Tuesday, 19 August 2014
Joint media release with the Hon Scott Morrison MP, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and the Hon Marise Payne, Minister for Human Services.
People living in some areas of regional Australia can now sit the Australian Citizenship test at their local Centrelink or Medicare Service Centre.
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection the Hon Scott Morrison and Minister for Human Services Senator the Hon Marise Payne today announced a new partnership between their departments to make it easier for people living in regional areas across Australia to sit the citizenship test.
The government now offers weekly citizenship testing at 29 service centres across Australia - from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia to Mackay in Queensland.
People living in these areas can now take a citizenship test at their local service centre instead of travelling to capital cities or waiting for immigration staff to visit their local area.
The partnership was trialled at seven sites in 2012 and has now been expanded to 29 sites.
The partnership will make it easier for people living in regional areas to access this important service. Since October 2007 applicants for Australian citizenship have needed to pass a citizenship test to become an Australian citizen.
Some 125 000 citizenship tests are taken every year across the country and around 14 000 of these are taken in regional areas of Australia.
Previously Department of Immigration and Border Protection staff visited regional centres to conduct the tests, usually only on a monthly or bimonthly basis.
Now about 280 tests can take place each week in regional areas across Australia, making it much easier for migrants to sit the test if they live outside capital cities.
To find out more about becoming an Australian citizen visit citizenship.gov.au.
URL:http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm217179.htm
Last update: Tuesday, 19 August 2014 at 16:12 AEST