Applying Australian Citizenship | Step-by-Step Guide

Embarking on the path to citizenship is an exciting yet intricate journey. While every individual’s experience may vary, I hope to shed light on this process. Below, I’ve divided the journey into three stages, each with milestones. I hope this helps you prepare for Australian Citizenship! If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.

Stage 1 – Application

1. Eligibility & Streams

There are different ways you can become an Australian Citizen.

Home Affairs has different streams listed:

• One is through permanent residency,
• The other is born overseas with an Australian citizen parent,
• The other is being an NZ with a special SCV visa who is 60 years old or over.

For this content, I will be focusing on citizenship through permanent residency.

2. Residency Requirements

The second step is meeting the residency requirements

• Complete 12 months on Permanent Residency (PR)
• Must have lived in Australia for 4 years before applying
• Not be absent for more than 12 months in the last 4 years
• Including no more than 90 days in the last 12 months before application

You can also check your residency on the Home Affairs website. You can view it here: residence calculator.

To use the Residence Calculator, you need to enter the exact dates of your:

• Permanent residence
  • Date your PR was granted
• Lawful residence
  • When did you first start living in Australia
• Intended lodgement and
  • When do you want to lodge your application
• Absence from Australia
  • Travel dates in and out of Australia in the last 4 years.

3. Documents Required

Now that you have checked your eligibility and residency requirements, let’s look at the required documents.

1. Identity Document

You will need to provide three documents that show your identity from birth. These will be your:

1. Birth certificate (in English, if any other language, you will need to get an English one)
2. Australian driver’s license/ your valid passport
3. Utility bills, rates notice, rental agreement, and bank statement from Australia

2. Evidence of first arrival in Australia

Along with these three, you must also provide evidence of first arrival in Australia. This could be:

• Current or previous passport
• Travel document with a visa
• proof of entry, passenger list from the National Archives of Australia
  • In my case, I did not have a previous passport that showed my first entry in Australia, so I chose to request proof of entry from NAA.

3. Name or Sex change proof

If  your name has changed, you will need to provide proof of that:

1. Marriage or divorce certificate or
2. Change of name from DBDM

If you have had a sex change. You will need to provide:

1. Certificate indicating sex change or
2. Valid passport AUS, specifying sex or
3. Letter from a registered practitioner specifying sex

4. Good Character Document

The next one is to prove you are of good character. In normal circumstances, you won’t have to provide any more information as the Department of Home Affairs, as part of the application, requests a check on your behalf from the National Police Checking Service. So you are not required to do anything on that front, but if you have stayed in another country for more than 3 months

1. Then you may need to provide an overseas panel clearance certificate
2. This is to be provided if you have been away from Australia for more than 12 months since 18 on PR and have spent more than 90 days in one country

Moving on, let’s have a look at any supporting documents. Like evidence for any exception, special requirements, or proof of residency for British migrants. If any of this applies to you, look at the DHA website.

For this article, let’s jump into the close and continuing link to Australia.

5. Close and continuing link to Australia

•  Under this, you need to provide evidence that you intend to live or continue to live in Australia while maintaining close relations overseas. For this, you could provide documents like:
  1. Employment contract &
  2. Payslips
  3. Lease for property or home buying contract

4. Application Submission & Charges

After you have gathered all your documents and checked your eligibility, it’s time to fill out and submit the application. There are two ways to apply:

1. Most people will be require tod Submit Online
2. Paper-based application
   1. Can be used if you have no passport or it’s expired

It has to be done via the Immi account. If you have an account, then log in or you can create one.

Once you are in, select:

• New application
• Select citizenship from the list
• If you are applying as a permanent resident, then select – Citizenship by Conferral.

The following are the details you are going to need for the application:

Stage 2 – Citizenship Test & Interview

Once you have submitted the application. You have to wait for further communications. Here is the list of communications you can expect to get:

• You will receive an email to schedule a time & date for the Citizenship Test and Interview
• Once you have scheduled, you will receive your confirmation of appointment
• An appointment letter will be emailed to you with a barcode

Stage 3 – Citizenship Ceremony

Once you have passed your test, you will receive an approval of citizenship email from DHA. This will be followed by an invitation to attend the ceremony, which will note the location and time of the ceremony!

That’s it! After your citizenship ceremony, you are an Australian Citizen 🙂

Reference Links

1. Department of Home Affairs – https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/become-a-citizen
2. Residency calculator – https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/tools/residence-calculator
3. National Archives of Australia – https://www.naa.gov.au/
4. Processing times – https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/citizenship-processing-times/citizenship-processing-times