February 8th, 2010 @ admin // No Comments
Becoming a new citizen of any country carries along with it certain challenges and novel experiences that are sure to become defining parts of a person’s life story. The exposure to new people, places, culture, and cuisine, along with the task, sometimes quite complex, of incorporating into local society, should be exciting and memorable, even if certain moments are likely to cause a bit of healthy stress. Some people, when approaching the process of becoming a citizen of a new land, are concerned about their ability to retain their personal background and sense of identity, and families still living in countries of origin may share such concerns for their loved ones migrating to new spaces. After spending a while acclimating to a new land, however, migrants are sure to find that while gaining new citizenship opens the door to many new opportunities, it does not necessarily end old ties or erase personal history.
Taking the Australian citizenship test is a process that scores of people from around the world interested in the land down under complete each year, and studying and preparing for the test can be a challenging bun fun part of starting a personal Australian journey. Those who complete the test successfully are bound to learn plenty of useful information on local laws, customs, values, and other important aspects of society and daily living that can help newcomers understand and interact with other Australians. As this knowledge is gained and learned, however, values and ideas gained from living in other places aren’t shoved aside; while they may not always have a prominent place within the context of Australian life, they are certainly still as much a part of a given person as that person wishes to make them.
Like so many things in life, the determination of whether personal aspects collected from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood in original countries are kept, and to what degree, is largely a voluntary choice. Some people may cling to those principles and experiences that they’ve acquired throughout their lives, insisting on preparing the same dishes, speaking the same language, and participating in the same customs or celebrations as they did before becoming Australians. This is certainly a fine way to bring diversity to Australia’s melting pot, and may prove satisfying for new citizens. Others, of course, may wish to reserve remnants of their previous nationality for special occasions or may phase out certain aspects of their former lives. In either case, it is personal preference, and not the demands of the Australian people or the country’s citizenship test, that determine the course taken.
Those who take on new Australian citizenship may not be able to secure the benefits of their previous citizenship status, and such losses may be somewhat bittersweet, yet these losses cannot involuntarily translate to a fundamental personal change. No matter how a new citizen lives within the country, they are at once both unique and verifiably Australian.