The Department of Home Affairs have released an update to the Australian Citizenship Application Fees that will be implemented on 1 July 2021.

The following message is from the Department of Home Affairs:

On 24 June, the Government announced that, from 1 July 2021, the Department of Home Affairs will update citizenship application fees to more accurately reflect the cost of delivering the citizenship program.

This is the first fee increase in more than five years and has been determined by citizenship application processing costs. Current fees recover only about 50 per cent of the cost of processing applications. The new fees reflect inflation costs, staffing costs and the increased complexity of applications, which take longer to process. Even with the increase, Australia’s citizenship application fees remain comparable to application fees in other, similar countries. Concessional citizenship application fees will still be available at a much reduced rate for people who meet relevant criteria.

The changes to citizenship fees apply from 12.00am, 1 July 2021 (Australian Eastern Standard Time). The new fees apply for any application received by the Department on or after this time. For further information, please refer to the Department’s website – news article

In addition, from 1 July 2021, applicants approved for Australian citizenship by descent or Australian citizenship by adoption will receive an Australian citizenship certificate. This is instead of an Australian citizenship extract. An Australian citizenship extract is an informal document that can be used to access limited government services. An Australian citizenship certificate is an official document that provides formal evidence of Australian citizenship.

Further information is available on the Department’s website at the link provided above.