darenatto

my spouse is an australian citizen.i first arrived in australia on visa subclass :100 in 2004.i lived here for about two years and had a baby born here.i was granted permanent residency on 22 aug 06.then from 25 sep 06 to 26 dec 07 i went overseas with my australian citizen spouse and kid.i visited four countries during that period and also gave birth to another australian citizen.soon after his passport arrived i came back to australia and now am living here with my spouse n kids(all australians).
what i want to know is as per subsection 22 (9) of citizenship act 2005 will i be granted citizenship on spouse grounds if i apply in june 08?i need ur opinion.......... anyone.....pls?
secondly, there is another clause which states that"my period as a temporary resident can be counted as that of permanent resident if otherwise i would suffer significant hardships/disadvantages".can anyone give me an example of that?what those circumstances could be?plssss thnx

pomref

Hardship/disavantage NO unless your partner has throw you out in the street with young children and your penniless with an centelink social worker running around for you.

The time spent overseas with your partner NO unless he was sent by the Goverment for work or overseas posting example he was sent to work for 3 months in an High Commision etc.

Temp res doesent count for you, your on the 2 year rule as you got PR before 1st july 2007.

If you been out of Australia 3 months and you got PR AUG 06 then you can apply NOV 08 to make up your lost 3 months.

hope this helps pomref

JAJ

You may wish to look further at the terms of section 22(9) of the Citizenship Act as this is no longer correct advice.

darenatto

Please suggest what should i do in my case stated above?as section 22 (9) of the act states that:

if the person is the spouse, widow or widower of an Australian
citizen at the time the person made the application, the Minister
may treat a period as one in which the person was present in
Australia as a permanent resident if:
(a) the person was a spouse of that Australian citizen during that
period; and

yes i was and i am

(b) the person was not present in Australia during that period;
and

yes i wasnt

(c) the person was a permanent resident during that period; and

yes i was

(d) the Minister is satisfied that the person had a close and
continuing association with Australia during that period.

1:my husband's bank account was here during that period
2:i was giving birth to an australian citizen overseas
3:i myself n my husband paid taxes here

is this enough to prove my substantial ties with oz?

Pollyana

Doubt it very much. You will have to settle for wiating the extra couple of months.

JAJ

Might be enough to make a case under s22(9) but the processing time would probably be longer => if you are a few months away from qualifying under the standard residence requirements, it will be simplest to just wait that extra time before you apply.

etlniwd

Hi,

I have been through the spouse citizenship process.

I assume that you were on a subclass 309 (temporary) Spouse Visa when you first arrived in Australia and that you were granted the subclass 100 (permanent) on 22 Aug 2006. If that is correct then you should be able to apply for citizenship under section 22(9) on 22 Aug 2008 i.e. when your two years are up.

The amount of time spent outside Australia since being granted PR is irrelevant since you are the spouse of a citizen. It counts the same as being in Australia in your case.

The amount of time on the 309 will not count towards the residence requirement (at least it didn't in my case).

The only criterion that is subject to policy rather than law is the bit about the close association with Australia. However, I would think that you satisfy that from what you've said.

I have an Australian spouse (obviously), 3 Australian citizen kids, all my in-laws living in Australia, Australian bank accounts, Australian driving licence and, despite the fact that I have lived outside Australia (due to job) for several years, this seems to be enough to satisfy the close association bit.

Pollyana

And yet if married to an Australian citizen, all the inlaws living in Australia, working for the Aussie govt, having Aussie bank accounts and living IN Australia means that one has to spend the full two years INSIDE Australia, with every day out of the country counted against one?

I would be interested to know on what basis you can say "The amount of time spent outside Australia since being granted PR is irrelevant since you are the spouse of a citizen."

smurtaza

Hi!

Thanks for ur suggestion.I assume the same.well,how long did it take to process your application.i mean after how many days that u applied for citizenship u received ur letter of approval?

Thanx

JAJ

Since 1 July 2007, time outside the country can be treated as time inside Australia if you are the spouse of an Australian citizen and meet the s22(9) requirements.

Pollyana

Agreed, but isn't that if you are covered by the new rules? The OP's PR was granted in Aug 06, a few months after mine, and I thought that fell under the old rules? (apologies if I'm wrong)

JAJ

You are covered by the old rules in the sense that 2 years as a PR is needed.

But section 22(9) as far as I read it operates to allow time outside Australia (as a PR who is a spouse of an Australian citizen) to count whether the 2 or 4 year rule applies.

Pollyana

OK, fair enough, DIAC strikes again then as I have been told repeatedly by agents and DIAC that I had to have the two years PR spent IN AUSTRALIA before I was eligible under the old arrangements.
PR at the start of April 06, and was told that two full years oin the country would be needed befoire I was eligible - in spite of being here from November 03 on temp visas.

pomref

http://www.citizenship.gov.au/applying/spouses.htm

Spouses and partners of Australian citizens will be eligible to apply for Australian citizenship if they:

. are permanent residents of Australia
. live or have lived overseas with their Australian citizen spouse
. would have been eligible for citizenship if they had been living in Australia.

Reading between the lines If you went on holiday overseas with your Australian partner that would not count.

If you went overseas with out your Australian partner that would not count.

But If you went overseas and lived together then that would count.

So i guess if you could show a rent book etc flight's ticket's that you both lived worked etc overseas with your Australian partner then you can apply even in or outside Australia?

So JAJ is this how it is? as I was in the same thinking as pollyana before.

etlniwd

You need to read the 2007 Citizenship act and the transitional act that goes with it. In my case DIAC applied it exactly as it was written in the act. If you are married to an Australian citizen then time spent outside Australia can be counted as time spent in Australia if you can show close and continuing association with Australia during that time.

'Close and continuing' is defined in policy rather than in the act. The policy can be found on the citizenship website.

In the case of a spouse, time spent on a temp spouse visa prior to PR counts as diddly squat (at least that's what they told me).