If you are wondering as to which nationality forms the largest group of new citizens in Australia then look no further than India. For, after all, Indians, for the second year in a row form the largest group of (cultural) new citizens in Australia, among the largest continents on the face of the earth.
And the official numbers from the Australian government have recently arrived that highlight the above.
It turns out that of the 1.27 lakh people who have recently conferred the Australian citizenship, an exact 28,470 were from India. Do the math and you understand that it is around 22.3 percent from India alone!
But there’s a reason as to what makes Indians the largest group of new citizens in Australia. The numbers arriving from the period of 2018-19 tell the entire tale in one stroke.
It appears that the number of Indians who had applied for Australian citizenship has quite simply gone up by 60 percent in the period 2018-19. But this doesn’t tell the story on its own.
In 2017-18, the number of persons from India who had applied for Australian citizenship was down by 60 percent than in the period that followed later.
You understand India’s overwhelming success at acquiring Australian citizenship when you visit the official numbers from the government that suggests that a total of 1.27 lakh individuals from 200 countries of origin had been conferred the Aussie citizenship.
But India’s success during 2018-19 isn’t a surprising phenomenon. For the period ending June 30, 2018 (i.e., the fiscal year 2017-18) India formed the largest group of people to have been conferred the Aussie citizenship, an instance that saw them topple the UK.
But that said, one’s got to ask what are the two most common forms of getting citizenship in Australia? To that end, it’s important to know that one can either get it by way of descent or by way of conferral. But the case of citizenship conferrals happens only by way of meeting some specific eligibility requirements and by way of passing a citizenship test.
In the case of the latter, individuals are tested on the basis of their knowledge of the English language and knowledge pertaining to Australia. It’s worthwhile to note that both- children below the age of 17 and senior citizens above the age of 60 are exempted from this test.
Australian media has recently reported on the slowdown in the processing of citizenship applications. The overall wait time is down from 493 days last year.