Monday 12 October 2009

Citizenship Update

Today I called to book the citizenship test as I heard that there are long waiting queues for these. So I wanted to book earlier. However, in Melbourne, the schedule was full until the 9th of November. The further schedule has not been released yet as there are changes going forward on 19th of October.
The changes include no mandatory questions in the citizenship test, questions written in plain English, a new preparation book, and a passmark raised from 60% to 75% correct answers.
The test will now be taken AFTER the citizenship application has been submitted and as a part of that process. It is not required to do a test before the application. I did the online sample test and had 19 out of 20 questions correct. (wohoo)

Another positive fact is that holidays abroad are not taken into considerations (are not considered as being absent from Australia for residence requirements purposes) if they are shorter than 3 months. This effectively cuts my expected residence time down for 2 months. Instead of March 2010, I should now be eligible for citizenship in January.
The counter has just gone to 150 yesterday and now, taking into consideration the above provision, it goes instantly to 92! Only three months left. Now I'm positively surprised and puzzled to a point as this was unexpected.

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