How long does Australian citizenship take?

Processing times for Australian citizenship by conferral vary and can change significantly depending on application volumes and individual circumstances. The only current, authoritative source is the Department of Home Affairs processing times page — check it before drawing any conclusions about your own wait.

That said, understanding the stages helps you know where your application is and what's coming next.

The main stages

A citizenship by conferral application typically moves through these steps:

1. Application lodged — you submit through ImmiAccount and pay the fee
2. Identity appointment — the Department invites you to verify your identity and sit the citizenship test (or attend an interview if exempt from the test)
3. Approval — after a successful test and assessment, your application is approved
4. Citizenship ceremony — you're invited to attend a ceremony and make the pledge of commitment

Becoming a citizen does not happen at approval. You're officially a citizen only after the ceremony and pledge.

Current published processing times

The Department publishes percentile-based processing times. At the last content review, the published 90% processing times were:

Citizenship process	90% processed within
Citizenship by conferral — application to decision	8 months
Approved conferral applicants — approval to ceremony opportunity	6 months
Citizenship by conferral — application to ceremony	14 months
Citizenship by descent	6 months
Evidence of Australian citizenship	11 days

These are not guarantees for your individual application. They are a current public benchmark, and the Department updates them as workloads change.

The table also matters because it separates three different waits that people often mix together:

• Application to decision — the time before your application is approved, refused, withdrawn, or found invalid
• Approval to ceremony opportunity — the wait after approval before you have the opportunity to attend a citizenship ceremony
• Application to ceremony — the full journey for applicants who need to make the pledge before becoming citizens

If your application has been approved but you are still waiting for a ceremony, you are not waiting for the same thing as someone who has not received a decision yet.

What affects the wait?

The overall journey from lodgement to ceremony can still vary. Factors that affect your timeline include:

• Application volume — more applications mean longer waits, and demand varies
• Completeness of your application — missing documents or unclear information add delays
• How quickly you respond — requests for more information can sit unresolved if you miss an ImmiAccount message
• Character or identity checks — complex personal histories take more time to assess
• Information from other agencies — some checks depend on responses outside the Department
• Location — processing and appointment availability differs across states and territories
• Type of application — conferral, descent, evidence of citizenship, and special-category applications are processed separately

Checking your status

Once lodged, you can track your application in ImmiAccount. The Department sends correspondence through your ImmiAccount inbox — not always by email — so log in regularly rather than waiting for a notification.

If the published processing time has passed and you haven't heard anything, you can lodge an enquiry through ImmiAccount or contact the Department. Don't lodge a second application — this won't speed things up and will complicate your case.

Before you contact the Department, check:

• Whether the published processing time applies to your exact application type
• Whether the relevant stage is application to decision, approval to ceremony, or application to ceremony
• Whether there is any unread ImmiAccount message
• Whether the Department has asked for documents, translations, police checks, or updated identity information

If your application is still inside the published processing time, the Department may not be able to give you more detail yet.

Waiting for your test appointment

One of the longer waits for many applicants is between lodgement and receiving an invitation to sit the citizenship test. This isn't something you can rush by contacting the Department repeatedly.

Use the wait to prepare. Read how to prepare for the Australian citizenship test and start working through practice tests so you're ready when the invitation arrives.

After the test

Once you've sat and passed the test, your application moves into the approval and ceremony stage. The wait for a ceremony invitation varies depending on how often your local council holds ceremonies — some hold them monthly, others less frequently.

For a focused guide to the next step, see what to do after passing the Australian citizenship test.

For more on what to expect at the ceremony, see Australian citizenship ceremony: what to bring and what to expect.

If your application seems stuck

The most useful thing you can do is remove avoidable blockers:

• Keep your address, email, and phone details current in ImmiAccount
• Upload any requested documents promptly
• Use official translations for documents that are not in English
• Check that names and dates match across your documents
• Keep copies of correspondence in case you need to follow up later

If there is a real change in your circumstances, update the Department instead of waiting until the test appointment or ceremony.

Official source

Check current processing times directly: immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/citizenship-processing-times

Related guides

• Step-by-step Australian citizenship application process
• How to use ImmiAccount
• Australian citizenship requirements

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Processing times change and are updated by the Department. Check the official page for current figures before relying on the table above.