The Department of Justice have announced that significant changes are being introduced for citizenship applications, from January 2022.
Passports
From 1 January 2022 new applicants for citizenship will not be required to submit their original passport with the initial application. Instead, applicants can provide a full colour copy of their entire passport and all previous passports containing stamps that contribute to an applicant’s period of reckonable residency claimed, including the front and back covers. The colour copy must be certified and submitted with the application form.
The colour copy of the passport can be certified by a solicitor, commissioner for oaths or notary public. The following actions should be undertaken:
- Check the front and back of the actual passport have been coloured photocopied;
- Check the biometric page(s) of the actual passport which contains the photograph, name etc., to confirm that this is the passport of the person before them;
- Then check that this matches the corresponding pages of the colour copy provided by the applicant;
- Then stamp and initial all of the colour copy pages (All pages to be photocopied, even if blank) and provide a short letter confirming that the colour copy pages are a true copy of the applicant’s passport and that the passport is that of the applicant.
Please see the full notice here.
Scorecard approach
From January, significant changes are being introduced regarding the number of proofs required to establish their identity and residency as part of the Citizenship application process.
Applicants will be required to reach a score of 150 points in each of the years where proof of residency is required. They do this by submitting proofs with a predetermined point value until they reach the required score of 150 points for each year of residency claimed.
An applicant must also accumulate a total of 150 points for establishing identity in order to meet the appropriate standard. Where an applicant is not able to achieve 150 points they should contact the Department of Justice.
Please see the full notice here.
If you have any questions or require assistance to submit your citizenship application, please contact a caseworker here.
