Australian Government has come out with some reforms in the existing system of getting an Australian Citizenship. These have been put into place considering the culture and Australian values and that it all needs to be well kept. These new reforms are all set to apply for all the applications that will come after the official announcement made by the government on 20th of April 2017. An important part of these reforms was to have people who are proficient in the English language as it is felt that it will help in boosting the economic growth.
While releasing these new reforms, the Minister of Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton said, “Our reforms will ensure applicants are competent in English, have been a permanent resident for at least four years and commit to embracing Australian values.” Adding to this further, he said, “Citizenship is at the heart of our national identity. It is the foundation of our democracy. We must ensure that our citizenship program is conducted in our national interest”. Thus the focus is put on having citizens who will nurture the value set and beliefs.
Read: How to immerse yourself in Australian Culture
Here are the six new requirements that you need to know about applying for Australian Citizenship:
- In view of getting people with a good hold on the English language, the applicants will be required to give a test for English (stand-alone test). The test will assess an individual on their skills of English proficiency related to reading, writing, listening and speaking.
- Before getting an Australian Citizenship, you are required to have lived in Australia for at least four years. Previously this was just one year.
- To assess whether the applicant understands the Australian culture and values, the citizenship test will be made to ensure that questions are also put to find this out. Hence a good preparation will now require you to understand the culture and its importance as well.
- You also need to show that you have been an active individual in terms of mingling in the community and contributing to it. Some examples in this would be evidence of employment, membership of community organisations and school enrollment for all eligible children.
- Previously there was no limit on how many times a person can fail the citizenship test but now you only get three chances to pass the test.
- Provisions are now put to make sure that no one can cheat in the citizenship test. If one is caught using unfair means then that will lead to automatic failure.
