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Immigration Daily News Holding an Australian passport doesn't necessarily mean you are an Australian citizenAustralian Immigration Daily News
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Holding an Australian passport doesn't necessarily mean you are an Australian citizen
I am in the middle of a partner migration case, where it is important that the child of the relationship is deemed an Australian citizen.
This is despite the fact that the Australian child has already been issued with an Australian passport, and already holds an Australian Citizenship by Descent certificate.
The child's father is an Australian citizen and is also the holder of an Australian passport.
The biological mother (visa applicant for partner migration) is Korean.
I received the following email (extract):
Evidence of Australian citizenship
The extract received when your son was registered for citizenship by descent is not a formal evidence of Australian citizenship. If you wish to obtain legal evidence of Australian citizenship, you can apply for evidence on Form 119 Application for evidence of Australian citizenship. The form and details of cost and other requirements are available on our website at;
https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Citi/Curr/evidence-of-australian-citizenship
I would like to invite you to apply for evidence of Australian citizenship for your son Master FIRST NAME LAST NAME (Date of birth).
A copy of a birth certificate is not evidence of Australian citizenship for our purposes and they will need to make a request for such evidence through our department.
- Evidence of the father’s Australian citizenship
- Any formal child support arrangements, child support etc.
- Any other material you consider relevant to the case
I have attached the form 119 for your convenience.
Please provide evidence that you have applied for the evidence of Australian citizenship of the child by DATE. Failure to do so may result in the case being decided with the information on hand.
I then sent this email:
Thank you for the clarification but I remain confused and would be grateful for your further advice.
Is there any dispute that the father of the child (CHILD'S NAME) is an Australian Citizen by birth?
Is there any dispute that the father FATHER'S NAME is not the father ( as commonly understood) of the child CHILD'S NAME?
That “fact”, if it is not in dispute would seem to satisfy Section 16(2) of the Act which provides as follows:
(2) A person born outside Australia on or after 26 January 1949 is eligible to become an Australian citizen if:
(a) a parent of the person was an Australian citizen at the time of the birth; and
(b) if the parent was an Australian citizen under this Subdivision or Subdivision AA, or section 10B, 10C or 11 of the old Act (about citizenship by descent), at the time of the birth:
(i) the parent has been present in Australia (except as an unlawful non-citizen) for a total period of at least 2 years at any time before the person made the application; or
(ii) the person is not a national or a citizen of any country at the time the person made the application and the person has never been such a national or citizen; and
I read section 16(2)(a) as meaning that if FATHER'S NAME was born in Australia and was the father of the applicant CHILD'S NAME at the time of birth then the requirements of section 16 ( 2) are met.
You have referred to Section 19A which provides as follows:
AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP ACT 2007 - SECT 19A
When a person does not become a citizen despite the Minister's approval
Despite section 19, a person does not become an Australian citizen under this Subdivision, even if the Minister approves the person becoming an Australian citizen, unless:
(a) if the person was born on or after 26 January 1949--a parent of the person was an Australian citizen at the time of the person's birth; or
(b) if the person was born before 26 January 1949--a parent of the person became an Australian citizen on 26 January 1
My reading of section 19A(a) is that we would meet that requirement by the fact of the father being Australian born and entitled to Australian citizenship and is, at this stage, not a person who it is asserted is not an Australian citizen.
I would be grateful for your clarification and if you are referring to the ACI’s as a guide I would be grateful if you could identify the relevant part upon which you may be relying.
I then received this email:
Please find attached a notice of intent to annotate departmental records to show that THE CHILD is not an Australian citizen by descent.
And then this email from the Citizenship Operations Team:
Please note that 19A is the Section of the Act under which I am considering whether FIRST NAME had an Australian citizen parent at the time of his birth.
As set out in the letters, I am providing THE FATHER with the opportunity to provide to me evidence that he was CHILD'S NAME's father at the time of his birth. This information may include, but is not limited to:
* evidence which would show the Australian citizen's inclusion as a parent on the birth certificate was done with their prior consent;
* evidence that the Australian citizen was involved in providing care for the unborn child and/or the mother during the pregnancy, for example, emotional, domestic or financial support, making arrangements for the birth and prenatal and postnatal care; and
* evidence that the child was acknowledged socially from or before birth as the Australian citizen's child, for example, the child was presented within the Australian citizen's family and social groups as being the Australian citizen's child.
You have mentioned DNA evidence in your email of 23 December 2016. If THE FATHER would like to provide DNA evidence he is welcome to do so. I have attached the request letter and other information to assist him in this regard.
My client, the father, provided all the documentation and evidence as requested, and also underwent DNA testing. The DNA testing came back as a 99.9% accurate match to the child.
Result: Today we received the Evidence-of-Australian-Citizenship-letter for the child.
The Question Remains: If the Australian government doesn't believe that someone is actually a citizen of Australia, then why issue them with an Australian passport and a Citizenship by Descent Certificate?
For questions about Australian Citizenship, or to deal with Citizenship problems please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Comments
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Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Just like they would not tell me why they were asking my client to suddenly prove his citizenship! What next? Are they going to ask me to prove I am an Australian citizen and ask me and my parents to do DNA tests?
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Tuesday, 21 February 2017we have a similar case with a ministerial case whereby the child is clearly Australian and so is his father - there is no passport as such but there is an outstanding request for a citizenship certificate which is required to process things further... an interesting conundrum - one, no doubt, that we will continue to see a long time to come....
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Tuesday, 21 February 2017
After this ordeal, I am now "well versed" in DNA testing for citizenship purposes, and proving that clients are Australians, even when they are obviously already Australians. Where 'they' come up with the idea that someone might not actually be a citizen after all, and have the audacity to ask them to prove that they are Australian... is beyond me. In fact, I actually think it is unconstitutional to make an Australian prove they are an Australian without some facts or evidence presented to the contrary.
AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP ACT 2007 - SECT 4
Australian citizen
(1) For the purposes of this Act, Australian citizen means a person who:
(a) is an Australian citizen under Division 1 or 2 of Part 2; or
(b) satisfies both of the following:
(i) the person was an Australian citizen under the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 immediately before the commencement day;
(ii) the person has not ceased to be an Australian citizen under this Act. -
Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Is all about the money.....
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Wednesday, 22 February 2017
I recently had a client with a similar issue... unfortunately her Australian mother had passed away and her Japanese father could not find her Citizenship Certificate. Despite her having a valid Australian passport (she was looking to renew it) she was required to return a Form 119 for evidence of her citizenship. Her old dad was so stressed over the whole ordeal as he had to look for an Australian friend to to sign a declaration the he has known her for at least two years etc...
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Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Is there something in the water, or something they are eating for breakfast.
I am sorry but the professionalism has gone out the door. -
Wednesday, 22 February 2017
I don't think it is about the money. I believe it is small-minded bureaucrats flexing their muscles with absolutely no authority to do so. I suggest this stupidity is brought to the attention of the Minister and every federal member of those who are involved. Why does the right hand not accept what the left hand has done?
It is as crazy as "case officers" * in Philippines who request a CENoMAR [certificate of non-marriage] from people who have actually provided a Philippines marriage certificate issued by same Government.
*I use the term loosely since it is patently obvious that the cases are dealt with by hostile, jealous home-country citizens whose decision is relied upon by the actual immigration officer who signs off on it· Liana - Allan likes this comment. -
Wednesday, 22 February 2017
Did you charge for all these problems?
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Thursday, 23 February 2017
Yes, I do charge to fix these issues for clients. Liana Allan
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Saturday, 25 November 2017
my wife got australian citizenship but did not have australian passport ( did not apply for passport ), she carry indian passport ,
is she can travel in indian passport ,
Immigration blog
My son had this problem. born overseas; we registered him with the embassy and got an Australian passport when he was a baby (both parents Aussie citizens). When he was 18 he went to get a new passport; he took a copy of the old expired passport but they told him they wanted evidence of his Australian citizenship. I rang up and said he had an Aussie passport what other evidence did they want as he had lived in Australia since 1984. They asked if I had evidence of registering him with an Australian embassy - aah yes - the passport!!! no, they wanted a letter to confirm I had registered him - and of course I had thrown that letter out. So then he had to go to DIBP (the DIMIA OR DIAC) and apply for a certificate of residence ($70). I asked DIBP how they knew he was an Australian citizen! They would not tell me!!!
Interestingly he also applied for a British passport on the basis of his father and grandfather's British citizenship and that passport arrived ten days later with no questions asked.