Citizenship Requirement Reforms Proposed
April 21, 2017
Australia
The Australian Prime Minister and the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection have proposed reforms restricting requirements for Australian citizenship, including extending the requirement of permanent residency to four years from the current requirement of 12 months, adding new questions to the citizenship test and introducing an English language proficiency test to encompass reading, writing, listening and speaking evaluations. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has indicated that these amendments should be introduced by the end of 2017.
Proposed Reforms
The following are among the key proposed reforms to citizenship requirements:
- Increasing the permanent residency requirement to four years in Australia, up from the current requirement of 12 months;
- Adding more questions to assess applicants’ understanding of and commitment to Australian shared values and responsibilities;
- Adding a requirement for applicants to provide examples of the steps they have taken to integrate into and contribute to the Australian community, such as employment, membership in community organizations and enrollment of eligible children in school;
- Introduction of an English language proficiency test to encompass reading, writing, listening and speaking evaluations;
- Limiting the number of times an applicant can fail the citizenship test to three – there is currently no limit; and
- Introducing an automatic failing result for applicants who are found to have cheated during the citizenship test.
What This Means for Employers and Foreign Nationals
The proposed changes would make it harder for foreign nationals to become citizens in Australia based on a longer period of residence (as a permanent resident) in Australia.
Fragomen will continue to monitor the situation and will work to ensure the government understands the potential ramifications of the proposed changes.
Fragomen will provide further updates as new information is released.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].
MARN 0004980
