. When did you get your acceptance letter from the Office of "The Minister" telling you that you'd been accepted.

[scooterdan]

We have been waiting for 5 months.... When I rang the dept I was recently told we should make the one after Australia Day. I've always got through in about 10-15 mins!

[Jenny]

Thanks Scooterdan, looks as if we'll have a bit more of a wait, we're about a month behind you it seems. Maybe I'm ringing the wrong number, though it did say they were in the middle of upgrading the lines!! I'll just keep trying. Thanks again, as long as we haven't been forgotten.

 

Jenny

[McGintyoz]

We received our letters in October and my daughters are going away in Jan so I rang the Immigration line 3 times. The first 2 times my phone ran out if battery before I even got through (30 minute wait). The last time I got through and they could tell me NOTHING. I explained my daughters were going away etc and the lady said well if you don't get on the one in Jan then you will get on the next one. I then explained my daughters need to prove they are Citizens before starting Uni so she said once they have their Uni acceptance I could send it through and we could be out on an emergency list to get into the Jan ceremony. The Uni acceptances do not come out until Jan and I needed to know if my daughters had to Come home from their trip a day early to attend the ceremony if we got it in Jan, so all in all it was no help at all ringing that line as they can tell you nothing! I am with Onkaparinga council so maybe each council makes a difference but it would be nice to know well before 2 weeks if you are on the ceremony. Anyone got any other suggestions?

[Rachiegarlo]

We had this with my daughter. You have until the census date about 4-6 weeks after Uni starts to pay the fees. We hadn't had the letter by January, but this was because she actually had to be in the country before it could be conferred ( she was in the UK on holiday). So we didn't get the letter stating she had been given citizenship until February. I rang around a few councils to see when their next ceremony would be and if my daughter could be added. Mount Barker council was most accommodating ( I think fewer migrants to do) and although she did not get her certificate at the ceremony she took the oath. So try a few different councils. She just took the letter inviting her to the ceremony in to Uni as proof to change her status from resident to citizen.

[Jenny]

Latest update on ours! Phoned this morning and managed to speak to someone after about 10-15 mins, we gave them the reference number on our letters and they confirmed that we were in the system (hadn't been overlooked or forgotten about) and hopefully our ceremony would be 24th January, but she stressed that we hadn't to make any definate plans for this date as we had to have the letter of confirmation of where and when it is going to be and until we get that - nothing is finalised - so we'll just have to wait and see and hope for the best.

 

Good luck to everyone else who's in the same position as us and hope your daughters get theirs sorted out in time for Uni McGintyoz. Thanks for everyones advice too.

 

Jenny

[Jenny]

Final Update! we got our official letters on Christmas Eve to confirm our Ceremony is on January 24th - so from first applying its taken 6-7 months.

 

Jenny

[Selah]

We applied earlier in the year for citizenship and received our acceptance letters from the minister on August 1st, still no word on when our ceremony will be so I rang TTG council today to see if they could give us any idea of when it might be and was advised to ring the citizenship information line to check with them as we aren't even on TTG list yet. I've spent nearly all day just waiting to speak to someone - no joy though - it doesn't seem as if anyone is answering!! Has anyone else had a long wait? I know there is quite a waiting list, but is this a normal waiting time. I was wondering whether to go into the office on Currie Street and see if they can help. Anyone else been in this situation? Maybe I'm just being impatient.

 

Jenny

 

Hi Jenny,

 

That doesn't thrill me as we will also be going through TTG and my test is on 9 January. However, I would ring immigration or even pop into Currie street. We were eligible for citizenship on 25 November. My 16 year old daughter graduated from HS this year and decided to go ahead to Uni this year instead of taking a year off. 16/17 year olds apply separately anyway. Student Loans are one of the few reasons they will rush an ceremony through but she applied online on 25 November, had interview on 2 December and had her citizenship ceremony at Currie St. on 20th December with just 2 days notice. I did find the citizenship office extremely helpful on Citizenship Information Line on 131 880 but I also know they go down to minimal staff over Christmas holidays.

 

Good luck!

[McGintyoz]

Latest update on ours! Phoned this morning and managed to speak to someone after about 10-15 mins, we gave them the reference number on our letters and they confirmed that we were in the system (hadn't been overlooked or forgotten about) and hopefully our ceremony would be 24th January, but she stressed that we hadn't to make any definate plans for this date as we had to have the letter of confirmation of where and when it is going to be and until we get that - nothing is finalised - so we'll just have to wait and see and hope for the best.

 

Good luck to everyone else who's in the same position as us and hope your daughters get theirs sorted out in time for Uni McGintyoz. Thanks for everyones advice too.

 

Jenny

Thanks Jenny

 

out of interest which council are you under as I rang Onkaparinga (my council) and he reckons they have over 400 on the list and we are way down!! Why do they not do more ceremonies if there are that many waiting???

[SWMBO]

My sons sat test and passed and had a ceremony at Currie street within a week due to the fact they were uni students.My Husband was the same for his work.I was also allowed to do mine at the same time.We just mentioned the need for a quick turnaround at the interview and were told about the availability to do this.

 

this was only 2010 so they might still do so.

[nikkinoodlesuk]

These seem awfully long waiting lists.

We did our test back in June, we contacted our local mayor and arranged a private ceremony within a few weeks, we were told there was a waiting list for the public ceremonies.

[Jenny]

McGintyoz our council is Tea Tree Gully but the ceremony is at Golden Grove Arts Centre not the council offices where they are usually held. I think there's probably a big ceremony in the Civic Park on Australia day but we were'nt bothered about that ceremony. It looks to me as if maybe they are starting to put extra ceremonies on because when I phoned the Council he told me that after the next one he thought we'd be available for would be March. All the councils must be different because when I phoned ours - he told me we weren't even on the list!! We just wanted to get it sorted as we're booked up for a holiday back to UK next year and want to get our passports sorted out. No one told us about private ceremonies otherwise I think that's the way we might have gone as we're not into these big ceremonies anyway. Good luck with yours and I hope that 400 queue goes down quickly.

 

Jenny

[Jessica Berry]

Looks like the citizenship issue is getting some newspaper coverage, this was in The Advertiser (7/1/13)....

 

[Selah]

Thanks Jenny

 

out of interest which council are you under as I rang Onkaparinga (my council) and he reckons they have over 400 on the list and we are way down!! Why do they not do more ceremonies if there are that many waiting???

 

I know I posted earlier but even though Uni acceptances weren't out, I emailed the urgent ceremonies email for my daughter on the in mid December explaining and they asked for no proof - we just got the email on the 18th of December that she could attend a ceremony on the 20th of December. If you don't mind separating the family and sending her by herself - then it worked for us.

 

Liz

[carla&trev]

We've got our citizenship ceremony tomorrow at Currie Street. What is that like? Will we get certificates? I'm guessing it's not as pomp and ceremony like the ones run by the Councils? Do you just take the oath and sing the anthem?

[Anne B]

We've got our citizenship ceremony tomorrow at Currie Street. What is that like? Will we get certificates? I'm guessing it's not as pomp and ceremony like the ones run by the Councils? Do you just take the oath and sing the anthem?

 

see my earlier thread http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/adelaide-migration-issues/42207-citizenship-sorted.html

[carla&trev]

see my earlier thread http://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/adelaide-migration-issues/42207-citizenship-sorted.html

 

 

Thanks Anne B! Much appreciated .

[Anne B]

There were only a handful of Brits (or even Europeans) there - loads of different nationalities were represented. You stood up when it was time to say the oath, which everyone said together (loads more said the 'God' version than the no 'God' version!) - then had to sing the anthem. Afterwards you could take photos on the stage in front of the flag and the picture of the Queen. I had to get one of the workers to take mine being there all on my own. Just turn right when you get inside the building and join the queue at the far end.