Australian Citizenship - Understanding the Residence Requirement

Today, migrants across Australia are rejoicing as yesterday evening the Australian Governments proposed Bill to enforce strict changes to Citizenship requirements was killed off in the Senate. 

The effect of this is that Citizenship applications submitted after 20th of April 2017 will now be assessed under the current rules, ending a 6 month stand off in which applications had been put on hold by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

What Are the Current Requirements?

The current requirements for Citizenship can be summarized as follows:

1. No IELTS/English requirement!
2. Has held permanent residency for at least 12 months
3. Has been lawfully in Australia for at least 4 years (this can include time spent on temporary visas or bridging visas)
4. Have not been physically outside of the country for more than 90 days in the 12 months prior to making the Citizenship application (Some exemptions apply)
5. Have not been physically outside of the country for more then 12 months in the 4 years prior to making the Citizenship application (Some exemptions apply)
6. Are of 'Good Character' - please see here for more information
7. Pass the Citizenship Test - please see here for more information
8. Attend a Citizenship Ceremony

What is yet to be seen is the processing/waiting times that applicants will now have to endure as the DIBP undoubtedly works through an unprecedented backlog of applications, however as a whole, we view today as a good day for migrants in this country!

For more information please see here and here.

Residence Requirement PDF

To help readers better understand the Residence Requirement to be eligible for Citizenship, we have put together a 7 page eBook PDF with visual examples of when migrants are or are not eligible for Citizenship depending on the amount of time spent inside or outside of the country. To get a copy of our PDF, click on the 'Send to Messenger' button below to be sent a copy directly to your Facebook Messenger.

Need Help?

Anyone that requires assistance with the preparation of their Citizenship application is welcome to contact our office in the form below. We will respond within 24 hours​ of any enquiry.

For your reference, our Professional Charges to prepare Citizenship applications is currently fixed at $1500 (plus GST) per applicant. Please note, this does not include the application charge currently set at $285 per applicant.

​Salvo Migration
320 Adelaide St
Brisbane QLD 4000
https://goo.gl/Bao5ma