Australia to make amendments to its citizenship laws through Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 making it difficult for migrants to become australian citizen. The bill to be introduced in parliament this month.
To strengthen the requirements to become an Australian citizen, the Bill amends the Act to:
- Increase the general residence requirement to require citizenship by conferral applicants to have been a permanent resident for at least eight years before they are eligible to apply for citizenship;
- Require most applicants to provide evidence of competent English language proficiency before they can make a valid application for citizenship;
- Require applicants to sign an Australian Values Statement in order to make a valid application for citizenship;
- Require applicants to demonstrate their integration into the Australian community, including by behaving in a manner consistent with the Australian values that applicants commit to when they sign the Australian Values Statement;
- Amend the Preamble to recognise that people who are conferred Australian citizenship undertake to accept the obligation to pledge their allegiance to Australia and its people, and to share Australian values;
- Allow for the Minister to determine eligibility criteria for sitting the citizenship test that may relate to the fact that a person has previously failed the test, did not comply with one or more rules of conduct relating to the test, or was found to have cheated during the test;
- Rename the ‘pledge of commitment’ the ‘pledge of allegiance’ and amend the pledge to require a person to pledge their allegiance to Australia and its people;
- Extend the requirement to make the pledge of allegiance to all persons aged 16 and over intending to acquire citizenship by descent, persons adopted in accordance with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption or a bilateral agreement, persons intending to acquire citizenship by resumption, and persons intending to acquire citizenship by conferral who have satisfied the criteria for a person born to a former Australian citizen, a person born in Papua or a person who has satisfied the criteria relating to statelessness; and
- Allow for the Regulation or an instrument made under the Act to introduce a two year bar on a person making an application for citizenship where the Minister has refused to approve the person becoming an Australian citizen on grounds other than failure to meet the residence requirement.
Another change include changing the period of permanent residency from one year to four years, a modest English language requirement, a new values test, and stronger character checks.
According to sbs.com.au, Currently there over 200,000 citizenship applicants awaiting the outcome for Australian citizenship.
“The number of citizenship applications on hand as at 30 April for conferral is 209,826,” a member of the Home Affairs Department told the Senate Estimates Hearing in May.
