pako

Can anyone please tell me if you can be both an aussie and a British citizen? My Australian husband is on an Indefinate Leave to Remain Visa (can leave UK and return whenever, but cannot be away longer than 2yrs). We'll be leaving on a long term basis and have been told he needs to apply for UK citizenship from Australia.

So we were wondering can you still be a citizen in both countries?? Just wondering what those with Aussie partners have done. Thanks in advance

Kathy

nik

Hello, yes you can have dual citizenship. We used to live in NZ and to keep our options open we applied for citizenship before we left, so now hold British and NZ citizenship. We are looking at moving to Oz and I read something somewhere the other day that we could also get Oz citizenship as well! Confusing or what!!!

When we applied for citizenship in NZ after filling out all the docs, we had to attend a citizenship ceremony in NZ, so if we had left we would have had to go back to NZ for that. Might be worth checking if there is anything like that for UK citizenship. Good luck!

Nik

JAJ

There is no problem with having dual citizenship. Since 4 April 2002 Australians have been able to naturalise elsewhere without having their Australian citizenship revoked.

Who told you he should apply for UK citizenship "from Australia"? If he meets the residence requirement then you should start the process *immediately*.

One point to be careful with on the residence requirement. Make sure he was *physically* in the UK on the *exact* day three years previous to the receipt of his application in the Home Office.

The citizenship process - for spouses of British citizens - can be completed in Australia if you move abroad before it's finalised provided you get things right on the residence requirement.

Visit http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk for information on naturalisation.

Jeremy

JAJ

You can get Australian citizenship as a NZ citizen, but must first get Australian permanent residence through the normal rules. The only difference is that NZ citizens have more opportunities to qualify for PR than other foreigners, as they can move to Australia freely and get a 'foot in the door' when looking for sponsorship from an employer.

All applicants for British citizenship from 1 January 2004 are required to attend a citizenship ceremony. This can be done if necessary at a British mission in Australia.

Jeremy

nik

Thanks - you know soooooooo much, I am always so impressed!

pako

All applicants for British citizenship from 1 January 2004 are required to attend a citizenship ceremony. This can be done if necessary at a British mission in Australia.

Jeremy[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your sppedy responses. We leave in Nov (20 weeks) and were told that there is a long waiting list to get a ceremony date, so to have the ceremony in Oz instead? My husband has been in the UK since 1999 on a perm. basis working full-time etc, so he more than qualifys (he came in on an ancestry visa also).

Do you know Jeremy if you can apply in the UK for citizenship and then have the ceremony in the Australia?

Many thanks
Kathy

JAJ

Yes it is possible if you are married to a British citizen. The reason for this is that naturalisation applicants who are spouses of British citizens are not expected to intend to live in the UK after naturalisation.

Pay attention to the point about the residence requirement as I've noted (eg if he was on holidays outside the UK from 1 July to 21 July 2002, then he cannot apply for citizenship between 1 July and 21 July 2005 - if he does it will be refused).

If you're going to leave the UK soon then work on the application immediately (and as a matter of urgency) and make sure you don't make a mistake on the residence requirement.

If you leave the UK before the application is finalised, just tell the Home Office and make sure they change the ceremony venue to Melbourne. Get a timescale to hear from them and follow up if you don't as there have been many cases where they have sent ceremony notifications to the wrong place where people have moved.

British citizenship only takes effect when you attend a ceremony and if you don't they may assume you've lost interest and refuse the application.

Jeremy

killamarsh

I have dual nationality born in uk, grew up in oz and have lived in uk for past 10 years but will be returning to oz in the future.

The rules changed about a year ago relating to dual nationality. So it is best to check out the new rules. I often use the Australian high commison website. It is based in au, but has sites for other countries.

Merlot

Yes we have both passports and have had no problems leaving/entering. I personally feel lucky to have the choice.

The downside is that you feel as if you have a foot in each camp so to speak, which makes it difficult at times of sport.

M

Storini

As I understand it, there are different rules for a particular class of person, i.e. those originally of non-UK nationality who acquire UK nationality by naturalisation, and then subsequently go on to acquire (via OZ PR) Australian citizenship. In this case, I believe, they have to surrender their acquired UK nationality and return their UK passport, and revert to the arrangement regarding their original nationality. The principal people in this category are citizens of the Republic of Ireland, and some Commonwealth dependencies. They had privileged access to UK naturalisation, but this is exclusive and cannot be shared with another subsequently acquired citizenship. However, in the case of Ireland, an Irish passport under EU rules grants full freedom of residence in the UK in any case, and may be held simultaneously with an Australian passport.

JAJ

There was no 'rule change' in 2004 on dual nationality.



Jeremy

JAJ

This is completely wrong. Naturalised British citizens do *not* lose their British citizenship upon subsequent naturalisation elsewhere.

Special arrangements for Commonwealth and Irish citizens to register as British citizens were generally terminated on 31 December 1987.

This is not a problem as naturalisation is generally a straightforward process anyway. Significant numbers of Commonwealth and Irish citizens become naturalised British each year.

Since 1987, in general only British nationals (such as British subjects or British Overseas citizens) resident in the UK can become registered as British citizens on the basis of residence in the UK rather than naturalised.

Registration is also available for children and some special cases (eg some people born before 1983 to a British mother), irrespective of nationality.

And British citizenship - whether acquired by registration or naturalisation - is still retained on subsequent acquisition of any other citizenship.

As long as the UK immigration rules don't change.

It's also not that well known that the position of Irish citizens in the UK is based on the Common Travel Area rules, which predate and are more generous than the EEA rules.

Especially since 2 October 2000 when the UK government decided that most EEA nationals would be 'temporary residents' in the UK and would have to go through further hoops to become naturalised British or have British citizenship for their UK born children. Irish citizens resident in the UK are exempt from these provisions.



Jeremy

killamarsh

I have this problem, and my theory is as follows: if i didnt follow that sport, soccer (football) I support england, anything else i support oz as I havent lived in the uk longer than i lived in oz, so that is my theory and i am sticking to it.