> But why 3 years????
>
> To us moving out here (admittedly we have only been here 5 weeks) was
> the start of our new life. We are 100% comitted to becoming
> Australians and were counting down the weeks before we could 'stand up
> and be counted'.
>
> My father is proud to be Australian, he's been a citizen for 22 years.
> He has a flagpole on the garage and I often go out in a morning and am
> proud to raise the Australian flag for him.
>
> Now it would seem I'm going to have to wait 3 years instead of two
> before I can call myself an Australian, until then I'm just another
> Pommy B@$!ard. Doesn't this defeat the object of trying to get people
> to become citizens. What next, raise the requirement to 5 years just
> to make sure you really, really want to become a citizen.
>
> So I can't become a citizen for 3 years but they'll happily take my
> taxes and rates etc, even though I'm not officially an Australian! :(
>
> Am I alone in feeling this annoyed about this announcement?
By the same logic, you could argue for the waiting period to be shorter
than two years. That would risk citizenship becoming meaningless, as
two years is quite short.
The reason for a waiting period in the first place is to allow you to
become assimilated into the Australian community before you become a
citizen. My own view is that there are advantages in a 3 year wait
rather than two, in any case the Government seems to have made its mind
up on the principle.
If it went to 5 years it would be too long, and would cause difficulties
with integration of migrants. In any case the government is unlikely to
change things again for a long time.
Polly has a legitimate complaint about the way they do not count time on
temporary spouse visas (many spouses already have to wait a lot longer
than 3 years already). This is likely to be partially addressed in the
legislation.
As for your own situation, write a letter to your federal MP explaining
your personal circumstances and ask that he or she raises the issue with
the Citizenship Minister. The 3 year requirement is a done deal, and
won't be changed, however you should focus on asking for an exemption
for those already in Australia as permanent residents.
The waiting time for Australian citizenship will still be less than in
virtually every other developed country. Canada also has a 3 year
requirement, but they are taking almost 18 months to process
applications.
Jeremy
--
This is not intended to be legal or professional advice in any
jurisdiction
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