The citizenship ceremony after approval: how long the wait is and why, the twelve months, the urgent ceremony request, and what can still go wrong

MARN 1576536

Approval is not citizenship

The Citizenship Act separates the approval of an application for citizenship by conferral from the acquisition of citizenship: the Minister approves the application when satisfied the applicant meets the eligibility criteria, and the applicant becomes a citizen on the day they make the pledge of commitment, at a ceremony, before a person authorised to receive it. Between the two the applicant remains a permanent resident, with a permanent resident's rights and none of a citizen's: no Australian passport, no vote, no entitlement to the things that turn on citizenship, and a permanent visa that must still be valid for travel. The approval letter says so, and the applicants who read it as the end and book travel on the strength of a passport they do not yet have are the ones who later ask for an urgent ceremony. Applicants who are exempt from the pledge, children under 16 and people with a permanent incapacity, become citizens on the day of approval or on a day the Department sets. The citizenship guide covers the application and the criteria.

How ceremonies are allocated

Ceremonies are held, in the ordinary case, by local councils, which are authorised to conduct them and which schedule them on their own calendars, monthly in large councils and a few times a year in small ones, with a capacity for each; the Department holds the list of approved applicants by residential address, allocates them to the council for their area in order of approval, and sends the council the names for each ceremony some weeks before, after which the council or the Department sends the invitation with the date, the time and the venue. Neither the council nor the Department will tell an applicant their position in the list, because the list is not a queue in that sense; it is the order of approval within the area against the council's capacity, and an area with many new citizens and few ceremonies has the long wait. An applicant who moves to another council area tells the Department, and is allocated in the new area, which can shorten or lengthen the wait.

The published wait times

The Department publishes, by council area, the expected time between approval and the ceremony, updated periodically, and at the time of writing the figures run from a few months in councils with capacity to spare to most of a year in the large outer-metropolitan councils of Sydney and Melbourne where the numbers are greatest; the published figure is the current expectation for an applicant approved now, not a promise, and it moves as councils add or cancel ceremonies and as the Department runs its own. The figure for the applicant's own council is the number to plan on, and an applicant approved in a long-wait council with a reason to be a citizen sooner reads the urgent ceremony section below. Ceremonies cluster around Australia Day and Citizenship Day, and the months around them are the busiest.

The twelve months

The Act provides that the Minister may cancel an approval where the applicant has not made the pledge within twelve months after the approval and the Minister is satisfied the applicant is responsible for the delay, and the Department applies it to applicants who decline invitations, fail to attend, or are unavailable for a long period without telling it; an applicant who attends the first ceremony offered has nothing to do with the twelve months, and an applicant whose council's wait exceeds it is not responsible for the delay and is not cancelled. An applicant who must miss a ceremony for a reason, illness, a death, an unavoidable trip, tells the Department or the council before the date and is rescheduled; an applicant who misses two without explanation is written to, and an approval cancelled under the provision means a new application from the beginning with the charge paid again.

Asking for an urgent ceremony

The Department will allocate an approved applicant to an earlier ceremony, including one it holds itself, where the applicant shows a reason it recognises: travel that requires an Australian passport and cannot be deferred, which in practice means travel the applicant's current passport does not permit or travel for a reason that is itself urgent; employment, a security clearance or a study place that requires citizenship by a date, with the employer's or institution's letter; a serious illness of the applicant or a close family member; a compassionate circumstance; or a defence or government requirement. The request is made to the Department in writing through its citizenship enquiry channel, with the approval reference and the evidence, and the Department decides it within weeks and, where it accepts, allocates the applicant to the next ceremony with capacity. A request for a holiday, for a long-planned trip on the applicant's existing passport, or because the wait is long is declined, and the Department's published position is that the wish to hold a passport sooner is not a reason. A request made early, as soon as the need is known, has the best chance.

The Department's own ceremonies and the private ceremony

The Department holds ceremonies of its own, in its offices and at events, for applicants whose councils have no capacity, for urgent cases and for the periodic clearing of long waits, and an applicant allocated to one is invited in the same way. An applicant who cannot attend any ceremony because of a disability, a serious illness or a custodial situation can have the pledge received privately, by an authorised officer, at a place the Department arranges, on request with the medical or other evidence. An applicant outside Australia for a long period can, in limited cases, make the pledge at an Australian mission abroad, which the Department arranges where the applicant's absence is for a reason it accepts and the residence requirement is still met.

What can still go wrong

• An offence: the good character requirement runs to the day of the pledge, and an applicant charged with or convicted of an offence after approval must tell the Department, which may defer the ceremony until the matter is resolved or cancel the approval; an undisclosed charge found later is a cancellation and a question of the citizenship itself. The character guide covers it.
• An absence: the residence requirement is assessed as at approval, but a long absence after approval can mean the applicant is not in Australia when invited, and can bear on the Department's view of the intention to live here; an applicant leaving for months tells the Department.
• False information: an application later found to have been false can have its approval cancelled before the pledge, and the citizenship revoked after it.
• A lost permanent visa: an applicant whose permanent visa is cancelled between approval and pledge, on character grounds for instance, has the approval cancelled with it.
• A change of address not reported, so that the invitation goes to the wrong council or the wrong address and the ceremony is missed.

Travel while waiting

An approved applicant travels on their permanent visa and their current passport, and the permanent visa's travel facility must be valid for the return; an applicant whose five-year travel facility has expired needs a resident return visa before leaving, and the approval of citizenship does not replace it. A trip of weeks is nothing; a trip of months risks the invitation arriving while the applicant is away, and the applicant tells the Department the dates so that the ceremony is not allocated inside them. The applicant must be in Australia to make the pledge, with the limited exception of the missions abroad. The resident return guide covers the travel facility.

Children

A child under 16 included in a parent's application is approved with the parent and becomes a citizen on the day the parent makes the pledge; the child attends where the council allows and is presented with their own certificate, but does not pledge. A child who turns 16 between approval and the ceremony makes the pledge; a child who turns 18 before the ceremony is treated as an adult for the ceremony. A child approved on their own application, because a parent was already a citizen, attends their own ceremony if 16 or over and otherwise becomes a citizen on approval or on the day the Department sets, receiving the certificate by post or at a ceremony the family attends.

The day itself

1. Confirm attendance when the invitation arrives, by the date it gives, and tell the council of any accessibility need.
2. Bring the invitation and the identity document it names, usually the passport; the council checks identity against the Department's list before the ceremony.
3. The ceremony runs an hour or two: the welcome, the presiding officer's address, the pledge, made in one of two forms with or without the words under God, standing, and the presentation of the certificate.
4. The pledge is made aloud in English, and an applicant who cannot speak the words because of a disability is assisted; the pledge is the legal act and the certificate the evidence of it.
5. Photographs are permitted at most ceremonies, and guests are usually welcome within the venue's capacity.

After the pledge

The applicant is a citizen from the pledge, holds the citizenship certificate as evidence, and applies for an Australian passport with it at Australia Post or online, which takes weeks in the ordinary service; the permanent visa ceases on the acquisition of citizenship, and a citizen travels on the Australian passport, not on the old passport with the old visa, because the visa no longer exists. A citizen of a country that does not permit dual citizenship loses that citizenship under that country's law, which the applicant will have considered before applying. The electoral roll enrolment follows, and is compulsory. The residence calculator and the residence guide cover the requirement that runs up to approval.

Book a consultation — $330 inc. GST, credited

General information only, current at October 2026; not advice on your own case. Sections 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (approval, cancellation of approval, the pledge and when citizenship begins), the Australian Citizenship Regulation, and the Department’s published ceremony wait times by local government area and its published position on urgent ceremony requests, as at the date above; the wait times change and the Department’s current figures govern. Outcomes depend on the Department’s assessment of each application; no registered migration agent can guarantee a result (Code of Conduct, Migration Agents Regulations). Keshab Chapagain, MARN 1576536.