Originally Posted by Beoz

It does help if you commit a very serious crime and want to avoid deportation.

Originally Posted by Zen10

What amazes me are the stories of people who have been here for 30 years and then get deported for the reasons you describe. Living in a place for 30 years and not taking out citizenship is more of an affront than taking it out and leaving, in my view.

Originally Posted by Beoz

I know a guy who came to Australia when he was 2 with his parents from the UK ..... as Aussie as they come but is only a permanent resident on a UK passport as he has never been bothered to go through the citizenship process ......... he is now 47

Originally Posted by chris955

I agree, I moved to Australia when I was 2 and if it wasnt for the travelling I doubt I would have given it any thought. In my mind I was living in Australia as an Australian so a piece of paper making it official wouldnt have even entered my head.

Originally Posted by Zen10

Presumably you knew you were not a citizen and could be deported in extreme circumstances. That's the issue. I don't buy that people simply don't know what nationality they are.

Originally Posted by Gibbo

Doesn't matter whether you "buy" it or not, those who come here as small children consider themselves Australian because they know nothing else. It may seem strange to you but people who have lived here for forty years or so never think of nationality unless circumstance brings the subject up. You may consider yourself English and I know I'm a Scot but no matter where they were born my sons considers themselves Australian, as do many others of their generation.

Originally Posted by commonwealth

Do you also not eat meat / fish? and read the Book of Leviticus?

Originally Posted by Zen10

Oh come off it. I grew up in England and was well aware of my status. You're taught it in school, and it arises all over the place from international sporting events to history lessons.

Originally Posted by Gibbo

That's only your opinion which I totally disagree with. How dare you refer to people who disagree with you as "small children or a mentally incapacitated adult" that is so insulting. I'm quite sure that many of those you refer to have much more common sense and are much more intelligent than you. This is the second time, to my knowledge, that you have pontificated, in an insulting manner, on a subject of which you have absolutely no knowledge or experience. I shall refrain from acknowledging any posts by you in the future.

Originally Posted by Pollyana

My former SiL moved to Aus as a small child from Canada; very intelligent lady and certainly not "mentally incapacitated". Her parents are British and Dutch, never bothered becoming Aussies. She has always considered herself an Aussie, for 40 years, and said she only really stopped and thought when I arrived and talked about dual citizenship. Till then it never crossed her mind that she was not Australian - brought her up short when she realised that 1) to travel to Fiji with the family she needed a Canadian passport not an Aussie one, and 2) she holds a different nationality from her husband and two children.
She had honestly never thought about it, and I'm sure she's not alone. Even her children assumed she was Australian, she has lived here for years, has an Aussie accent, nothing Canadian about her!
We use this forum, we are all aware of stuff like this, but for people who are just out there living their lives and not touching on such subjects things like this are a closed book.

Originally Posted by denzil73

No they won't. Just like private pensions in the UK you can transfer them to your Oz super so long as they are signed up to the scheme. I did this with Sunsuper and can take it with me if I wish.

As for citizenship. Sure why not, handy when travelling but I refuse to pay the money to take some stupid test that used to be free to take. With passport application fee included you're looking at the sharp end of a grand. Now they can F*** off as I've already paid close to 6 grand for my permenant residence visas

Originally Posted by chris955

I have family in Australia so I have ties.
I have absolutely no problem saying I took out Australian citizenship for convenience, just as many others have. The same is true of those who take out citizenship in other countries for various reasons. If any Government tried to dictate to me why or when I could leave any country for a lengthy period I would tell them to stick their citizenship paper up the hole between their buttocks.

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter

as long as they work within the law people have a right to do what they want it's called freedom of choice

and sometimes people do things for different reasons

Originally Posted by asher

well the ones I know do make erroneous assumptions! they have never left the country and came here as babies and are now in their late 70s and 80s.

Originally Posted by TheEmperorIsNaked

Simple really. But of course we are in Australia and the issue of 'becoming a true blue yesterday' is essential to acceptance-or simply being tolerated. I know of no other country that is so sensitive about the issue.
Place list HERE: (Block letters only).

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter

yeh but in this case its a bloody whinging pom who's whinging about it

tbh no aussie has ever asked if we are citizens its only on here that ive seen it mentioned

Originally Posted by TheEmperorIsNaked

Yer can't win can yer?

'Downstairs' you should see those whiny gits banging on about the UK being ...OK. I mean, c'mon!!, those people live in cloud cuckoo land!
They either live in mansions so it's OK for them, -or they are complete retards who do not know what they are talking about!

If the EU were to be given an enema, they would stick the rubber tube in the UK. Everyone knows that.

Citizenship? What's the problem? Renounce UK citizenship and become a bonza beaut dinky di, is wot I say!

I can understand the OP's disgust. What he actually means is why British when you can have Australian? THAT'S the issue, not the taking out of Auscitz, but hanging on to the end of the enema.

I have tried for 700 posts to make these eejits see the error of their ways-I am exhausted, I can tell you.

....but,..and this is the spooky part, when I'm not on any expat website and I deal with those people across the pond, which I have been utterly forced to do recently:

They are British, and the peculiar part is that they seem (are you sitting down?)......content, and ...AND some are even happy.

What a weird lot they are.

Shittycinship: how polarizing it can be.

Originally Posted by commonwealth

I never have been asked casually by Aussies what my citizenship is. I don't think they care unless you're only here for the dole (as what many think of boat people).

Originally Posted by Pollyana

But the alternative is paying for a RRV every five years. Citizenship soon works out cheaper.

As far as I'm aware there is no cost for the test either, just a cost for citizsnship itself - unless thats changed recently?

Originally Posted by denzil73

What's an RRV?

And whether it costs for the test or the little certificate to say you passed the test and are now a citizen it still boils down to paying for it when it used to be free. As immigrants I think we've paid enough to get here and pass all their rules without having to pay even more. Pisses me off!!!!

Originally Posted by denzil73

What's an RRV?

And whether it costs for the test or the little certificate to say you passed the test and are now a citizen it still boils down to paying for it when it used to be free. As immigrants I think we've paid enough to get here and pass all their rules without having to pay even more. Pisses me off!!!!

Originally Posted by denzil73

What's an RRV?

And whether it costs for the test or the little certificate to say you passed the test and are now a citizen it still boils down to paying for it when it used to be free. As immigrants I think we've paid enough to get here and pass all their rules without having to pay even more. Pisses me off!!!!

Originally Posted by Pollyana

Its what you will need of you want to leave and re-enter Australia after the expiry of the five year travel period of your PR visa. If you don't intentd to become a citizen I suggest you read up on it

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Reside...Visa-Australia

Citizenship may have been free once but I think thats a good long time ago.

Originally Posted by Beoz

Hey Polly. Thanks for this link. This kind of suggests that a spouse of a citizen who has spent 1 years as a PR can apply for citizenship after 4 years even if they don't reside in Australia. Have I got that correct? Reason for asking is we may have to bugger off back to the UK and don't want to go through that spousal visa rubbish again.

Originally Posted by scrudu

I really don't see the OP's pov at all. I applied for "permanent residence" which turns out is only permanent if I don't actually leave the country (a farce imho). No matter how many years I reside here, my right to reside here will never actually be permanent, as I'll have to apply for a RRV every 5 years, unless I am granted citizenship. The government has set up a moneymaking scheme whereby immigrants have to prove that they've remained for enough days in the country over a 5 year period, so that they can PAY AGAIN to get another 5 years RRV.

The way I see it the government is trying to force immigrants through inconvenience and regular costs, to apply for Australian citizenship so that I can remain here indefinitely. Given how many times the Immigration department have changed their rules and views on visa holders (esp 457 holders), I don't feel any security about my long-term status in Australia on a "permanent visa". I imagine I too will apply for Australian citizenship once I am eligible so that I can have some security about my future here. For me it has cast an ugly cloud over the citizenship choice.

In comparison, when we lived in Ireland, my husband, as a spouse of an Irish citizen, was granted a permanent residence visa for Ireland that was actually permanent. This left him with a free choice about whether he wanted to become an Irish citizen when he'd resided for the requisite period to allow him to apply for citizenship. If Australia really cared about people's motives for becoming citizens, they'd remove the RRV altogether (or at least only make you apply for it once after 5 years to make your perm visa actually permanent) but I honestly think they want new residents to take up citizenship over remaining "permanent residents", so through protocols and procedures, indirectly coerce residents to take up citizenship.