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The Australian Department of Home Affairs are responsible for the citizenship process in Australia. If you have applied for citizenship, they will:

  • assess your application, including any documentation and citizen test results
  • decide whether your citizenship will be approved
  • notify you in writing to let you know if your citizenship has been approved
  • allocate you to a local citizenship ceremony and send you an invitation to attend.

Citizenship ceremony allocations and invitations

The Australian Department of Home Affairs are responsible for allocating you a place at a citizenship ceremony and sending you an invitation to attend. While we coordinate and host citizenship ceremonies, Council does not have a role in the approvals, waitlists, or allocating candidates to specific citizenship ceremonies.

We are excited to welcome you as an Australian citizen to the City of Boroondara once you receive your invitation from the Department of Home Affairs.

You will receive your citizenship ceremony invitation from the Department of Home Affairs about 3 to 4 weeks before the ceremony they allocate you to attend.

If you have an urgent, compelling or compassionate need for Australian citizenship, you need to contact the Department of Home Affairs directly to make alternate arrangements to a Council citizenship ceremony. You can contact the Department of Home Affairs by calling their Global Service Centre on 131 881. More information is available on the Australian Department of Home Affairs website.

Wait times

There can be some time between when the Department of Home Affairs approve your citizenship application, and when they allocate you to a citizenship ceremony and send you an invitation. This can take between 3 and 6 months. Your citizenship ceremony information will be sent separately to the information you receive about your application being approved.

We have increased the size of our citizenship ceremonies and have added additional ceremony dates to try to reduce the amount of waiting time for residents of the City of Boroondara.

Given that your ceremony date is decided by the Department of Home Affairs, we are unable to provide you with more information about when you will be invited to a ceremony.

2024 citizenship ceremony dates and information

  • Friday 26 January 2024. Ceremony begins at 10 am. Registration is from 9 am to 9:45 am.
  • Wednesday 27 March (morning ceremony)
  • Tuesday 23 April (evening ceremony)
  • Monday 29 April (morning ceremony)
  • Monday 20 May (morning ceremony)
  • Tuesday 25 June (evening ceremony)
  • Wednesday 24 July (evening ceremony)
  • Tuesday 13 August (morning ceremony)
  • Wednesday 18 September (morning ceremony)
  • Thursday 21 November (evening ceremony)

Ceremonies are held at Hawthorn Arts Centre, at 360 Burwood Road in Hawthorn. You can find out more about this venue on our Hawthorn Arts Centre page.

To register, you must bring your driver's licence, passport or an official document that includes a photograph. If an applicant was under 16 when their citizenship application was submitted, they will not have to provide identification.

If you have received your invitation to a Boroondara citizenship ceremony from the Department of Home Affairs, we will then send you more information about the ceremony. If you have questions about the ceremony, you can email [email protected] or call us on (03) 9278 4444.

More information

If you are interested in becoming an Australian citizen, please visit the Become an Australian Citizen page on the Australian Department of Home Affairs website.

If you would like to know about citizenship ceremonies, please visit the Citizenship ceremonies page on the Australian Department of Home Affairs website.

You can also call the Department of Home Affairs Global Service Centre on 131 881.


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