More and more people are waiting for more than two years of naturalization. (SBS pictures)
It is becoming more and more difficult to become an Australian citizen these days, according to SBS. The waiting period for naturalization is more than two years, and the number of immigrants subject to stricter background checks has soared by 450 percent.
In December, the Federal Ombudsman's Office, (Commonwealth Ombudsman), released the results of an 18-month survey. The survey found that the number of people applying for naturalization through the "nationality grant" (citizenship by conferral), such as those who were refugees, surged by 450 percent in the number of immigrants who were subject to rigorous status checks and waited longer than two years for naturalization. Since goverment stepped up screening for naturalized applicants in November 2016, the number has increased, from 338 in November 2016 to nearly 2000 in mid-last year.
The granting of nationality is a channel developed for permanent residents. They must meet a series of conditions, pass the naturalization test and attend the naturalization ceremony.
At the beginning of January, the immigration department received 167820 citizenship applications, 5680 of which reached the age of two.
The agency focuses on those who are subject to "intensive scrutiny" and "loyalty surveys" because of background factors. These background factors include the applicant's country of origin, the applicant's "irregular" visit to Australia or changes in personal information.
The report shows that the longest pending naturalization application has now been waiting for more than four years. The immigration department's "standard of service" is that most cases will be dealt with within 80 days.
"in early 2016, the federal ombudsman's office received more complaints, saying they had waited more than a year for a naturalization application, and some for more than two years." "in the past year and a half, we have received about 300 complaints about the delay of the authorities concerned, or immigration authorities," the Commissioner's report in December last year said, adding: "over the past year and a half, we have received about 300 complaints about the delay of the authorities concerned."
Enhanced identity review
The Federal Investigator's Office found that Afghanistan had the largest number of immigrants from Afghanistan among those who took more than 80 days to process naturalization applications. People from the war-torn country were singled out by immigration authorities as "special cases" because of so-called "loyalty issues", the commission said.
On June 30, 2017, the number of Afghan immigrants who took more than 80 days to process naturalization applications was as high as 5102. This was followed by immigrants from Iran, Iraq, stateless persons, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Sudan and China.
Source: federal Ombudsman's Office
"while the department has improved in reducing the backlog of applications, there is still a need for improvement in assessing more complex cases," the report said.
But critics say that the delay of the immigration department is a deliberate policy shift, which demonizes the refugees' background and exacerbates the problem of underhand.
