6 September 2022
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
Sebastian Acosta via FYI
fyi-request-20186-
[email address]
Tēnā koe Sebastian
OIA request 22/23 0111 Request for
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 9 August 2022.
You requested –
Most people are keen to know why some applications are being held up to 13 months
while some are being processed in 3-4 months.
1. Does the department find this justified and as part of their customer experience? If not
then when will the maximum wait period come down to 3-5 months maximum.
2. Being a concerned Kiwi, I'm keen to know what is the exact criteria that some applications
were being picked up out of turn while others are being held up in a miserable queue?
Please share the entire criteria for public information that the automated system is looking
for.
In response to your request, I can provide you with the following information.
Question One
Reducing the current backlog of citizenship by grant application and the time customers are
waiting for a decision is a priority for the Department. There are several initiatives underway to
reduce the citizenship application backlog, speed up processing, and improve customer
experience. Some of these initiatives have included more training, ongoing system
improvements, and hiring more staff in a temporary capacity.
We have consistently reduced the number of unassigned applications waiting in our queue over
the past five months and are focused on continuing to reduce this.
We do acknowledge that the reintroduction of ceremonies from August 2022 has added to the
overall average time taken to get citizenship due to the need for applicants to be allocated into
a ceremony held by their local authority.
At this time the Department is only able to provide you information around the reduction of
unassigned applications (due to data limitations). Therefore, I must refuse this part of request
under 18(e) of the Act; that the document alleged to contain the information requested does
not exist.
Updated information for timeframes is posted on our website every 3-4 weeks – please see here
https://www.govt.nz/browse/passports-citizenship-and-identity/nz-citizenship/how-to-apply-
for-nz-citizenship/application-timeframes/ for the most up to date information.
Question Two
When applications are received, our systems run a series of preliminary automated checks
which are used to triage them into different queues. Each queue is managed with the oldest
application in that queue being picked up first.
Currently, our system checks for whether the citizenship requirements have been met, whether
an application can be automatically matched to a record held by Immigration New Zealand,
whether there are any alerts or conditions associated with the record, and whether there is any
other information in the application that would suggest further manual intervention might be
needed.
Newer staff are allocated to the applications that have clearly met more of the preliminary
checks, whereas our more experienced staff members are able to pick up the applications that
have not met one or more of the automated checks and may involve more complex assessment.
We are continuing to upskill our people so they are able to process our more complex
applications, which will help to address the disparity in processing times between different
queues.
We are continuing to analyse the characteristics of the applications waiting to be processed,
with a view to identifying further opportunities for streamlined processing.
Even when an application passes automated checks, it still needs to go to a staff member for an
overall assessment of the applicant’s eligibility (in other words, the decision-making is not
automated). That staff member then makes a recommendation for the Minister’s approval
about the applicant’s eligibility for citizenship. Where the applicant meets the requirements, the
Minister’s authority is delegated to the General Manager, Services and Access.
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.
Page 3 of 3
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,
Julia Taylor
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Service Delivery and Operations
Page 3 of 3
