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For many people on visas in Australia, becoming an Australian citizen is the ultimate goal. However, the process before receiving an Australian citizenship certificate can be a complicated one that could take years.
If you are a permanent resident of Australia, you could be eligible to become an Australian citizen.
Other than the benefit of social welfare, and being able to vote in Australian elections, becoming an Australian citizen allows you to stay in Australia permanently. You would receive an Australian citizenship certificate, and be able to apply for an Australian passport. You can depart and enter Australia whenever you wish, without applying for another visa.
Moreover, you can live and work in Australia without the fear that your Australian permanent residency could be cancelled.
Permanent residency can be cancelled, and if this happens, you could be deported. This would be catastrophic if you have family in Australia, or if you are required to work in Australia.
Khoa, a citizen of Vietnam, arrived in Australia in 1977 and was granted Australian permanent residency in 1980. He worked in Australia as a fishmonger. All his family live and work in Australia. His three children and eight grandchildren were born in Australia and are Australian citizens. To date, he has never travelled overseas.
In 2015, Khoa was convicted of a criminal offence and was told that his permanent residency would be cancelled by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (now called the Department of Home Affairs).
While in custody at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre, Khoa engaged Visa & Citizenship Lawyers for a consultation for legal advice on how to stay in Australia. He also wanted to know if he could apply for citizenship now.
Because Khoa’s permanent residency was cancelled, he could not apply for Australian citizenship. Khoa is still in immigration detention appealing the visa cancellation.
If Khoa had become an Australian citizen as soon as he was eligible, he would not have had been put into immigration detention. Unlike a visa, it is highly unlikely that Australian citizenship will ever be cancelled.
Khoa
At Visa & Citizenship Lawyers, we have helped permanent residents apply for and be granted Australian citizenship in a range of situations. Contact our experienced team today.
There are two ways to become an Australian citizen:
If you were born in Australia and at least one of your parents was an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time of your birth, you have become an Australian citizen on the day you were born.
You won’t have an Australian citizenship certificate, but you can use your birth certificate, and evidence of your parent’s citizenship or permanent residency on the date of your birth as evidence to apply for an Australian passport.
If at least one of your parents are an Australian citizen, but you were born outside of Australia, you’ll need to apply for citizenship by descent.
If you were born in Australia and at least one of your parents was an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time of your birth, you have become an Australian citizen on the day you were born.
You won’t have an Australian citizenship certificate, but you can use your birth certificate, and evidence of your parent’s citizenship or permanent residency on the date of your birth as evidence to apply for an Australian passport.
If at least one of your parents are an Australian citizen, but you were born outside of Australia, you’ll need to apply for citizenship by descent.
Yan was born in 2010 in Adelaide, South Australia. Yan’s mother and father were both citizens of China. They met when they were international students at TAFE South Australia in 2009. They were both 20 years old.
In 2019, Yan’s mother and father applied for their third student visa. Yan’s father was the primary visa applicant, and Yan’s mother and Yan were the secondary applicants. However, the student visa was refused and the family had to make arrangements to depart from Australia. Yan didn’t know any Mandarin. At 9 years old, she had established a life in Australia. She did not want to go to China.
A migration agent wrongly advised Yan’s mother that Yan would become an Australian citizen on her 10th birthday, and that Yan would then be able to sponsor her parents for a parent visa so that the family can remain in Australia permanently. Yan’s parents considered this, and decided to overstay their visa in Australia, and remain unlawful for a few months until Yan became 10 years old.
When Yan became 10 years old, Yan’s mother requested from the Department of Home Affairs an Australian Citizenship certificate.
However, the Department of Home Affairs decided that she was not an Australian citizen because she was not ordinarily resident in Australia throughout the ten years following her birth. They reasoned that the student visas held by Yan and her parents had a temporary purpose. The period of unlawfulness in Australia also showed that Yan’s parents (and through them, Yan herself) did not intend for Australia to be their permanent place of residence.
Yan’s mother was in tears. She approached Visa & Citizenship Lawyers and asked for advice on what to do next. The experienced immigration lawyers explored other avenues and options for them to continue their pathway to Australian citizenship.
Yan
If you need evidence that you are an Australian citizenship through the 10-year rule, you’ll need to make an application to the Department of Home Affairs. Contact our experienced team today for assistance.
Other ways that Australian citizenship could be granted automatically are:
You will need to lodge an application for Australian citizenship if you are:
To apply for citizenship to Australia, you must first be a permanent resident of Australia.
If you are a permanent resident over 18 years of age, you may be eligible to apply for Australian citizenship if you meet the General Residence Requirement.
What is the General Residence Requirement?
If you meet all of the criteria below, you meet the General Residence Requirement.
For criteria 4, you will need to know the date that you were granted an Australian permanent visa. You must have held permanent residence for an ongoing period of 12 months before the date of the citizenship application.
For criteria 5, you will need to know your travel history. Count the days that you were overseas in the last 4 years. If the days that you were overseas adds up to 356 days or more, you may not meet the General Residence Requirement and will need to contact our friendly team to see if one of the exceptions may apply to your circumstances.
The same goes for criteria 6. If you’ve been overseas in the last 12 months, and the days you were overseas add up to 90 days or more, you may not meet the General Residence Requirement.
Jonathan (40) was a temporary visa holder living in Australia for around 2 years. During this time he applied for the onshore Partner visa. While his visa was processing, he was on a Bridging A visa that allowed him to remain in Australia.
On 30 June 2018, he was granted permanent residency.
As soon as he was granted the permanent visa, he decided to travel overseas to New Zealand. In 2019 he travelled for 180 days, and in 2020 he travelled for 95 days.
Soon after returning from New Zealand in 2020, Jonathan realized four years had passed since he first began living in Australia. He started looking into the process of applying for Australian citizenship. He planned to make an application for Australian citizenship at the end of 2021. However, after reading information online about the eligibility requirements for Australian citizenship, he is concerned that two trips to New Zealand make him ineligible.
Jonathan approached Visa & Citizenship Lawyers for legal advice in December 2021. An experienced immigration lawyer found that to date, over the last 4 years, Jonathan’s two trips to New Zealand add up to 360 days spent outside Australia. Therefore, he has not been outside of Australia for more than 12 months. The experienced immigration lawyer also established that in the last 12 months, he was in Australia for 279 days and outside of Australia for 86 days.
After receiving this legal advice Jonathan engaged Visa & Citizenship Lawyers to lodge his citizenship application for him. This made it stress-free, as Jonathan was extremely busy with work. About 9 months later, Jonathan’s application for citizenship was approved, and it was granted a few weeks later.
Jonathan
If you want to lodge your strongest Australian citizenship application, contact our experienced team today.
So, you don’t appear to meet the General Residence Requirement. Maybe you’ve undertaken too much travel recently, or you were unlawful for a few days in the past 4 years.
There are still options available for you. You could:
You could still be eligible for Australian citizenship. Contact our experienced team today to see if an exception to the General Residence requirements may apply to your circumstances.
Requesting a Ministerial discretion is like asking for the Minister to consider your special circumstances. The Department of Home Affairs may decide to grant citizenship if:
You never intended to overstay your visa, and throughout your entire life in Australia you have always been careful to apply for further visas ahead of time, well before the date of expiry of your current visa.
However, due to administrative error by the Department of Home Affairs, you discover that you were actually in Australia as an unlawful non-citizen for a few days in-between visas. There was nothing that you could do except wait for the Department of Home Affairs to fix things on their end regarding your status.
In situations of administrative error, you could request a Ministerial discretion to treat the period that you were unlawful as one where you were lawful.
After completing her Cert II in Kitchen Operations at TAFE NSW, Susan, a citizen of China, (25) wanted to further her learning and enrolled in a Cert III in Commercial Cookery at Le Cordon Bleu, Sydney. The new term would begin at the end of July 2020.
Her current student visa was expiring on 28 July 2020. On the night of 26 July 2020, Susan applied for a new student visa with a new Confirmation of Enrolment from Le Cordon Bleu. On the night she applied for the new student visa, her ImmiAccount showed that the application was on status “Submitted”. She didn’t receive any acknowledgement letters or bridging visa grant notifications that night. She decided to wait until the next day.
On 27 July 2020, Susan called the Department of Home Affairs. The person on the phone told her that they will look into it, and that an associated Bridging visa should be granted soon. A few days later, the Bridging visa A was granted.
Fast-forward two years – it is now July 2022. Susan had been granted permanent residency the year prior, and after checking the General Residence Requirement, she made an application for Australian citizenship.
However, it got refused because she did not meet the following criteria: “the person was not present in Australia as an unlawful non-citizen at any time during that 4-year period”.
Susan called Visa & Citizenship Lawyers, who assessed the reasons for the citizenship application refusal. An experienced immigration lawyer explained that her student visa expired on 28 July 2020, and that as no acknowledgement email or Bridging Visa A notification was received on the 28th July, it appeared that there may have been an administrative error that saw her unlawful for a couple of days.
Visa & Citizenship Lawyers requested Departmental notes and files to examine whether the period of unlawfulness was due to an administrative error. The experienced immigration lawyers found that she had made a valid application on 26 July 2020 and advised Susan that a new citizenship application could be lodged requesting Ministerial discretion. A new citizenship application requesting a Ministerial discretion was lodged. Susan was granted citizenship about 8 months later.
Susan
If you believe that your Australian citizenship application may be affected by administrative error, contact our experienced team today.
Similar to the above scenario, if there was an administrative error that resulted in your permanent residence ceasing, you could request a Ministerial discretion to be granted citizenship.
Horace, a citizen of Sierra Leone (45), held a permanent Resident Return visa. While overseas, Horace’s realised that the travel facility on his permanent visa was close to expiring, and he wasn’t sure of the exact date that he would return to Australia. Unsure about when, or indeed, whether he could enter Australia, he called the Department of Home Affairs. Bryan, an officer of the Department of Home Affairs, told him that he must apply for a Visitor visa to enter Australia. He applied for and was granted a Visitor (subclass 600) visa.
Horace arrived in Australia as a Visitor. He was under the impression that whilst the Visitor visa would enable him to re-enter Australia, he never lost his permanent residence. However, this information was wrong. Since the Visitor visa replaced his permanent visa, he was no longer a permanent resident.
As soon as arrived in Australia he spoke to Visa & Citizenship Lawyers about applying for citizenship. He showed the immigration lawyer his permanent visa grant, but a VEVO Check showed that he was no longer holding a permanent visa. Horace was shocked. He had received incorrect advice from an officer of the Department.
As soon as he understood this, he engaged Visa & Citizenship Lawyers to lodge a Resident Return visa so that he could become a permanent resident again. After this, Visa & Citizenship Lawyers investigated his visa history further by lodging a request for Departmental files and notes in relation to his Visitor visa application. After collecting documentary evidence of the administrative error, Visa & Citizenship Lawyers lodged a citizenship application requesting a Ministerial discretion. Horace’s citizenship application was approved 9 months later.
Horace
If you believe that your Australian citizenship application may be affected by administrative error, contact our experienced team today.
If you have been in prison, or in a psychiatric institution, during the 4 years immediately before your citizenship application, the 4-year residency period will commence from the day that you were released from prison, or the psychiatric institution.
However, if the conviction was quashed, or you were pardoned, and it would be unreasonable for the General Residence Requirement to apply, the period that you spend in prison, or the psychiatric institution could be disregarded.
Serg, a citizen of Italy (38) and a permanent resident of Australia for around 10 years, found himself regularly in trouble when he was in his youth. So did his identical twin brother, James (38). For much of their lives, Serg and James were unemployed, doing odd jobs for cash. When Serg turned 30, he got a job at the local council in the parks and recreation department. He found that he really enjoyed administrative work, and also started a course in town planning. James, on the other hand, joined an outlaw motorcycle club.
When James and Serg met up for dinner one day, James told Serg he was going to the toilet. James didn’t come back for over 40 minutes. Then, two police officers approached Serg and arrested him.
Serg was shocked to find out that there were hundreds of transactions, made to accounts of motorcycle club members, from an account under his name. He had never opened the bank account. The transactions were linked to the illegal sale and purchase of drugs and arms.
Serg was in custody for a total of 1 year for a crime that he did not commit. With the help of his criminal lawyer all convictions were quashed.
Three years later, Serg decided he wanted to try applying for a job in the Australian public service. He needed to be an Australian citizen in order to do so, so he applied for citizenship. However, the application was refused.
Serg sought legal advice from Visa & Citizenship Lawyers on what he could do next.
Visa & Citizenship Lawyers drafted a Statutory Declaration with all supporting documents showing the quashed conviction, as well as evidence of his good character. By showing his life story and establishing reasons why it would be unreasonable to apply the General Residence Requirement. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers lodged Serg’s strongest application. After consideration from the Department of Home Affairs, the Department used their discretion and approved Serg’s citizenship application approximately 10 months later.
Serg
If you have been imprisoned, whether wrongfully or not, and you wish to become an Australian citizen, contact our experienced team today.
Australian citizenship offers certain benefits and advantages.
To apply for this particular Ministerial discretion, it’s important to show that you would be in a situation where, if you are not granted Australian citizenship, you will suffer from significant hardship, detriment, or disadvantage. It’s not enough to show that you will not receive a certain advantage, benefit, or privilege because you are not an Australian citizen.
Selina, 23, a citizen of Japan, first entered Australia on a student visa as a secondary school student. She attended a prestigious private school. When she graduated from Year 12, she wished to study a Bachelor of Medicine at the University of Newcastle. However, fees for international students were very high – over $360,000 – and her parents, who were residing in Japan, did not want to fund her studies.
Selina decided to take another visa pathway. She studied a Bachelor of Allied Health degree instead, and eventually became a permanent resident. After 12 months of permanent residency, she applied for Australian citizenship in 2022. Her plan was to study a Medicine degree at the University of Queensland and apply for a HECS-HELP loan to pay for her studies.
However, she miscalculated the dates that she was present in Australia and had not taken into account a year-long gap year after graduating high school in 2018, which meant that she did not meet the General Residence Requirement.
Selina approached Visa & Citizenship Lawyers, saying that her dreams to become a doctor were crushed. An experienced immigration lawyer took this into consideration; however, they assessed that a citizenship application was likely to be refused. According to Departmental policy, it is not Australian citizenship that is required to study a Medicine degree, but rather, Australian citizenship could make her eligible for HECS-HELP that would make studying a Medicine degree easier.
Visa & Citizenship Lawyers held a further consultation with Selina to explore further citizenship options. They found that Selina could potentially meet other eligibility criteria for a Ministerial discretion, on the basis that she was the de facto partner of an Australian citizen.
Selina
If you believe that you would suffer significant hardship, detriment, or disadvantages if you do not become an Australian citizen, contact our experienced team today to discuss.
So you have counted the days that you were overseas in the last 4 years and find that you do not meet the General Residence Requirement because you have exceeded the number of allowable absences from Australia.
If you are the spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen, or the surviving spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen (and they are now deceased), you could request a ministerial discretion so that those periods of absences could be treated as a period where you were in Australia.
You will need to show that:
For example, you may have substantial employment ties, including:
These ties would indicate that you are required to continue living in Australia, and that any overseas trips are likely not to be permanent.
You may have business ties that make any long-term stays in Australia difficult, such as business activity overseas that:
You could include evidence such as e-mails, letters of support, or contracts showing your continuing business in Australia.
Personal & cultural ties could include:
To prove your personal and cultural ties, evidence such as ownership of assets in Australia, proof of family in Australia (such as Australian citizen children) can be added to your application.
Nana, a citizen of China and a permanent resident of Australia, had discovered a
niche market in China – Australian milk tablets. Her new product, marketed as high in calcium and vitamin D, was in extremely high demand, and she was making multiple trips to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and more recently, Harbin and Xinjiang, where the supply of dairy products was low but the demand for premium health goods were high.
Nana did not meet the General Residence Requirement, because she had travelled so frequently over the years. She would never be able to meet the General Residence Requirement because her work required her to go overseas almost every month.
However, she had a wife and kids in Australia that she was supporting, and she had always considered Australia to be her home.
She engaged Visa & Citizenship Lawyers to build a strong case for her requesting a Ministerial discretion to be able to obtain citizenship. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers drafted a Statutory Declaration taking into account all of her business, self-employment, and personal ties to Australia. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers also attached evidence such as the company bank statement showing transactions flowing into her Australian account, Business Activity Statements from her accountant, and statements from key members of the Queensland Chinese-Australian Business Council confirming that she is a dedicated member of their community. She also provided evidence of her family ties in Australia.
Nana’s citizenship application was approved around 10 months later.
Nana
If you believe that you would suffer significant hardship, detriment, or disadvantages if you do not become an Australian citizen, contact our experienced team today to discuss.
You could still be eligible for Australian citizenship, even if you don’t meet the General Residence Requirement and cannot request Ministerial discretion.
You could be eligible for Australian citizenship if you meet:
If you do not meet the Resident Requirement, you could meet the Defence Requirement.
You meet the Defence requirement if you, or a member of your family unit:
You could be eligible for Australian citizenship if you meet:
Note that the number of days of service in the Army Reserve includes only those days where you were called upon, attended, and entitled to be paid for service.
You will need documentary evidence supporting this, such as written confirmation, discharge papers, or a letter of support from a commanding officer.
You can still apply for Australian citizenship if you were discharged before completing 3 months’ service on grounds that you were injured or ill as a result of serving. You must provide evidence that you became medically unfit for service because of your Australian defence service.
You may be granted citizenship on the grounds that you require Australian citizenship in order to engage in an activity that will be of benefit to Australia.
This includes:
You will need the written support of a higher-up member of the organisation
that will be employing you.
You will still need to meet certain residency requirements, namely:
Under special circumstances, some parts of these residency requirements may be waived, but this is completely to the discretion of the Minister.
Carla, a citizen of the United States and a permanent resident of Australia (50), applied for citizenship by conferral. She is a doctor. Whilst employed in Australia, Carla travels regularly to attend conferences. She also travels overseas to meet friends and family.
Carla knew that she would not meet the General Residence Requirement, but she believed that she could be granted Australian citizenship based on the Special Residence Requirement based on her expertise as a doctor. She held some important positions on multiple boards and advisory bodies in the medical industry.
Carla came in for an initial consultation with an experienced immigration lawyer at Visa & Citizenship Lawyers, who assessed her eligibility for Australian citizenship based on the Special Residence Requirement. According to Departmental policy, internationally renowned medical specialists who were fellows of certain organisations, holding the required qualifications, could be eligible for Australian citizenship based on the Special Residence Requirement. Carla was a fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers prepared a citizenship application addressing the Special Residence Requirement criteria, with documentary evidence of her fellowship with the Australia and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, and other supporting statements made by those prominent in her field. The citizenship application was approved 10 months later.
Carla
If you believe that you might meet the Special Residence Requirements, contact our experienced team today.
One of your parents must have held Australian citizenship at the time of birth. It is not necessary for both parents to be Australian citizens.
However, you will be asked to determine how your parent acquired their Australian citizenship.
If your parent is an Australian citizen by descent or adoption, they must also show that they have spent a total of at least two (2) years in Australia. During those two (2) years, they must not have been an unlawful non-citizen.
Alana was born in the United States in 2022. Her parents owned a business in the United States. Both her mother and father are dual citizens of the United States and Australia, and were both Australian citizens at the time of Alana’s birth.
Alana’s mother and father sought to relocate to Australia, where they would expand their growing business. They were concerned that Alana would not be able enter Australia with them. They approached Visa & Citizenship Lawyers for immigration advice.
Visa & Citizenship lawyers found that Alana’s father was born in the United States and had an Australian citizenship certificate showing that he is an Australian citizen by descent. He had spent most of his life in the United States. The only times he ever went to Australia was for a short visit to see some relatives and go sightseeing. Throughout his entire life, he’d only been in Australia for 90 days. As such, Alana wouldn’t be able to meet the eligibility criteria through her father.
Fortunately, her mother was an Australian citizen by birth. She was born in Australia to Australian parents. She didn’t have a citizenship certificate, but there was plenty of evidence to show that she was granted Australian citizenship on the day she was born.
Visa & Citizenship Lawyers made an application on behalf of Alana for Australian citizenship by descent. Three months later, the application was approved and a citizenship certificate was mailed out declaring Alana’s Australian citizenship status.
Alana
If you are applying for Australian citizenship by descent, and you are unsure about whether you meet the eligibility criteria, contact our experienced team today.
If a surrogacy agreement has been made outside of Australia, you need to provide the following evidence to the Department of Home Affairs to accompany the citizenship application:
The Department of Home Affairs may also request evidence of DNA testing.
If you were born through international surrogacy, or you are a prospective parent interested in applying for Australian citizenship for your child, contact our experienced team today.
Sometimes, it is not clear whether the place you were born in is considered part of Australia or not.
‘Australia’ means the Commonwealth of Australia as well as external territories Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. If you were born in any of these external territories you are considered to have been born inside Australia.
Note that this does not include New Guinea or Nauru. These islands were once external territories of Australia but ceased being part of Australia. Specifically, Papua New Guinea gained independence from Australia on 16 September 1975.
Even if you were born before Papua New Guinea Independence Day, you most likely would not have been automatically granted Australian citizenship by birth. There are special and complex provisions in Australia’s citizenship law that explain the status of those born in Papua New Guinea.
You could, however, be eligible for Australian citizenship in a different way, depending on your age, and the status of your parents and even grandparents.
If you were born in Papua New Guinea and believe that you might be eligible for Australian citizenship, contact our experienced team.
If you were adopted by an Australian citizen but you were outside of Australia when the adoption was finalised, you will not be granted Australian citizenship automatically. You will need to apply for citizenship.
International or intercountry adoption in Australia is conducted under the Commonwealth Family Law Act 1975 and the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-Operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (The Hague Convention).
These laws ensure that a child is adopted only after determining that they cannot be raised by their birth family or extended family and after all local solutions have been exhausted. The laws protect children from being victims of human trafficking and illegal adoption. They also ensure that their rights are protected and that decisions are made in the child’s best interests.
When making your application for Australian citizenship, you’ll need to provide evidence that the adoption was finalised overseas, and that the adoption is
recognised under Australian law.
The document that you require is an adoption compliance certificate. It should state:
If your adoption by an Australian citizen parent was finalised overseas, but it is not recognised under Australian law (i.e. it is recognised only by the domestic law of another country) you will not be eligible for citizenship by international adoption. You may, however, be eligible for Australian citizenship by conferral.
Are you adopting a child from overseas? Or were you adopted by an Australian citizen while living overseas? If you require legal advice on obtaining Australian citizenship, contact our experienced team today.
Even if you meet the eligibility criteria for Australian citizenship, your citizenship application could be refused because:
Many citizenship applications that are refused are refused because the Department of Home Affairs determine that the applicant does not pass the “good character” test to become an Australian citizen.
“Good character” does not have a legal definition. Courts and tribunals have referred to the meaning of “good character” as “the enduring moral qualities of a person”.
We highly recommend that you get help from an experienced immigration lawyer if you are applying for citizenship, and you have:
Even if it occurred in the past, you are required to make a full disclosure in your citizenship application. This is especially true for any criminal convictions or sentences you may have committed, not only in Australia but in any other country.
The Department of Home Affairs will make a holistic, objective assessment based on the following:
If you are concerned that you may not meet the character requirements, our team can assess your circumstances carefully and advise you as to your options. Contact our experienced team today.
Although you may have been convicted of an offence, the Department of Home Affairs may still find that you are of good character depending on your circumstances, for example:
Examples of evidence that could be supplied to confirm your claims that you
are of good character can include:
It is important to make a full and frank disclosure in the citizenship application. Making a disclosure will not necessarily mean that the application will be refused.
Police certificates from countries that you have lived in must be provided.
Our team at Visa & Citizenship Lawyers can help you prepare and lodge a citizenship application addressing your past criminal history.
Jaspreet, a citizen of the United Kingdom and a permanent resident of Australia (aged 36), had been living in Australia ever since he was 29. While living in Australia, he founded a start-up business in Australia in the construction industry, which was very successful and continuing to grow every day. He married an Australian citizen, and between them they had two wonderful daughters. All his family members were Australian citizens.
Having not travelled or lived outside of Australia for any extended periods of time, he decided it was time for him to become an Australian citizen himself. First, he did a quick search on Google on how to apply for Australian citizenship and found that he easily met the General Residence Requirement. He wasted no time and made an application for Australian citizenship, which he lodged via his own ImmiAccount. A few months later, he was invited for an interview at the Sydney City office where he also took the Australian citizenship test, which he passed. All his identity documents were also sound.
A few months after making the application, he received a section 56 request Form information letter from the Department of Home Affairs. The letter requested further information on spent conviction in the United Kingdom relating to five traffic offences he had committed in the UK many years ago. He had just 28 days to respond.
Jaspreet did not know how to respond to the request. He contacted Visa & Citizenship Lawyers for advice and his options were discussed during a consultation with one of our experienced immigration lawyers. Jaspreet decided to engage Visa & Citizenship Lawyers and his matter was prioritised as he only had a few days until the deadline to respond to the request.
His criminal convictions, and the related sentence for each one, were carefully set out by our experienced immigration lawyers on a Statutory Declaration, along with supporting documents referenced and attached. Reasons for his non-disclosure, and why he should pass the character test at this point in time, were also included. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers also contacted five people who knew Jaspreet well to provided signed statements declaring that Jaspreet was indeed a person of good character. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers also provided their own legal submissions to strengthen the citizenship application.
A few weeks later, Jaspreet received notice that his Australian citizenship application was approved, and he became an Australian citizen, just like the rest of his family.
Jaspreet
Do you have a criminal record and wish to apply for Australian citizenship? Contact our experienced team today for legal advice.
You could still be eligible for Australian citizenship even if you have had a previous visa cancellation. It depends on the circumstances of the cancellation and building a strong case for why your citizenship application should be approved.
Khan is a citizen of Mongolia and is 26 years old. He held Australian permanent residency for the past 5 years and has not left Australia since 2019. He meets the General Resident Requirement. He seeks to apply to citizenship but is concerned about two things:
Khan is concerned that he may not be able to apply citizenship. He contacted Visa & Citizenship Lawyers for a consultation and further professional assistance with his citizenship application.
In relation to Khan’s previous visa cancellation, an experienced immigration lawyer interviewed Khan and carefully drafted a Statutory Declaration explaining the reasons and circumstances surrounding his visa cancellation. The Statutory Declaration made it clear that Khan’s visa cancellation was a result of his father’s bad character, and therefore it should not be considered an indication of the character of Khan himself.
Secondly, in relation to his shoplifting offence, it had been a long time since his past criminal conduct. In the interview with Khan, an experienced immigration lawyer went through what steps he had taken to better himself as a person, such as counselling, and providing signed statements from people who know him in his community, like his employer and colleagues, to show major reform.
Khan
Do you have a criminal record and wish to apply for Australian citizenship? Contact our experienced team today for legal advice.
If the Department of Home Affairs are not satisfied of your identity, they will refuse your citizenship application.
To prove your identity, you could provide as many of the following documents as you have:
The identity documents required could be issued in Australia, or overseas.
Sometimes, especially in the case of those who arrived in Australia on humanitarian or asylum seeker grounds, it is difficult to procure official identification documents.
The Department of Home Affairs relies on biometrics (such as fingerprinting and photographs of your face). A photo may have been captured at your interview or citizenship test appointment, and at the airport when you have departed or entered Australia.
A person’s “life story” or “social footprint” also forms part of their identity. If the Department of Home Affairs finds any inconsistencies in your life story during the interview process, or whilst processing any documents they hold from your past dealings with the Department of Home Affairs, they may not be satisfied of your identity.
For example, if you do not disclose any changes of name that you had in the past, the Department of Home Affairs may not be certain of your identity.
It is important to ensure that all the information that you provide to the document is accurate and in full, to avoid delays or potential refusals.
Afridi, a citizen of Afghanistan, arrived in Australia on a boat seeking asylum due to the dire situation in her home country. She was granted a humanitarian visa which granted permanent residency. She does not know when she was born, as she was never provided a birth certificate, but her mother has always told her that she was born on 8 August 1998. She only had one document, a Taskera, in digital form. The Taskera has her name at birth, but she never used that name, as her parents always called her “Afridi”. She does not have a passport. She currently only holds an ImmiCard and Australian drivers licence.
Afridi had been living in Australia for 6 years and had not travelled overseas since. She applied for citizenship, but it was refused because the Department of Home Affairs could not establish her identity.
She contacted Visa & Citizenship Lawyers for legal advice, and her options moving forward. After reviewing all her documents (including her dealings with the Australian Border Force), conducting country-specific research, and exploring all avenues to procure identity documents, an experienced immigration lawyer worked with Afridi
to prepare and lodge a new citizenship application for her carefully addressing the identity issues.
The application was granted, and Afridi is now an Australian citizen. She could now apply for an Australian passport. More importantly, she is free from persecution and could potentially lodge visas to get her family members to migrate to Australia as well.
Afridi
If your Australian citizenship application has been refused on identity grounds, contact our experienced team of lawyers today.
So you’ve taken the citizenship test, attended the citizenship interview, and your Australian Citizenship application has been approved. Congratulations!
However, you are not yet an Australian citizen. You become an Australian citizen on the day you attend your Australian Citizenship Ceremony, where you will make the pledge of commitment and be given your Australian Citizenship Certificate.
This means that, before the day your Australian citizenship commences, your citizenship approval could be cancelled.
There are four reasons why a person’s citizenship approval could be cancelled:
Some situations where your citizenship approval may be liable for cancellation are:
Nathan, a citizen of Spain (45), received notification of Australian citizenship on 29 December 2021. While waiting for his Australian citizenship ceremony, he received news that his great-aunt in Spain was critically ill. Most of Nathan’s family, including his parents, had already passed away, so there was no one other than Nathan available to look after her. He departed Australia on the first day of January 2022.
His great-aunt went through a series of operations. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was great delay between the operations and he ended up staying in Spain for around six months. Nathan requested that the Department of Home Affairs delays his citizenship ceremony multiple times.
The Department of Home Affairs sent him a letter informing him that he may be required to provide evidence that he still maintains a close and continuing association with Australia, and that he is likely to reside in Australia permanently when he returns from Spain.
Nathan didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t leave his great-aunt, but he also didn’t want to jeopardize his Australian citizenship application. He contacted Visa & Citizenship Lawyers for legal advice.
Visa & Citizenship Lawyers informed him that his citizenship approval could be cancelled and set out options for how to respond to the letter. We drafted a statement, accompanied with documentary evidence, evidencing that he could not make the pledge at this current time because he needed to care for a person who was critically ill, and that he was the only person who could do this. The statement also evidenced the efforts that Nathan had made to return to Australia to attend his citizenship ceremony. Visa & Citizenship Lawyers also included evidence of his assets and his wife and kids in Australia, to show that he is likely to reside, or to continue to reside, in Australia once he organises his affairs in Spain.
Nathan
If you have applied for Australian citizenship, and have received a request for further information, or notification that your citizenship approval will be cancelled, contact our experienced team of immigration lawyers today.
Even after being granted Australian citizenship, it could be taken away (revoked).
What’s more, if you had children included in your Australian citizenship, their Australian citizenship is also liable to be revoked.
The Department of Home Affairs has the power to revoke your Australian citizenship in a number of scenarios, including:
If you are:
and you do, or have done, any of the following:
the Department of Home Affairs is likely to consider that it would be contrary to the public interest of Australia to allow you to continue being an Australian citizen.
Alan (36), born in North Korea, became a South Korean national at the age of 3. His mother, carried Alan on her back and escaped North Korea through China. Sadly, Alan’s mother passed away in China, and Alan managed to make it to South Korea with the help of a Canadian missionary.
Alan knew very little about his upbringing. He knew that he was born in North Korea, but he didn’t know exactly where. Also, he had always felt self-conscious about disclosing his North Korean background to others.
Alan migrated to Australia at the age of 30, and eventually became an Australian citizen by conferral in January 2022.
When answering the questions in his Australian citizenship application, he had a migration agent assist him. He told the migration agent he didn’t know what town or city he was born in, but he did know that his mother escaped North Korea with him when he was just a baby. The migration agent advised, “Oh, just put down Pyongyang then.” Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea. He didn’t know whether this was true, but it was his best guess.
Alan then lodged a Partner visa to sponsor his wife in March 2022. About five months later, the Department of Home Affairs requested further information about the circumstances of Alan’s birth. They also informed him that it was an offence to give false or misleading information to the Department in relation to a future citizenship application.
Alan wasn’t sure how to respond. He had assumed a new identity in South Korea and had lived there for most of his life. He didn’t have any identity documents from North Korea. He contacted Visa & Citizenship Lawyers for help.
An experienced immigration lawyer explained the circumstances in which his Australian citizenship could be revoked. After investigating his background, Visa & Citizenship Lawyers had enough evidence to show that he had not knowingly provided false or misleading information. Visa & Citizenship also assisted him with his Partner visa application thereafter.
Alan
It is important to provide information that is true. Making a disclosure does not necessarily mean that your citizenship application will be refused. If you have further questions, contact our experienced team today.
When you make the Pledge of Commitment to become an Australian citizen, you are pledging your allegiance to Australia.
Even if you have not made the Pledge of Commitment, you have a responsibility to uphold the laws of Australia.
There are certain offences that, if committed, shows that you go against your allegiance to Australia.
The offences include:
Engaging in terrorist conduct, acts of espionage, going to war against Australia, and similar acts lead the Department of Home Affairs to believe that it would be against the public interest if you were to remain an Australian citizen, and ultimately revoke your Australian citizenship.
This applies to any person who is an Australian citizen, no matter how they acquired their citizenship (whether it be by birth, descent, conferral, or any other method).
If you are an Australian citizen by conferral because the Department of Home Affairs used their discretion to determine that you satisfied:
you must be aware of how many days you spend outside Australia, from the day that you became an Australian citizen.
If the Department of Home Affairs finds that
the Department of Home Affairs could choose to revoke your Australian citizenship.
Carlos, a citizen of Brazil and a permanent resident of Australia (50), was granted Australian citizenship by conferral. He was a surgeon, well-renowned in his field, and had met the special residence requirement. He had engaged a migration agent to lodge the citizenship application.
Carlos, shortly after becoming an Australian citizen, went on sabbatical and took an extended period of leave from work. He decided to go back to Brazil and study homeopathy. He was in the United States for the majority of the first two years of being an Australian citizen. He was still employed in Australia. He had terminated his lease in Australia and most of his personal belongings were in the garage at his daughter’s place in Queensland.
Carlos received a letter from the Department of Home Affairs informing him that they have monitored his movement records, and requested him to provide an itinerary of when he would return to Australia. Carlos didn’t understand why the Department would ask him such a thing, and contacted Visa & Citizenship Lawyers for assistance.
An experienced immigration lawyer reviewed his past travel and the circumstances of his Australian citizenship. They informed him that he was liable to have his Australian citizenship revoked due to his extensive absence from Australia. Carlos said that he had never heard such a thing, and that his other colleagues (who were citizens by descent, birth, or conferral through the General Residence Requirement) had never received a letter when they went on sabbatical. The experienced immigration lawyer explained that as Carlos had obtained Australian citizenship by way of meeting the special residence requirements, he should have been made aware of these requirements after being granted Australian citizenship.
Visa & Citizenship Lawyers assisted him further with responding to the letter.
Alan
If you have applied for Australian citizenship, and have received a request for further information, or notification that your citizenship will be revoked, contact our experienced team of immigration lawyers today.
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