Changes In Australia Citizenship Requirements

16 Aug 2018

The Government in Australia has strengthened the integrity of Australian citizenship and shows that there are a few changes to Australian citizenship laws for September 2018. It had announced some changes on 20^th April 2017 with the intention that they will take effect on that date. The Bill needed drafting and passing through Parliament, which failed on 18^th October 2017. Since that date, there were a few discussions to finally introduce these changes into law.

Proposed Changes in Australia

These proposed changes require the applicants to:

•  Live in Australia as a permanent resident for 4 years,
• Also pass a test in English language. The recommendation for pass level to get citizenship is Competent English.
• They must also pass a citizenship test. This will be a stronger version of the present test and will assess the understanding as well as commitment of applicant to, Australian values
• The applicants need to pass the high level test in the first attempt itself,
• They must prove the capacity to integrate and contribute to the community

Present requirements

Taking the general pathway, all applicants need to first meet the residency requirements.

The present legislation requires that the applicants must be in Australia for at least:

Previous 4 years, on a temporary/permanent visa. In this period they must not spend more than 12 months overseas and also for these 12 months, on a permanent visa, they must not spend more than 3 months overseas.

Moreover:

• Applicants who initially do not pass English test must pass the test
• Also the Applicants can complete the present citizenship test for a number of times,
• Finally, the Applicants must also have a good character.

The date it can happen

This legislation must undergo the discussion and passing stages in the Parliament. It is under topic of discussion for more than one year and can commence soon.

 The visa holders feeling its impact will be:

provisional partner holders

Those who have the approval of permanent partner application will be affected.  Provisional partner visa holders must be living for 6 years before meeting the criteria for proposed residency.

457 T.S.S. visa holders

Those who have lived/worked in Australia, for a number of years, prior to qualifying for PR will be affected. They must be living in Australia for 7 years before meeting the criteria for proposed residency.

Student visa holders

Those who complete studies in the country, before starting the permanent visa process, through the General Skilled Migration program will be affected.

In case these changes get an approval the process to get citizenship will become hard and take a long time for applicants.

Apply Now

In case the applicant meets the present citizenship requirements he/she consider filing application now.

If the legislation gets an approval, after you file the application and before any decision, the changes can apply retrospectively and the application can be rejected.

Many legislative changes during the past 16 months were not applied retrospectively. Please file the citizenship application before introduction of the legislation in Parliament.

• Waiting until the Legislation is Complete- 

  Watch the developments closely

• Wait for Meeting the new Requirements of

  Residence - This will require you additional 3 years on permanent residence visa and spending much time in Australia.

• Applying for Citizenship under the present Concessions -

  This is possible in case the candidates show hardship or a need to travel for employment.

Conclusion

Immigration laws of all nations are complicated and the applicants must seek professional immigration guidance for success.

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