Migrants receive citizenship in record numbers amid coronavirus pandemic

Australian citizenship ceremony

Australian citizenship ceremony Source: Paul Kane - CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images

Exclusive figures released to SBS show a record number of people have been conferred Australian citizenship in the last financial year. Over 200,000 people began calling Australia home in the last 12 months, the biggest ever increase in a single year.


Over 204,000 new citizens have taken the oath in the last financial year, 45,000 online, reducing the backlog of approved candidates waiting to finalise the process by more than 40 percent since the start of the year.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge says the government is working to reduce the backlog further.

At the start of the year there were 85,000 people who were waiting to become Australian citizens that figure is down to 50,000 and by the end of the year it will be down to zero and we’ll just be dealing with the ongoing applicants as they come through.

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