On Monday 8th June 2020, the Acting Immigration Minister, Alan Tudge, stated that “Face to Face Citizenship ceremonies” will be resuming very soon.
The Government is also working to resume citizenship testing and interviews as soon as possible.
These were stopped due to Covid-19, meaning that many new Citizenship applications had been put on hold.
It is expected that councils will be able to choose to conduct the Citizenship ceremonies either in-person or online.
The official media announcement is:
In-person citizenship ceremonies to resume.
The Government has resumed in-person citizenship ceremonies with local councils invited to begin hosting small events where safe to do so and in line with the latest health advice.
We moved quickly to implement online ceremonies when COVID-19 restrictions came into effect and more than 25,000 became Australian citizens via this method.
These online ceremonies meant people could pledge their allegiance to Australia at a time of great uncertainty and become citizens despite face-to-face restrictions.
Now that restrictions are easing, councils will once again be able to host small ceremonies in line with the public gathering requirements in their state or territory.
Online ceremonies will continue for councils unable to host physical events safely so we can continue to see as many people as possible enjoy the privilege of becoming citizens.
Councils can choose to host in-person or online ceremonies, or both. The Department of Home Affairs will also continue to host online ceremonies for those who cannot attend an in-person ceremony.
The Government is also working to resume citizenship testing and interviews in the coming weeks so we can have people moving through all stages of becoming Australian citizens.
Australian citizenship is fundamental to our national identity. More than 179,000 people have been conferred Australian citizenship this financial year. This is up 56 per cent on the same period last year.
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