Re-acquiring Australian Citizenship

 
 

Under the new Act, the restrictions on re-acquiring Australian citizenship are eased.

There is some history to all of this and it is necessary to go through it here a little so as you understand where the law is now at.

But at the risk of oversimplification here is the history. As stated above on 4 April 2002, any restrictions on having dual citizenship was abolished.[4]

Re-capping, before that date s. 17 of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 stated:

S 17. Loss of citizenship on acquisition of another nationality

  1. (1) A person, being an Australian citizen who has attained the age of 18 years, who does any act or thing:

(a) the sole or dominant purpose of which; and

(b) the effect of which;

is to acquire the nationality or citizenship of a foreign country, shall, upon that acquisition, cease to be an Australian citizen.

  • Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to an act of marriage.
  1. 17 was repealed on 4 April 2002 but the repeal was not retrospective. In other words if anyone lost their Australian citizenship before that date then the repeal of s. 17 did not revive their Australian citizenship. Prior to 1 July 2007 there was a complicated process to re-acquiring Australian citizenship under s. 23AA of the old Act.

The relevant portion of the old s. 23AA read :

(b)        the person furnishes to the Minister a statement, in writing, to the effect that:

(i)         if the person had not done the act or thing, the person would have suffered significant hardship or detriment; or

(ii)        at the time when the person did the act or thing the person did not know that he or she would, as a consequence of doing the act or thing, cease to be an Australian citizen;

Generally the Australian Citizenship Instructions[5] were quite expansive in the interpretation of ‘significant hardship or detriment’. In the citizenship area where is a philosophy of inclusion rather than exclusion.

Under the Australian Citizenship Act 2007,  re-acquisition is made even easier, there being a general eligibility to regain Australian citizenship.  Here is what s 29 says:

  1. 29 Cessation under this Act

                   (2) A person is eligible to become an Australian citizen again under this Subdivision if:

                            (a) the person ceased to be an Australian citizen under:

                                   (i) s 33 (about renunciation) in order to acquire or retain the nationality or citizenship of a foreign country or to avoid suffering significant hardship or detriment; or

                                   (ii) s 36 (about children); and

                            (b) if the person is aged 18 or over at the time the person made the application—the Minister is satisfied that the person is of good character at the time of the Minister’s decision on the application.

Note 1: See also s. 32 (which is about persons resuming their former citizenship status).

Note 2: A person who ceases to be an Australian citizen under s. 34 or 35 may apply to become an Australian citizen again under Subdivision A or B.

Cessation under old Act

                   (3) A person is eligible to become an Australian citizen again under this Subdivision if:

                            (a) the person ceased to be an Australian citizen under:

                                   (i) s. 17 (about dual citizenship) of the old Act; or

                                   (ii) s. 18 (about renunciation) of the old Act in order to acquire or retain the nationality or citizenship of a foreign country or to avoid suffering significant hardship or detriment; or

                                   (iii) s. 20 (about residence outside Australia) of the old Act; or

                                   (iv) s. 23 (about children) of the old Act; and

                            (b) if the person is aged 18 or over at the time the person made the application—the Minister is satisfied that the person is of good character at the time of the Minister’s decision on the application.

So what this means is that a person who lost their citizenship on the grounds of acquiring a foreign citizenship prior to 4 April 2002 can now simply apply to re-acquire it.  And if anyone lost their Australian citizenship because they had to renounce it (like to obtain a job overseas) similarly there is an eligibility to re-acquire Australian citizenship.

And (as stated earlier) there is an additional provision to allow offspring of persons who had previously lost their citizenship under the dual citizenship provisions to gain Australian citizenship.  Here is what s. 21(6) says:

Person born to former Australian citizen

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

                     (a)  the person was born outside Australia; and

                     (b)  a parent of the person was not an Australian citizen at the time of the person’s birth; and

                     (c)  the parent had ceased to be an Australian citizen under section 17 of the old Act (about dual citizenship) before that time; and

                     (d)  the person is of good character at the time of the Minister’s decision on the application.

Generally the rest of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 leaves the pre-2007 law intact.

Barbara Davidson