Three changes to the criteria for Australian citizenship proposed

1) New residence requirement;

2) New process for determining an applicant’s integration into the community.

3) Changes to the citizenship test.

There is a danger that the Australian government will make it too hard for people to become citizens or is this the real intention.

Change in residence requirement

Applicants for Australian citizenship will need to have been permanent residents for four years.

This will impact on:

Temporary work visa holders

Visa granted on humanitarian visas

Testing integration

New English-language testing. People seeking to become Australian will have to demonstrate their participation in community, through education, work and other participation in Australian institutions.

These is a proposal to examine families of potential citizens and the family’s ability to integrate no test at present. One proposal is to have compulsory language education. This hints of making it difficult to become Australian if you are not from an English speaking country. Australia may well end up with two kind of people living in Australia, Permanent Residents and Citizens.

This is a derisive plan and we would suggest you contact a migration agent as soon as possible.

 

The citizenship test

Changes are proposed to make this difficult also, assessment of an applicant’s understanding of, and commitment to, shared values and responsibilities. Test can only be take 3 times, cheating will result in the applicant not being able to take the test again

These changes will introduce unnecessary administration cost, divide society and generally make life for new migrants difficult also this will create an atmosphere of anxiety without achieving harmony and integration in Australia.

The current rules for new migrants are tough enough and one would question the government’s motives.