“I was 17 and didn’t know anything about this country,” the Griffith resident said.

Narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan, where his family had worked for the opposition, a family friend had helped him flee the country.

Putting his persecuted past behind him, he has grown to love the Australian way of life and has dreamt of being able to call himself an Australian.

And after Saturday’s Australia Day citizenship ceremony, he can do just that.

“I am very happy. All my prayers and dreams have come up … I asked God for this,” Qaseemullah said. “Becoming a citizen means a lot to me. I will now be known as an Australian and fully respected in all countries except those where they have no respect for others.

“As an Australian I will enjoy the freedom and the rights of an individual person and

all these opportunities that exist for

anyone who wants to do anything for the community or the country.”

Qaseemullah smiled as he sat dressed smartly in a suit and listened to the mayor’s address to the 46 new citizens on Saturday.

His path to citizenship has been long and arduous; fighting appeals in the Refugee Review Tribunal, proving his suitability for permanent residency to bureaucrats and sitting the controversial new citizenship test on the day it was introduced.

He has also worked around the clock at three jobs and regularly sent money home to support family and friends and funded a group to look for his lost brother and father.

“Australian citizenship is a badge to be worn proudly. It proclaims membership of a nation, vigorous, free and independent,” mayor Dino Zappa-costa read.