The consistent bout of immigration across the world has left Indians staying on a global scale across the world. But, the Indian population has twice in a row secured the title of being the largest group of new citizens in Australia this year as well.
As per the recent statistics released by the Australian Department of Home Affairs for the fiscal year of 2018-19, a total of 1.27 lakh people from varying countries of origin were provided with the Australian citizenship. Out of those people, 28,470 people were from India. The spike in the securing of the citizenship in Australia has gone up by 58% from the last year.
On the year ending in the month of July, India was seen as an emerging group to secure the largest group citizenship, overthrowing UK. During this time period, the Indians obtaining their citizenship via conferral numbered at 17,756 out of a total of 80,649 aggregate. The immigration experts, after analyzing the numbers stated that the aggregate numbers have hit a new low following the years of 2017-18.
The number of Indian citizens acquiring the Australian citizenship has actually gone up by 60% in the year of 2018-19 in comparison to the year before but at the same time, the number of Indians obtaining the citizenship has been static throughout both the years.
The two common modes of acquiring the citizenship is either via descent or conferral. For the citizenship conferral, the individual in question has to undergo some tests and exams which test out the knowledge of English and the knowledge about Australia in general along with meeting the standard eligibility criteria involved in this matter.
Cyrus Mistry, Perth-based director of EasyMigrate Consultancy Services stated saying to TOI that the commonly proposed changes for citizenship requires a provision for the individual to have stayed in Australia for a minimum of 4 years as permanent residents. The same has significantly sparked interest among some of the new applicants in question.
Mistry further explained saying, “The government introduced a bill to amend the citizenship rules. The key proposed changes, in addition to increasing the tenure as a permanent resident for eligibility to apply for citizenship included a more intensive English language test, a strong ‘oath of allegiance’ and the need to prove integration into Australian society.”
This specific bill which was introduced in April 2017 was not passed which meant that the old rules were still applicable. This was one of the primary reasons behind the sudden spike in the applications of the citizenships.
Michael Wall, managing director at Gateway Immigration Solution believes that the implementation of the bill could have proved to be an impetus. Wall also stated that the Indians have been gaining more citizenship across the country and more and more people are applying for the citizenship. The Permanent Residency in Australia allows the individuals in question to stay in the country for an indefinite amount of time. This is a lot similar to the United State’s Green Card.
The individuals who have stayed in Australia for an extended amount of time do get the opportunity to apply for the Permanent Residency following which they can apply for the citizenship in Australia. The rate of migration from India is also on the rise.
In the fiscal year of 2017-18, it was reported that 33,310 Indians migrated to India, exempting the students which soared the percentage to 20.5% rise in the total inflow. Whether this is proving beneficial for the Indian and Australian economy is a matter for question for another day.
