Visa Cancellation Will Stop Grant of Citizenship

Amendments to the Citizenship Act will now require applicants for citizenship to be permanent residents both at time of application and time of decision.  So if a person has a visa cancellation pending applying for citizenship will not save the day if the visa is cancelled before citizenship is granted.

Here is what the amendment says about permanent residence, namely that the applicant :

(b) is a permanent resident:

(i) at the time the person made the application; and

(ii) at the time of the Minister’s decision on the application

This applies to the basic residence requirement in s. 21 and to all other parts of the Act where the residence requirement applies. The above changes are made as part of the amendments made by the Migration Legislation Amendment Act (No 1) 2008, assented to 15.9.08.

Non-Citizens Born in Australia – Some Easing of Requirements

Non-citizens born in Australia no longer have to prove that they never could have got a foreign citizenship, all that is now required is that at time of application for Australian citizenship they could not be granted a foreign citizenship.

Here is what the old provision [s. 21(8)] says with the unamended part in bold:

(8) A person is eligible to become an Australian citizen if the Minister is satisfied that:

(a) the person was born in Australia; and

(b) at the time the person made the application, the person:

(i) is not a national of any country; and

(ii) is not a citizen of any country; and

(c) the person has:

(i) never been a national of any country; and

(ii) never been a citizen of any country; and

(d) at the time the person made the application, the person:

(i) does not have reasonable prospects of acquiring the nationality of a foreign country; and

(ii) does not have reasonable prospects of acquiring the citizenship of a foreign country; and

(e) the person has:

(i) never had reasonable prospects of acquiring the nationality of a foreign country; and

(ii) never had reasonable prospects of acquiring the citizenship of a foreign country.

Now s. 21(8)(d) & (e) are rolled into one and states:

(d) the person:

(i) is not entitled to acquire the nationality of a foreign country; and

(ii) is not entitled to acquire the citizenship of a foreign country.

So it opens the way for some strategic planning to permit a person to achieve a situation where they are no longer entitled to a foreign citizenship. The above changes are made as part of the amendments made by the Migration Legislation Amendment Act (No 1) 2008, assented to 15.9.08.