“This month will be the fifth month … I keep checking my emails, even when I’m on shift at work – nothing from them.

“Each time I contact Home Affairs and Brisbane City Council, they keep giving generic copy-and-paste replies, which is nothing really meaningful, and causes me anxiety and stress.”

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Rani was behind a campaign to get Brisbane to put on more ceremonies to deal with the backlog, launching an online petition and rallying support in a Facebook group for aspiring citizens.

Other members of that group told of having to delay overseas travel plans, and being prevented from applying for certain government and private sector jobs, while they waited.

Rani said she was “so happy” to hear more ceremonies were planned in Brisbane.

“I have my fingers crossed to be in one of the August ceremonies, hopefully,” she said.

“[Citizenship means] having more security, opens the doors to more opportunities … and being able to do more studies.”

Fiona Cunningham, the civic cabinet chair for finance and city governance, said people from around the world were moving to Brisbane because “it’s a great place to live, work or raise a family”.

“This has resulted in extra people wanting to be sworn in at citizenship ceremonies in Brisbane City Hall, which was already a popular venue,” she said.

“While we would welcome funding for citizenship ceremonies given federal government decisions have significantly increased the number of new citizens, we have made the decision to schedule an extra four ceremonies this year.”

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Premier Steven Miles have criticised the Commonwealth for allowing population growth to surge, putting pressure on infrastructure and services.