ministerial discretion s22.9

Old Mar 22nd 2015, 2:35 pm
  #76  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 4
aussiecitizen is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum, would require some help and support.

I am an australian citizen living in australia from past 6 years.

My wife entered Aus in April 2012 on 309 visa but was granted 100 (PR) last year in feb 2014. I have 2 kids, both are Aus citizen.

My wife will be eligible for citizenship in April 2016 but we are planning to move overseas in the next few months permanently. I am wondering how do I apply for my wife's citizenship?

Can I apply for residence exemption through minister's discretion now that she has completed 3 years in Australia with more than 1 year on PR. She has only been out of Aus for approx 75 days in past 3 years or Do I wait until April next year and apply from overseas? Will she be eligible considering the fact that she will not be in Australia for almost 1 year?

Please share some experiences if anyone went through a similar situation.

Thanks for all the suggestions in advance, your help is much appreciated.
aussiecitizen is offline  
Old Mar 22nd 2015, 2:53 pm
  #77  
Home and Happy
 
Pollyana's Avatar
 
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,786
Pollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Threads merged cos I am too lazy to retype my original answers!
Pollyana is offline  
Old Mar 22nd 2015, 3:29 pm
  #78  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 4
aussiecitizen is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Thanks for that. I have read all the rules on the website. These are general situations. This is an exception and I have read in this forum that people have applied for citizenship from overseas without staying 3 years in total out of the 4 years requirement in Australia and they have been granted citizenship in the ministerial discretion. So just wanted to know if we leave australia in few months and my wife applies for citizenship next year April from overseas in ministerial discretion - will she get it?? considering the fact that she is staying overseas with an Australian spouse and australian children.

Last edited by aussiecitizen; Mar 22nd 2015 at 3:31 pm.
aussiecitizen is offline  
Old Mar 22nd 2015, 4:47 pm
  #79  
Home and Happy
 
Pollyana's Avatar
 
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,786
Pollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Originally Posted by aussiecitizen
Thanks for that. I have read all the rules on the website. These are general situations. This is an exception and I have read in this forum that people have applied for citizenship from overseas without staying 3 years in total out of the 4 years requirement in Australia and they have been granted citizenship in the ministerial discretion. So just wanted to know if we leave australia in few months and my wife applies for citizenship next year April from overseas in ministerial discretion - will she get it?? considering the fact that she is staying overseas with an Australian spouse and australian children.
No way of knowing whether the Minister will grant it, the whole idea of Ministerial Discretion is so that the Minister has discretion to grant citizenship in unusual/deserving circumstances. What makes your wife's case special?

To be honest it just sounds like your wife purely wants citizenship granted without living here for the full length of time. This does happen sometimes, but usually when the spouse of an Australian has to live abroad owing to the Australian working for the Aussie government or an Aussie company based in another country, not simply because they want to move somewhere else. Otherwise any spouse of an Aussie could live here for a while, and then leave the country, neverf intending to return, and just apply for citizenship from their home country. However the Minister may feel differently, after all every case is individual.

Most of the people on this thread have never reported back to say whether their cases were granted, you could try contacting some of them.
Pollyana is offline  
Old Mar 23rd 2015, 1:11 am
  #80  
BE Enthusiast
 
Joined: Aug 2007
Location: Sydney
Posts: 396
slackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond reputeslackbloke has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Originally Posted by aussiecitizen
Thanks for that. I have read all the rules on the website. These are general situations. This is an exception and I have read in this forum that people have applied for citizenship from overseas without staying 3 years in total out of the 4 years requirement in Australia and they have been granted citizenship in the ministerial discretion. So just wanted to know if we leave australia in few months and my wife applies for citizenship next year April from overseas in ministerial discretion - will she get it?? considering the fact that she is staying overseas with an Australian spouse and australian children.
Is there a particular reason why you cannot wait until April 2016 that would make your wife's application exceptional?
slackbloke is offline  
Old Mar 23rd 2015, 7:15 pm
  #81  
Forum Regular
 
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 85
us-aspirant is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Australian Citizenship - Residence Exemption or Minister Discretion!!

Originally Posted by aussiecitizen
Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum, would require some help and support.

I am an australian citizen living in australia from past 6 years.

My wife entered Aus in April 2012 on 309 visa but was granted 100 (PR) last year in feb 2014. I have 2 kids, both are Aus citizen.

My wife will be eligible for citizenship in April 2016 but we are planning to move overseas in the next few months permanently. I am wondering how do I apply for my wife's citizenship?

Can I apply for residence exemption through minister's discretion now that she has completed 3 years in Australia with more than 1 year on PR. She has only been out of Aus for approx 75 days in past 3 years or Do I wait until April next year and apply from overseas? Will she be eligible considering the fact that she will not be in Australia for almost 1 year?

Please share some experiences if anyone went through a similar situation.

Thanks for all the suggestions in advance, your help is much appreciated.
Hello aussiecitizen, my wife got her Australian citizenship and Aussie passport from overseas thru ministerial discretion. I believe your wife must satisfy 4 year residence requirement. ministerial discretion is more about time spent overseas with Australian spouse is counted as time spent in Australia as long as you satisfy residence requirement. I dont think ministerial discretion will make you eligible earlier than 4 year residence requirement.

Australian Citizenship Instructions (1.8MB PDF file) is the best source for all your questions. We followed it to the letter.

http://www.citizenship.gov.au/_pdf/acis-july-2014.pdf

Excerpts

-------------------------------

To meet the general residence requirement (s22) a person is required to have been lawfully present in Australia for a period of four years immediately prior to making their application, including the last 12 months as a permanent resident.
All periods of lawful residence in Australia, such as temporary visas, visitor visas, student visas, all classes of bridging visas etc, are taken into account when calculating the four year lawful residence period.

-------------------------------

For ministerial discretion for overseas applicants, it also has following stipulation.

-------------------------------
In assessing whether a person has a close and continuing association with Australia for the purposes of s22(9)(d), it is policy that more weight should be given if the person has
been lawfully and physically present in Australia for at least 365 days in the 4 years immediately before making an application for Australian citizenship (including at least 90 days as a permanent resident)
.
Less weight should be given to these factors if they have not been present in Australian for at least this period.

-------------------------------

Good luck ..
us-aspirant is offline  
Old Mar 25th 2015, 5:54 am
  #82  
Forum Regular
 
Joined: Oct 2012
Location: Kuwait
Posts: 30
denizci is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Australian Citizenship - Residence Exemption or Minister Discretion!!

Originally Posted by us-aspirant
Hello aussiecitizen, my wife got her Australian citizenship and Aussie passport from overseas thru ministerial discretion. I believe your wife must satisfy 4 year residence requirement. ministerial discretion is more about time spent overseas with Australian spouse is counted as time spent in Australia as long as you satisfy residence requirement. I dont think ministerial discretion will make you eligible earlier than 4 year residence requirement.

Australian Citizenship Instructions (1.8MB PDF file) is the best source for all your questions. We followed it to the letter.

http://www.citizenship.gov.au/_pdf/acis-july-2014.pdf
Hi us-aspirant, I was wondering how long it took you to get a decision from the date of the application. My wife is in a similar situation and we just applied this week from Kuwait.

I am hopeful that our case is strong based on the experiences in this forum as we are married for over 5 yrs with an Australian child (and husband of course) and moved to Kuwait about two yrs ago as an Australian expat, still employed by an Australian company (getting paid in Australia in AUD etc). My contract is for 4 yrs, after which my company will move us back to Oz (they provided a letter confirming this). My wife spent almost 3 yrs in Australia before we moved and about 9 months of this as a PR. Over the last two yrs we returned to Australia for xmas holidays etc, for which we sent evidences for.

So I am hopeful but was wondering how long the process will take and whether the ceremony can take place at Australian diplomatic missions. Thanks.

Last edited by denizci; Mar 25th 2015 at 5:56 am.
denizci is offline  
Old Mar 25th 2015, 1:43 pm
  #83  
Forum Regular
 
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 85
us-aspirant is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Australian Citizenship - Residence Exemption or Minister Discretion!!

Originally Posted by denizci
Hi us-aspirant, I was wondering how long it took you to get a decision from the date of the application. My wife is in a similar situation and we just applied this week from Kuwait.

I am hopeful that our case is strong based on the experiences in this forum as we are married for over 5 yrs with an Australian child (and husband of course) and moved to Kuwait about two yrs ago as an Australian expat, still employed by an Australian company (getting paid in Australia in AUD etc). My contract is for 4 yrs, after which my company will move us back to Oz (they provided a letter confirming this). My wife spent almost 3 yrs in Australia before we moved and about 9 months of this as a PR. Over the last two yrs we returned to Australia for xmas holidays etc, for which we sent evidences for.

So I am hopeful but was wondering how long the process will take and whether the ceremony can take place at Australian diplomatic missions. Thanks.
denizci, the actual paperwork process itself took no more than couple of months. But her citizenship final decision was pending for 3 months awaiting her FBI criminal background check certificate. It took her 3 months to get FBI background here in USA. Got lots of run around where fingerprints can be done and then we had to submit her fingerprints again as first time, state police did not do it properly. No fault of citizenship department. I feel, as long as your paperwork is in order, it should not take very long. They were very quick to respond and honestly they co-operated with us very nicely whilst her FBI background check took 3 months.

And before you are approved, you have to sit for citizenship test. And after approval, citizenship ceremony. I would say, in all, it can easily take 4 - 6 months if everything goes smooth.

Also, if it helps, please check with Australian Consulate wherever you may be attending the citizenship ceremony if you can apply for Australian passport in the same visit. Our Citizenship ceremony was in new york and actually we could have applied for her Australian passport at the same time, if we had all the documents for passport application ready. We had to make a separate visit to new york Australian consulate 1 week later because if you are applying for your first passport from overseas then it has to be done in person.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Last edited by us-aspirant; Mar 25th 2015 at 1:49 pm.
us-aspirant is offline  
Old Apr 15th 2015, 3:11 am
  #84  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
gdoubleu is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Just to give an update, I am 2.5 months since the application and I have yet to be contacted (lodged onshore in ME L)
gdoubleu is offline  
Old Jun 1st 2015, 8:40 am
  #85  
Forum Regular
 
Joined: Oct 2012
Location: Kuwait
Posts: 30
denizci is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Originally Posted by gdoubleu
Just to give an update, I am 2.5 months since the application and I have yet to be contacted (lodged onshore in ME L)
same here, 2.5 months and counting.
denizci is offline  
Old Jun 1st 2015, 8:45 am
  #86  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
gdoubleu is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

I gave immigration a courtesy call two weeks ago, but they're not able to give any info on when my application will be looked and what the standard "processing times" are.

4 months and counting now.
gdoubleu is offline  
Old Jun 24th 2015, 2:52 am
  #87  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 17
gdoubleu is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Things are moving. I have been asked to sit at a citizenship test.
gdoubleu is offline  
Old Jun 26th 2015, 8:09 am
  #88  
Just Joined
 
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 2
Mah29 is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Originally Posted by gdoubleu
Things are moving. I have been asked to sit at a citizenship test.
Hi gdoubleu!!i applied for my citizenship on 2 of March in melbourne and still im waiting,I called them last month and they said my documents are with supervisor,when did u apply and how they contacted you,by mail,email or call?im wondering why still im not getting any answer from them,i appreciate your answer.
Mah29 is offline  
Old Jun 26th 2015, 9:05 am
  #89  
Home and Happy
 
Pollyana's Avatar
 
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Keep true friends and puppets close, trust no-one else...
Posts: 93,786
Pollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond reputePollyana has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Originally Posted by Mah29
Hi gdoubleu!!i applied for my citizenship on 2 of March in melbourne and still im waiting,I called them last month and they said my documents are with supervisor,when did u apply and how they contacted you,by mail,email or call?im wondering why still im not getting any answer from them,i appreciate your answer.
If they told you the documents are with the supervisor j don't see how you can expect a random stranger on the internet to have more info than that!

Ministerial discretion takes time. by its very nature it means you are doing something out of the normal run of things, so you should expect to wait and be patient. The option is to get in line with the rest of us and apply when you meet the normal criteria.
Pollyana is offline  
Old Jun 26th 2015, 9:23 am
  #90  
BE Forum Addict
 
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: My happy place
Posts: 3,043
Tr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond reputeTr1boy has a reputation beyond repute
Default Re: ministerial discretion s22.9

Originally Posted by Pollyana
If they told you the documents are with the supervisor j don't see how you can expect a random stranger on the internet to have more info than that!

Ministerial discretion takes time. by its very nature it means you are doing something out of the normal run of things, so you should expect to wait and be patient. The option is to get in line with the rest of us and apply when you meet the normal criteria.
Yeah but you know, special snowflakes an all that.
Tr1boy is offline  

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.