ian360

Thank you, Zet01. Your advice has been most helpful. I really appreciate it. Yes, here is hoping to a positive outcome for everybody. :) Thanks again.

Ah that is good then Dee. Good luck with your interview and I hope that your ceremony will be at the same time. I am sure that it will be.

Thank you Zet01. Yes I have been checking the spam also. I am sure it will arrive soon then. Thank you so much for responding.

Thank you for responding. Yes we did that - I think it also asked if you would like to take the ceremony at the same time as another person, and we linked it here too.

Hello all, Just a quick question here. My wife and I applied for our citizenship last December at the same time. We applied to the Perth office. My wife received an email last week requesting that she goes for the citizenship interview and test, however I did not receive anything as of yet. We were wondering if this is normal to process applications at different times despite us both applying at the same time? Or have they forgotten all about me? ? I hope this question makes sense. Thank you in advance. Ian

Is it using a touch screen thing, or is using a mouse? I ask because I have a bit of a disability that makes some computer work a bit tricky.

Myself and my wife are currently putting together our citizenship applications. On the residence calculator at the bottom it says… ————————————————— If any of the following applied to you in the past 4 years, please telephone the Citizenship Information Line on 131 880 during business hours to discuss your circumstances. You obtained an e-visa to replace an expired Resident Return Visa (RRV) You obtained a bridging visa of any type You lodged an onshore application for a permanent visa then travelled overseas on your temporary visa You are a New Zealand citizen on a Special Category Visa (SCV) ————————————————— My wife was on a Bridging Visa A from 30 January 2014 to 9 September 2014 while she was waiting for her permanent partner visa to be processed. Does anybody know what are the reasons immigration need us to call them for?

Hey Kimmy... I am in a similar situation to you. Did you have to get many penal clearance certificates from the various countries? This will take me forever!!!!

Happy days!!!!!

Well to be fair, this kinda clears up your points for me. Thank you for the update, ozpursuit.

The thing I don't understand is the argument I am seeing on here about who pays the most tax. I was unaware that worthiness to citizenship was based on how much tax people pay. Surely there has to be more to a person's eligibility than how much tax they pay or have paid? My memory is a little hazy about the PR rules now as I originally got my PR back in 2003. I remember I got in due to my teaching qualifications and experience, I was fluent in English and I was under 30 years old. I remember they had a list of jobs and skills they needed, and if you had any of those skills, the right amount of experience, could speak English and were a certain age, then you were in and could apply. To my knowledge, being a student does not equate to the skills needed for PR, but possibly the end product would be (ie... you become an engineer or doctor etc). To try to make out that a student has been paying more taxes and is therefore more worthy seems to be missing the point. Surely it is about skills and what you as an individual can bring to Australia as a whole? If you have what they need and/or want then you have a good chance of success.

I understand. In this case, this is not a good situation for you.

If it would have been the same, why did you go the 457 route and not just go directly for PR so you could cut your waiting times down?

Plus in the not so distant future, many of us on PR will become citizens and then we will be voters. So it could certainly come back to bite the politicians. It really depends on how short sighted they choose to be.

Do Australia have an equivalent to Bernie Sanders in the US or Jeremy Corbyn in the UK?

Wow! I never knew it had got to that point. That is appalling!

I am one of those migrants. I worked in education for most of my life and made a career change 2 years ago into something completely different. I am now 43 years old. I guess that variety is the spice of life!

Hahahaha! This is actually very true!

I have to agree with this also. It makes no sense.

That is pretty shocking, Quoll. But then again, in the past I worked in education for many years so I really should not be surprised. Of course it does diminish the degree for the people who worked hard for it if you can basically get it just for signing up to the university. I have also worked as an English teacher, teaching English as a foreign language, and so I was able to understand how difficult it is for students to learn English. English is not a simple language despite us native speakers using it instinctively. So I certainly feel some sympathy for the people who need an IELTS 6, as this level is really too high and probably not necessary for a person to simply integrate. I can understand that certain jobs need a higher level, but for citizenship it is unnecessary. IELTS 5 would seem like a more appropriate requirement to me as this is more achievable for most learners of English.

And this is where the system of logic breaks down and is replaced with fairies and unicorns and non-existent problems!

Well I think it may be something specifically connected to English such as an English major degree etc, but logically it should be any major at an Australian university, because how on earth could you pass your degree without a good level of English in the first place?

It does not surprise me - however, you would assume that somebody who was born and grew up in an English speaking country, went through the school education system there and then studied at a university in an English speaking country, probably has a pretty good command of the English language. Therefore, in a case like this, is an English test really necessary?

That seems a bit strange. I grew up in England, went to an English university, worked as an English teacher for many years - yet, I have to take a test to prove that I can speak English? Hahahaha! Sorry, it seems kinda funny if you think about it.

Does anybody know if British citizens will be expected to take the English test when applying for citizenship?