Citizenship ceremony

How the ceremony works

Home Affairs or your local council sends the invitation about four weeks before the event. The council that hosts your ceremony depends on your residential address. Wait times depend on demand in your area, and having family linked to your application can affect them. People who do not need to make the pledge become citizens on the day their application is approved, and their certificate and approval letter are posted by registered post.

Travelling

In most cases you cannot be approved while outside Australia, and you must make the pledge within 12 months of approval or the approval may be cancelled. If an invitation falls on a date you are away, you may receive a non-attendance letter and then a new invitation to the next available ceremony.

After the ceremony

• Passport: You cannot apply for an Australian passport until you have received evidence of your citizenship.
• Voting: You must enrol to vote if you are 18 or older. At the ceremony you get an information sheet with a QR code to enrol online.
• Certificate care: It is an offence to alter the certificate or let someone else alter it, and laminated or damaged certificates may be refused. Do not write on it.
• Errors: If Home Affairs made an error on the certificate, tell them as soon as possible. You may not need to apply for a correction if you do so within six weeks of receiving it.