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Migrants wait 493 days for Australian citizenship

Figures from the Department of Home Affairs show migrants are facing long waiting times to become Australian citizens, with the backlog leaving more than 220,000 applications to be processed.

Australian citizenship
Australian citizenship Source: AAP

1 min read

Published

Updated

By Shamsher Kainth

Presented by Justin Sungil Park



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Hundreds of thousands of migrants are waiting over sixteen months to become Australian citizens despite a massive decline in the number of citizenship applications last year.

Of the 221,000 people with pending applications for Australian citizenship, Indian migrants lead the pack with nearly 30,000 applications, followed by those from the United Kingdom (27,000) and China (17,000). Prospective citizens now face an average waiting time of 493 days to make their pledge of allegiance to Australia, up from 167 days in 2012-13.  

Read the full article in English here.


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