20 January 2022
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
Rakesh Tyagi
fyi-request-17814-
[email address]
Tēnā koe Rakesh
OIA request 21/22 0442 Request for Citizenship Timeframes
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 2 December 2021.
You requested –
1. Are case officials are working from home or they are coming to office?
2. From tomorrow when we are moving to light systems then the number of case
officers will be same or increase?
3. Which month paper applications and online applications are being processed now?
4. How many officers are working in Auckland office and how many paper applications
and how many online applications they process every month in present situations and
what will be the appx number of applications from tomorrow onwards?
5. How many paper applications and online applications were received in Jan to March
2021 and how many have been processed?
In response to your request I can provide you with the following information.
Question one
At present, all Life and Identity Services Officers (LISOs) are working from the Department’s
offices.
Rotational rosters have been removed for the Auckland based staff as of the 29 December 2021,
and they are now back to working five days a week in the office.
Question two
The number of citizenship trained LISOs from the 3 December 2021, till today, has remained the
same.
Question three
I can advise you that the information sought is already publicly available. Therefore, I must
refuse this part of your request pursuant to section 18(d) of the Act; that the information
requested is publicly available. You can find the relevant information published on the
Department’s website here:
https://www.govt.nz/browse/passports-citizenship-and-
identity/nz-citizenship/how-to-apply-for-nz-citizenship/application-timeframes/
Question four
I have broken up question four into three parts for ease of response.
a) How many case officers are working in Auckland?
At present we have 10.8 full time equivalent citizenship trained LISOs based in our
Auckland office.
b) How many paper applications and how many online applications do you process every
month in present situations?
Please see Appendix A attached alongside this letter. Appendix A provides you with a
breakdown of applications that have received an outcome during each calendar month
in 2021,
c) What will be the appx number of applications from tomorrow onwards?
The Department does not hold this information as it cannot predict what will happen in
the future, therefore, I must refuse this part of your request under 18(e) of the Act; the
information requested does not exist.
Question five
In response to this part of your request, please see Appendix B, attached. Appendix B provides
you with a breakdown of applications submitted and have received an outcome from January to
March 2021.
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.
Ngā mihi,
Anne-Claire Wyseur
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Service Delivery and Operations
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