Absolutely. If it's not automatic, you're penalizing people with cognitive impairments, people who are marginalized, people who are poor, or people who are illiterate. They may be putting their lives back together and being crime free, but if it requires this application process, it invites a lot of problems in terms of who has the ability to actually do that.
I would also say that the time for the automatic thing to kick in can be triggered according to how serious the offence is. If it is a summary offence, the period that they should wait should be a lot less than it is if it's an indictable offence. It should be automatic, in my view, across the board, as soon as that crime-free period or whatever is thought to be prudent has been met.