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25th Jan 2019

Over 24,000 Irish people now have Australian citizenship with 455 more to receive it this Saturday

This Saturday is Australia Day.

Denise Curtin

In the past 10 years, 24,426 Irish people have received Australian citizenship.

This figure comes from statistics between July 2008 and December 2018. A figure that’s only growing, with 455 more Irish to pledge alliance and be conferred citizenship at Australia Day ceremonies this Saturday.

Citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day have become a rite of passage, with more people becoming citizens on this day than any other. This year, it’s expected that 15,000 people from across the world will become citizens on Saturday, reports The Irish Times.

Nowadays, more and more people have decided to move to Australia and work to obtain citizenship. In order to be eligible to become an Australian citizen, you need to have lived in Australia for four years, 12 months in a permanent home and be “of good character” with the hopes of always maintaining a close relationship with Austalia.

The second part of the process involves a test on your knowledge of the country as well as your English language skills.

In the last 12 months, 2,673 Irish nationals became Australian citizens with 74,895 Irish-born people living in Australia on cenus day in August 2016.