Just a quick question. Does anyone know what the status would be of a baby born outside of Australia to parents that are Australian permanent residents (visas already activated)? Does the baby automatically gain permanant residency or citizenship?

Do a search on the immigration forum for posts by JAJ. He has answered this one a few times recently.

I'm in same boat we have PR (already validated and lived there 18 months) but baby born in UK in March - JAJ answered with this for me recently;
"The baby doesn't have a PR visa as of now. If you wanted to go back to Australia you would need to apply for a Dependent Child visa for the child. This would need to be done at the AHC London.

You do not need to be 'usually resident' in Australia to sponsor for Dependent Child - being the holder of a valid PR visa is enough"

Dam I didn't want to hear that! What kind of hassle and wait is involved in sponsoring a dependent child? Surely not another 15 month wait!!!

I'm constantly amazed by people who have children born outside Australia (assuming this is the case here) and only afterwards start asking about what their visa/citizenship status is.

Child visas have a high processing priority, and you're probably looking at a wait of a few months - nothing is ever guaranteed however.

If a child is born to a PR *inside* Australia it has Australian citizenship automatically, no need for visas or anything other than an Aus passport.

Jeremy

hmm, can't speak for anyone but myslef but the visa status of the baby wasn't of any importance to us when we came back to UK. I always knew it wouldn't be a citizen...but at the same time wasn't sure what its residency status - if any - would be as a dependant child to PR parents. It's merely useful info to know for future planning