Citizenship
Eligibility
A permanent resident or New Zealand citizen holding a Special Category (subclass 444) visa (SCV)
Residence requirement:
have been living in Australia on a valid visa for 4 years immediately before the day you apply
hold a permanent visa or an SCV for the last 12 months immediately before the day you apply and
not have been absent from Australia for more than 12 months in total in the past 4 years, including no more than 90 days in total in the 12 months immediately before applying.
You must be of ‘good character’ if you are 18 years or over.
Good character is the ‘enduring moral qualities of a person’.
You need a basic knowledge of the English language to become an Australian citizen.
We must be satisfied that you are likely to live or continue to live in Australia, or maintain a close and continuing link with Australia while overseas.
You must understand what it means to be an Australian citizen. To assess this, most applicants will sit the citizenship test.
In addition, the citizenship test is exempt for applicants over the age of 60.
If you would like to calculate whether the length of residence in Australia meets the residency requirement for citizenship, please consult with the team of Registered Migration Agents at GEIC.
In most cases, the Department of Immigration will not approve an applicant’s application for naturalisation as an Australian citizen if the applicant is outside Australia. If there is a compelling reason to leave the country, you need to notify the Department of Immigration.
Obligations
You must enrol to vote if you are 18 years old or more.
Enrolling to vote will allow you to vote in a government election or referendum.
At your ceremony, we will give you an information sheet with a QR code to assist you to enrol to vote online.
Successful cases
2018-05-21 Applied for citizenship within Australia for her by GEIC.
2018-06-03 Mrs Zhu is 6 months pregnant and returns to China to settle down and give birth.
2019-05 Mrs Zhu is notified by GEIC to return to Australia to take the citizenship test.
2020-12-21 The Immigration Bureau sends a letter to make things difficult: after submitting your application, you have been living offshore for a long time, and the solicitor who contacted you several times, you always said: you will return to Australia soon, but you have failed to do so. If you can’t provide a good reason, you have to withdraw your application. Apply again when you want to live in Australia long term.
2020-12-23 Mr Rhys, a GEIC immigration lawyer, provides an 11-page legal statement and all relevant supporting documents.
2021-01-21 Mrs Zhu’s application for Australian citizenship was successfully approved.
The client’s family relationship has never been particularly good, with frequent fights between mum and dad and now facing divorce. As a result, the biological father is not only unwilling to sponsor his wife for a spouse visa, but he is also unwilling to sponsor his child for Australian citizenship.
The child is still young, according to the Australian Migration Law when applying for Australian Citizenship, you need to get the Consent of the sponsor and his signature. So this is where the difficulty of the case itself lies! If the father does not sign the sponsorship, the child becomes a stateless baby.
GEICl’s family and immigration law solicitor, Mr Rhys, took on both cases together. On the one hand, he helped the client to resolve the child custody issue through divorce proceedings; on the other hand, he helped the child to resolve the citizenship issue.
By communicating with the Australian Immigration Department for many times, we were able to get the Australian citizenship for the beautiful baby within a week without the need for a sponsor, and helped the client to solve this old problem!
Australian Citizenship Approval in 5 months
Mr Zhu has been doing business in both China and Australia. As he was unable to live in Australia for 2 out of 5 years, he was worried about the extension of his permanent residence every time. GEIC advised him to apply for Australian citizenship once and for all.
Under the careful service of GEIC Immigration Department, Mr Zhou’s Australian Citizenship Visa was issued in 5 months. Because Mr Zhou’s Australian permanent residence was also processed by GEIC, he also received a 10% discount on his citizenship service.
