How to become an Australian citizen? To meet the general residence requirement for citizenship, you must have been living in Australia lawfully for a period of four (4) years and at least one (1) year as a Permanent Resident immediately before making an application.
All temporary visas, such as visitor visas, student visas, employer or partner-sponsored visas and all classes of bridging visas, can be counted towards the four years lawful residence period.
You may be absent from Australia for up to twelve (12) months within the four (4) years immediately before applying. However, the absence period cannot be counted unless you have already been present in Australia before.
Furthermore, you may be absent for up to ninety (90) days within the twelve (12) months of permanent residence immediately before applying. However, that’s on the proviso you return to Australia as a permanent resident.
It is possible to meet a special residence requirement if you have work that requires you to travel regularly for at least two years before applying for Australian citizenship.
Contact us if you require any assistance with your application.
Hi Nilesh
Thanks for time. I came in Australia 2007, then change to spouse visa , my wife did hairdressers course and we lodged TRA in 2009 and refused in 2010 under PIC (4020) circumstances and my first child born in 2010 and after long time we won the battle in 2019 and now we are on 485 visa till 26May2021 ,and under 10year child rule my son granted Australian citizenship and i have another child he is 2 year old .we are seeking best advise for your experience to settle permanently in Australia.Regards
Your options include making an application for Ministerial Intervention as you already have a decision of the tribunal in hand, although I noticed that it was handed down some time ago.
There is no time limit for making an application for ministerial intervention after the AAT decision.
This is the key to accessing the Minister’s power for the Minister to consider exercising his powers based on the fact that you have an Australian citizen child.
Even though your child is an Australian citizen, the child is less than 18 years old and cannot usually sponsor parents for any parent visas unless there is a relative or guardian who is either an Australian citizen or permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen. Other eligibility criteria also may be relevant.
When you are ready to get specific advice about your circumstances, please book a consultation with us to confirm your options.
Please share your comments with me.
I’d love to know more about your experience with applying for citizenship!
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I am an American citizen whose late wife of 33 years (died in 2017 in Victoria) was an Australian citizen and permanent resident. I am financially independent and would like to become an Australian citizen in order to move permanently to Australia to be near my son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Can I fast track Australian citizenship as the widower of an Australian citizen?
Hi,
I am on a 190 visa now and will become eligible for citizenship application on the 15th of June 2023.
I will be out of the country from 31st of May for a while - potentially a few months.
I was wondering if I can apply for citizenship whilst outside the country and will it affect the processing time of the application if I am outside of country at the time of application?
Thank you
Hi there.I was immegrate to Australia with my hus and my daughter from 2017 with business visa 188 .we have two business .we had submitted for 888 permanently visa around 31 months ago ,but unfortunately we didn’t receive any comments any case officer doesn’t care about our file.
We are waiting so long.
What are we doing now?
Can we applied for. Citizenship with this ?
I am waiting hear from you
Best. Regards
Mali
Hi there,
I have been a PR RRV since 2006.
I was overseas since Dec 2019 and during the pandemic was unable to return until Aug 2021.
I would like to apply for the citizenship. However, I will be overseas after that for a prolonged period. Will that be an issue for processing?
Appreciate your response here.
Hi,
My Name Zuhal Qayoumi. I have arrived to Australia on 19 of November 2021. And I got my PR on April 2022. I have a question regarding application for Australian citizenship.
If I travel to overseas for 3-4 weeks. Does it delays my application process for the citizenship like for 7-8 years?
A family friend had travel to USA on the first year of arrival and since 8 years after applying for citizenship he receives a letter from home affair inquiring about that trip to USA and fails on the citizenship exam just because of that one reason.
I am a PR, and I have applied for citizenship. I arrived in August 2018. My daughter (also PR) came in December 2020, so she has only been here for 2.5 years. She turned 18 in June 2022, and is fully dependant on me. Full time student having finished year 12 at the end of 2022.
Can I add her to my citizenship application, or does she have to wait until she has been here for 4 years ?
I am a NZ citizen with a NZ passport. My family and i have been residing in Australia since November 2008. However i have been in Lebanon since April 2019 with my husband. I will be returning to Melbourne within 2 weeks. How long do i have to wait to apply for citizenship?
Hi Natalya
Thank you very much for your post. Here are the first three (3) things that come to mind. There may also be other important issues that arise from your particular circumstances. Please seek specific immigration law advice before taking any further steps. It could be that I have misunderstood you :).
1. In order to apply for Australian citizenship, you need at least to become an Australian permanent resident and although you currently hold a subclass 444 special category visa as a New Zealand citizen you are not an Australian permanent resident.
2. You should get advice about making an application for permanent residency in Australia, noting that there are frequent changes to the 189 New Zealand stream Visa class.
3. It is typical for New Zealand citizens to be required to show evidence of income in Australia for a number of years as a requirement for them to be eligible for permanent residency. So it would appear to me that citizenship of Australia is quite a long way away for you.
*In the interest of speed, my communications are transcribed and transmitted using voice-to-text software – please ignore any unintended typographical or interpretation errors. Please also see the standard Notes and Disclosures which apply to my communications. These are located at the footer of my work emails.
Regards
Nilesh Nandan
Immigration Lawyer & Special Counsel
MyVisa® Immigration Law Advisory
http://myvisa.com.au/
Regards Nilesh Nandan Immigration Lawyer & Special Counsel MyVisa® Immigration Law Advisory http://myvisa.com.au/
Hi
I didn’t receive the bridging visa for 4 days and now when I apply for citizenship it showing me error that you are not eligible because I’m not meeting the requirements of continuous stay of 4 years.
So what will be my options?
How can I apply for citizenship?
If I do apply on paper base, what will be the chances of my application getting approved or rejected?
Please advise me
Thanks
Hi,
I lived in Australia on a temporary visa for 4 years. Then I moved overseas for 6 months (during which my visa expired). If I apply for a PR visa and move back to Australia, will those 4 years spent on a temp visa be counted when applying for citizenship?
Kind regards,
Mai
Hello! I have been in Australia for 4 years now going on 5, 3 years of which were working holiday visas, the fourth year I spent on a bridging visa and now I am currently on the NIL VAC covid working holiday visa. I have been with my employer for going on three years now (in agriculture which scrapped the 6 month work rule during covid) and he is trying to sponsor me! My question is if I get sponsored how many more years would I have to do before I can apply for permanent residency? I'm not sure if my working holiday years count as time spent in Australia? And because I have worked with the same employer for three years does that count towards anything and it is on a dairy which is on the list of jobs they need people for.
In the 4 years I have been year I've only left the country once to go home for 6 weeks.
Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Kind regards Alex.