Figures from the Department of Home Affairs show 75 per cent of applications for citizenship by conferral from date of application to ceremony now take 23 months - up from 16 months last June.
Highlights:
* Citizenship application processing time takes 23 months
* Up to 22 May this year, 175,304 people were granted Australian citizenship
* 117,958 applications waiting to be processed
In a statement, a department spokesperson told SBS News the pandemic had affected processing.
"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all face-to-face citizenship appointments, such as interviews and citizenship tests, have been placed on hold. This has meant an increase in overall processing times. The department will recommence in-person interviews and citizenship tests when it is safe to do so," they said, adding that new applications are still being accepted."
But Carla Wilshire, CEO of the Migration Council Australia, said the waiting times were unacceptable, even with the constraints of a pandemic.
"People, once they confirm a desire to go down the pathway of citizenship, a lot of decisions are often put on hold until that citizenship comes through and so once people make that decision and go through that process, It's important we give them certainty as quickly as possible.”
Up to 22 May this year, 175,304 people were granted Australian citizenship - up 56 per cent on the same period last year.
More than 750 people have received citizenship through online ceremonies each day since they began, and up to 22 May, more than 16,800 people received citizenship this way.
The latest backlog figure is now 117,958 applications, compared to 221,695 a year ago.
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