ABCDiamond

Talking about deportation, I heard one of the top Politicians on TV talking about this.
He said that once a person becomes an Australian Citizen they could not be deported,
BUT.... if that person has Dual Citizenship, it may be a different matter, as they can cancel the Australian Citizenship, if the person is not left stateless. And the other countries citizenship means they aren't, and therefore could legally be sent back to their other country.

JAJ

Correct. And for naturalisation applications, the Home Office have for a long time accepted a certified copy of the passport (all pages) instead of the original.

Asking for the passport back would have constituted abandonment of an indefinite leave to remain application, but not a naturalisation application.

There are so many cases where advice from 'public enquiry lines' is incomplete, misinterpreted or just plain wrong. It should always be verified.


Jeremy

JAJ

He's wrong.

There is *no* basis in the Australian Citizenship Act for that statement.

For adults, deprivation of Australian citizenship is based on sections 19 and 21 of the Act:

SECT 19
Loss of citizenship by reason of service in armed forces of anenemy country

An Australian citizen who, under the law of a foreign country, is a national or citizen of that country and serves in the armed forces of a country at war with Australia shall, upon commencing so to serve, cease to be an Australian citizen.

This has never happened as Australia has never *officially* been at war since 26 January 1949 (the Vietnam and Korean conflicts did not involve an offical war declaration)

SECT 21
Deprivation of citizenship

(1) Where:

(a) a person who is an Australian citizen by virtue of a certificate of Australian citizenship:

(i) has been convicted of an offence against section 50 in relation to the application for the certificate of Australian citizenship; or
(ii) has, at any time after furnishing the application for the certificate of Australian citizenship (including a time after the grant of the certificate), been convicted of an offence against a law in force in a foreign country or against a law of the Commonwealth, a State or Territory for which the person has been sentenced to death or to imprisonment for life or for a period of not less than 12 months, being an offence committed at any time before the grant of the certificate (including a time before the furnishing of the application); or
(iii) in respect of a person who was granted the certificate of Australian citizenship as a result of an application for the certificate made after the commencement of this subparagraph—obtained the certificate as a result of migration-related fraud; and

(b) the Minister is satisfied that it would be contrary to the public interest for the person to continue to be an Australian citizen;

the Minister may, in the Minister's discretion, by order, deprive the person of his or her Australian citizenship, and the person shall, upon the making of the order, cease to be an Australian citizen.

(clarifications edited out for brevity).

The bottom line is that a naturalised Australian citizen can only be deprived of citizenship for:
- offences of fraud in relation to the citizenship or permanent residence application; or
- a sentence of 12 months for a crime committed *before* grant of citizenship.


Section 23 operates to deprive a child of Australian citizenship if a responsible parent of the child loses or renounces Australian citizenship. It does not operate if one parent remains an Australian citizen, or if deceased, was an Australian citizen at death.

Any attempt to deprive an Australian citizen of citizenship other than in accordance with the Act would be struck down by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, or failing that, the courts.


Jeremy

diddy

Medicals - no.

Police checks - usually no. However if you have spent more than 12 months overseas since getting PR they will need new overseas police checks. This is a new requirement. No need to worry about an Australian police check as DIMIA do this automatically for citizenship applicants.


Jeremy[/QUOTE]

Thanks mate.

Ron888

Thats dreadfull news specially for someone like me who's going in a temp visa and still has not applied for his RSMS yet

Now it appears the goal posts will be moved and the dream of becoming an OZ citizen would have to be a dream twice as long as expected. I guess old man Murphy just had his way again...

I just hope that this measure, if it does push through.. REALLY DOES help curb potential terrorism in OZ. Otherwise, what this measure just did was made more innocent people miss out on their future... again terrorism wins.

No Cheers this time...
Ron.

JAJ

In what respect would it "make innocent people miss out on their future"?

Permanent residents have most of the rights of citizens anyway, so if you plan to spend the rest of your life in Australia does it really make so much of a difference if it takes an extra two years to get citizenship?

Jeremy

anya4oz

I found this section of the DIMIA web site slightly confusing:

What is a Resident Return visa (RRV)?

A Resident Return visa (RRV) is valid for 3 months or 5 years (depending on circumstances).

It allows Australian permanent residents to travel to and from Australia as often as they wish within the validity of the visa, while maintaining their status as permanent residents.

Who needs an RRV?

Only Australian citizens have the right to enter Australia without a visa. Permanent residents must have a valid RRV, or "old-style" Authority to Return (ATR) or Return Endorsement (RE) if they wish to travel from and to Australia and retain their permanent resident status – even if they will only be out of Australia for a couple of days.

It implies that ALL perm residents need RRVs, but we managed to travel to the UK & back again 8 months after arriving here, without anything other than our normal perm res visas. ISTR hearing that this true for the 1st 2 years of perm residency - is that correct?

Just dug out my PR visa & it does say 'multiple travel' - is that the 'return endorsement'?

Also, we validated, then were here on the 'where to live' recce for 4 weeks - does that time count towards the residency period for citizenship purposes (as it seems time out of Au on holiday counts as a deduction for citizenship)?

If you have to be perm res for 12 months preceeding the application, does that mean you can't leave the country (even for a hol)?

Cheers,
Anya.

ABCDiamond

It is 12 months out of the previous 24 months.

To apply for Australian citizenship you would need to have been in Australia for at least 2 years as a permanent resident in the last five years.

This time must include a total of twelve months in the two years immediately before making your citizenship application.

The twelve months does not need to be continuous.
http://www.citizenship.gov.au/faq.htm#faq4

ABCDiamond

Your original PR Visa allows the same travel facilities as an RRV, which you would have to get once your original visa expires (normally after 5 years I think), if you wish to leave the country and come back

JAJ

That's correct - a look at form 968i will confirm that most initial migrant visas 5 year re-entry facility built in.



Jeremy

JAJ

Take a look at form 968i"
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/968i.pdf


No. The old style 'return endorsements' were issued to PRs before the mid 1980s. They require that you visited Australia every three years to keep them valid. A few are still valid today, provided the condition has been kept and the holder has not obtained another visa.

As far as I am aware, all time in Australia with a permanent visa counts.


For some reason a lot of people think this. It's not true. You need a total of 365 days in the 2 years before application but it does not need to be continuous.

Use the residence calculator at http://www.citizenship.gov.au to check eligibility.

Jeremy

Wol

>>For some reason a lot of people think this. It's not true. You need a total of 365 days in the 12 months before application but it does not need to be continuous. <<

Uh?

I suppose, in a leap year........

<g>

ABCDiamond

For clarity: JAJ did mean to type "365 days in the 24 months before application " Didn't you

seang

Guys (and Ladies)
was there a time when it was 5 years to get citizenship before - or am I wrong?

anya4oz

Thanks, Jeremy (despite the dodgy math, but I knew what you meant really )!

Cheers,
Anya