More than 220,000 waiting for citizenship

More than 220,000 people are waiting to have their citizenship applications processed, new figures reveal.

Despite a 100,000 drop in the number of applications, migrants are still waiting about 410 days - more than 13 months - for their citizenship to be approved.

The wait time is down from 493 days last year, but still streaks above the 167-day wait time seven years ago.

There are almost 30,000 Indians, 27,000 Britons and nearly 18,000 Chinese nationals waiting to become Australian citizens.

In total, there are 221,415 aspiring citizens waiting to have their applications processed.

Labor's home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally described the delays as cruel and callous.

"Scott Morrison says 'If you have a go, you get a go' but these citizenship processing blowouts are proof he doesn't care about people waiting for their citizenship applications to be processed," she said on Monday.

The latest figures were provided by the Department of Home Affairs in response to questions from Labor MP Julian Hill.