Citizenship Changes – September 2017 Update

On the 20 April earlier this year the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull along with Minister for Immigration, Peter Dutton announced an overhaul of the Australian citizenship legislation and policy.

It was announced that Australian permanent residents would have to wait 4 years and undertake an English examination to be eligible for Citizenship.

Since the announcement, there has been considerable controversy surrounding the proposed changes requesting the reversal of the announcement.

However, we have recently been advised that the contreversial ‘overhaul’ is not being supported by key political parties in Parliament. The proposal has passed the Lower House however is anticipated to be blocked by other parties.

The ‘retrospective’ proposal is also being opposed which would require permanent residents who were eligible, or had their applications processing with the Department to no longer be eligible.

At this stage, what law’s will be introduced in regards to the Citizenship Act is unknown however we will be constantly providing updates as they become available.

Applications that have been submitted under the current legislation are on-hold with the Department until the changes are finalised.