The citizenship queue has blown out by more than 300 per cent under the Turnbull government, leaving migrants who have spent years in Australia without access to students loans, an Australian passport or the right to vote ahead of the next federal poll.

Department of Home Affairs figures show the number of residents waiting to be approved for citizenship has spiralled from 27,000 to 189,000 under the Coalition. More than 140,000 of those have been added while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been in office.

Migrants say they have been left despairing at the situation, putting their study, plans to sponsor family members and apply for government jobs on hold in the midst of a divisive debate in Canberra.

That debate escalated on Wednesday, as both sides of politics condemned a speech in Parliament by Senator Fraser Anning that called for a "final solution to the immigration problem" and a return to the "White Australia policy."

"What migrants saw was Fraser Anning not only making horrific comments but some government MPs shaking his hand," said 31-year-old Fijian Atul Vidhata, a lawyer who emigrated to Australia more than a decade ago.

"It is part of the narrative and permanent residents are starting to believe if you commit the smallest infraction, like getting a parking fine you will get deported, others think if you use Medicare they won't make you an Australian citizen."

Mr Vidhata, who has been told he will have to wait 17 months for a citizenship decision, said the delays and heated rhetoric had compounded the anxiety in the migrant community.

"It turns into a bitterness. People shouldn't be denying themselves healthcare because they are worried it will impact their ability to be a good citizen."

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Permanent residents are unable to vote, apply for jobs in the public sector where they need a security clearance, access HECS-HELP student loans, or get priority access to sponsor their family members for visas. The long delays have led some to fear that if they leave the country they will be put to the back of the queue.

The delays have been exacerbated by stalled citizenship changes including an English language and Australian values test that were rejected by the Senate in October. The government has vowed to pursue other options, including a scaled-down conversational English test in a bid to streamline migrants.

The number of migrants applying to become citizens, [190,000-200,000] and the number approved each year [130,000] have been relatively static since 2013-14.

In a speech that has had more than 250,000 views on Facebook, south-west Melbourne Labor MP Julian Hill claimed he was laughed at by Liberal MP Trevor Evans when he said grown men had been breaking down in his every week in his office in a state of hopelessness and despair. 

"You may laugh, Member for Brisbane, but I challenge you to come to the office and look into the eyes of the man who's been here for 10 years without the ability to go home, without the ability to see his family, without the ability to study and to complete his degree," he said.

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He will put a motion on the notice paper in Parliament on Thursday to call for Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge to explain "the enormous, inexplicable and unconscionable delays".

Mr Tudge said there had been a number of factors that have contributed to the backlog.

“First, the demand for citizenship has never been higher. Second, there are much greater national security threats today than before. Third, the processing of the 50,000 people who arrived unlawfully by boat in the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years. ”

Colombian migrant Isabella, who asked not to be identified because her case is still under review by Home Affairs, has had her waiting time extend from 10 months last year, to 17 months in August, records seen by Fairfax Media show.

"We married here, we started our careers here, all of these things mean a lot to us," she said.

"I have been through endless visas, security tests, medical tests. I joke that I've given them blood, tears and all my money - there is nothing else really left to give."

The Auditor-General will hand down an audit of the citizenship process in January.