Australian Citizenship (pt 2)

Quick points (an FAQ, if you will):
- I can vote (and have before). So, somewhere in the system, I am an Australian citizen. Somewhere.
- I want proof of my citizenship here because I have no ties to New Zealand other than the two years I spent there
- I don’t have a New Zealand passport at the moment. It expired many, many years ago (and has since been lost).
- There is no issue of deportation. As a New Zealand citizen (at the least) arriving back into Australia before 2001 I have the right to live and work here without issue.

So, I called the department of immigration this morning and was told the following:
Regardless of what it says on Form 119, I would have gained Australian citizenship on my 10th birthday if I had been a resident up until that time. (Luckily, we moved to New Zealand just after my 10th birthday, so I satisfy that point).

I have been advised to ignore ‘Category 4′ on the above form (kids born after 20 August 1986 to NZ citizen parents) and apply for proof on the grounds of living here for my first 10 years (‘Category 3′). But, here’s the catch:

- I still need to prove my parent’s residency status at the time I was born (difficult to do as they do not have their passports from that time) AND
- I need to provide documentation for every year up until my 10th birthday to prove I was living here.

Both of which MUST be in some kind of governmental record somewhere, but I assume systems can’t talk to each other (or they want to make it difficult).

So, between the ages of 1 and 4, I’m not sure what I have to prove my existence in Australia. From 5 to 10 I may have school report cards. Except that because we moved so often I threw a whole bunch of them out as I didn’t see any reason to keep them. Well done me.

What I have done so far:
- Asked my parents to search for any documents that may have survived the time when I threw most of them out.

- Called one of my old primary schools (I think there are 3 different schools I attended before I was 10) and asked about records. Legally, schools are only required to keep the records for 7 years, and they had no idea how to help me.

- Called the Commonwealth Bank to see if they had a record of my school saver (dolomite?) account. Completely unexpectedly, they do. If I visit a branch they can give me the account number and the length of time it was held, but not much else. But, seeing as I had that account open for one whole year, that might count for one whole year’s worth of proof I lived in Australia.

A smart friend has suggested I try the Dept of Education to see if I can get any records from them, which I will do in the coming days.

Does anyone else have any smart ideas as to how I can prove that I lived in this country for the first 10 years of my life?

Part One

by Liz   |   5 comments   |   March 11, 2010 at 12:40 am

69/365 – I made it.

Mostly.

Tonight I attended the Patisse ‘Dinner Party Desserts’ cooking class. That thing I’m holding is a millefeuille of belgium chocolate mousse with (missing) white chocolate granita.

I also made a vanilla bean parfait with bubble sugar, hazelnut and chocolate pralines as well as orange diamond biscuits. The class was run by chef Vincent Gadan. It was good fun.

And that also means the last of my Christmas presents have now been redeemed. Hurrah!

by Liz   |   no comments   |   March 10, 2010 at 11:25 pm

67/365 – Sigh.

She gets fed up with the camera sometimes.

by Liz   |   no comments   |   March 8, 2010 at 7:23 pm

Pretty lucky…

I am a pretty lucky girl. This week I got two bunches of tulips from two separate people. And tulips aren’t even in season.

by Liz   |   no comments   |   March 7, 2010 at 10:02 pm

Australian Citizenship

I was filling in a job application the other day and it asked me if I was an Australian citizen. I ticked the ‘Yes’ box, but then realised I still wasn’t sure if that was the case.

I started to sort this out a couple of years ago but after speaking to a very helpful person at the department of immigration who said that I was ’stuck between a rock and a hard place’ and just had to submit some forms, pay lots of money and hope for the best, I put it in the too hard basket.

I was born in Australia in October, 1986 to parents who were New Zealand citizens, but living in Australia under a permanent residency visa. My parents applied for and received their Australian Citizenship when I was 16, and I was not included on the documentation (not their fault), although apparently I should have been because I was under 18. So this leaves me having to qualify for citizenship. Checking out the proof of your citizenship page on the Dept of Immigration and Citizenship site, I thought I might fall under this category…

3. Born on or after 20 August 1986.
You acquired Australian citizenship at birth in Australia if at least one of your parents was an Australian citizen or permanent resident of Australia at the time of your birth.
OR
You acquired Australian citizenship on your 10th birthday if:
neither of your parents were Australian citizens or permanent residents at the time of your birth; you have been ordinarily resident in Australia for the 10 years since your birth; and your parents were not holders of diplomatic visas at the time of your birth.

Which sounds pretty easy, except that my parents were New Zealand citizens. Which puts me in a whole new category…

4. Born to New Zealand citizen parents
Children born in Australia to New Zealand citizens between 20 August 1986 and 31 August 1994 generally did not acquire Australian citizenship by birth.

Oh. And it probably doesn’t help that was I was 9 I acquired my New Zealand Citizenship in preparation for 2 years living over there (we arrived back in 1998). And I don’t actually know what my status is. I can only assume that I’m a permanent resident. The government don’t seem to have a problem with me living or working here.

So, then why not just apply for Australian Citizenship? Well, because I don’t seem to fall under any of their required categories. And then there’s this paragraph on the application page:

As a New Zealand citizen your eligibility for Australian citizenship depends on whether you arrived in Australia before or after 26 February 2001.

On arrival in Australia, most New Zealanders are automatically granted a Special Category Visa (SCV). This visa allows the holder to remain and work in Australian indefinitely. Up to 26 February 2001 the holders of SCVs were eligible to apply for citizenship.

On 26 February 2001, the Australian Government announced that New Zealand citizens are required to apply for and be granted permanent residence in Australia if they wish to access certain social security payments, obtain Australian citizenship or sponsor their family members for permanent residence.

So I can’t actually figure out if I need to:
a) apply for proof of citizenship and hope ‘being born here’ is enough.
b) apply for permanent residency because I’m a New Zealand citizen and then…
c) apply for Australian citizenship based on my permanent residency. OR
d) ignore it and hope it doesn’t come and bite me on the ass one day?

Any ideas?

by Liz   |   13 comments   |   March 6, 2010 at 4:01 pm

65/365 – I just don’t think he’s taking this seriously.

While Jarod agreed to this 365 thing, he’s always been terrible with someone taking his photo. I thought that he might get better once we started this, but he hasn’t. Today he refused to give me a ‘normal’ expression. So this gets put on the internet.

by Liz   |   3 comments   |   March 6, 2010 at 12:08 pm