JAJ

Update. In the Australian Citizenship and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 the Government is proposing to clarify the law regarding how the 4 year period works. Extract from the Parliamentary Secretary's speech to the House of Representatives on Second Reading:

"Most applicants for citizenship by conferral must have been present in Australia for four years prior to making a citizenship application. However, there has been some confusion about when this four-year period commences, leading to different interpretations by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal—the AAT. Therefore, the bill clarifies the start date for this period."

The way it would work under the new law is that the 4 year period would start if the applicant:

- was legally in Australia; or
- outside Australia, but with a valid visa that had been granted onshore; or
- outside Australia, with a valid visa that was granted offshore, and the person had previously entered Australia on that visa.

It appears that it would not be impossible to use an ETA/eVisitor visa as the relevant visa on the start date, but only if that particular visa had been used to enter Australia.

Bikergirl

Thank you JAJ for the updated information. I am sure it will be useful for others.

It would appear that, in our circumstance, we are not able to use the ETA/eVistior visa. Nevermind only another 8 months to go...