GSNR

Hi there,

My hubby and I took our citizenship applications into the DIAC office this morning (we had an appointment for this), the gentleman processed the applications while we waited, he was able to do the police checks there and then. My husband was approved, but my name matched somebody else's name that has commited an offence, I am deeply upset by this, as I have never commited any offences in my entire life. He said I will have to wait a few weeks for them to do more investigating. Has anybody else ever had this experience?

Thanks
Shelley

Pollyana

Its actually very very common. I used to do the police checks back in the UK, and there was a huge number of people who shared dates of birth as well as names. Even names which you don't think are common turn out to belong to thousands of people.
This is the reason why police checks usually ask for places of birth, and addresses - these are used to eliminate you from being the subject of the record.
In extreme circumstances the police may have to resort to fingerprinting you - they take an elimination set of prints, these are compared with those held on the offenders file and then they will see that you are two different people. Your set of prints is then destroyed. I think we used to come across several thousand checks a year where the name was the same but it was a different person - of these, over 15 years we only resorted to fingerprints twice.

Please don't worry about it, I have spoken to many people over the years who fond themselves in your shoes, and while it is annoying, it is easily cleared up. In the case of recent migants like ourselves it should be even easier to clear up as you were probably not even in Australia at the time, and your passport and immigration records will prove this.

GSNR

Thank you so much for your reply Pollyana!
It's a scary thought knowing there are thousands of people out there who share the same names. I just hope they don't keep me waiting too long as I'd love to be able to join my husband and my daughter as a family for the ceremony!
I appreciate your response!

Thanks
Shelley

smiths

This happened to my hubby who apparently had a namesake doing dodgy business in NSW. It took about a month to hear back from immigration to say all ok. Just waiting for a ceremony date now.

bigAPE

Thank god I have a rare surname and an even rarer combination of first and surname.

If there is another bloke with my name then I'd be more staggered than a bloke with three fish for a head.

bigAPE

Unbelievable. I have just checked on Google and a few other social networking sites and there are two other people with my name (although could be one) here in Australia (Adelaide to be exact). They both seem to be teenagers or possibly the same kid but now slightly older.

Given the rarity of my Cornish name I'm now officially as staggered as a man with three fish for a head.

Broad Shoulders

I didn't know Ape was a Cornish name?

bigAPE

LOL

GSNR

It's just sooo annoying, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, so if it takes a month to sort out - it's going to be a long month for me!

I hope it will be sorted out before my hubby and daughter get their ceremony date. We are also in the Redlands, and they apparently have their ceremonies every 2 months, so you shouldn't have too long to wait!
Keep us posted when you get your date!

Cheers
Shelley

JAJ

People in Canada have to wait 12-15 months on average for their citizenship applications to be processed.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/informa...processing.asp

And if there was anything in the application that confused them, it could take a few years to resolve.

paddyo

I think you'll find that Denzil Penberthy is quite common!!

GSNR

I just wanted to let you know that my citizenship application was approved this morning, I am absolutely over the moon, what a wonderful feeling!

Shelley

paddyo

so they never found the link to Fred West then.....!!!

OzJo

Ours was approved the week after the test. waiting ceremony date

Pollyana