gillyb

Hi All,

Its mentioned in the Australian Citizenship-Travel during Application Wiki page
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Austra...ng_Application

that "Longer trips may be a problem. You usually only get a few weeks notice of a citizenship ceremony."

I want to go to my home country to join my spouse. I am able to come back as soon as I hear anything about my ceremony. Will going out of Australia stops my processing for assigning me a Ceremony date? Do I need to be present in Australia in order to get a ceremony date? Will this travel hurt my citizenship process in any way? I cant find this information anywhere. Anyone have any suggestions?

verystormy

No, you are fine to travel

gillyb

Thanks for reply. I checked with Immigration about travel, they said I can travel but they wont send invitation to my address abroad or email me. They are not even able to let me know ceremony date on phone as well. Feeling like stuck in the deadlock.

Bermudashorts

When you apply for citizenship, they do ask you to declare your intent to stay. So I guess they are not going to make it easy for people that leave the moment they lodge their application. From what you have said, I think you are going to have to stay until you have the ceremony.

gillyb

Minimum wait is about 3 months, so i think its safe to go for travel and asking someone to check my mails in case i get an invitation.

Bermudashorts

So there was never a problem then ...

gillyb

There was problem, but since i started this thread I talked to immigration several times and they said you can travel but make sure to return back before ceremony. I wanted to come back when i get invitation, but now it seems that i will come back after couple of months irrespective of if i get invite or not.

I was concerned about the processing getting stopped due to the fact that I am out of country. based on verystormy's reply and few more experiences shared by people in similar situation it seems they don't stop processing if you are outside Australia ( also in one of the old threads about same topic, someone mentioned he went for vacations and when came back he got invitation letter in mailbox).

So hopefully its safe to travel.

muditha

Can't anybody check your mails at Australian address and let you know whether you got the invitation letter ? If can, then you can come for the ceremony and no issues.

spottydog

Many councils post the dates of future ceremonies on their websites so that should give you an idea of when the ceremony will be. I think in the majority of cases the most you will have to wait is 2 ceremonies from the date your citizenship application was accepted.

gillyb

Yes, thats the plan, I mentioned it above.

Thanks for this information. I already checked with my city council website. 1 ceremony day is already passed since i was approved. Hopefully i will get invite soon.

exotichead

HI gillyb

im in a similar situation where i need to go to my home country to see my spouse. Im waiting for my ceremony date. i have checked with diac website and several forums and found conflicting information. Im still in limbo whether to stay or go for vacation and come back once the letter arrives. I do have a friend who can check my mail while im away from australia.

teza

DIBP Actually has nothing to do with the ceremony date, they pass on the approved applicants to your council and you council allocates the ceremony... So pointless to contact DIBP once approved...

gillyb

This is not true, DIBP allocate the applicants to a ceremony. they send the list to council and then council sends invitation to attend ceremony to the candidates on the list.

exotichead

so is it ok to travel while waiting for your ceremony ?

gillyb

I think its okay to travel and let DIBP know about your travel plans as well. I am already in USA. Please talk to DIBP and then decide. i will update this thread if I get Invite to ceremony.