Australian Citizenship (pt 2)
Posted by: Liz at 12:40 am, March 11th, 2010
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?
March 11th, 2010 at 7:45 am
GP/Health/Immunisation records? yes, they also may have been destoyed.
Medicare?
Fiona´s last blog ..Crowne Plaza, Darling Harbour
March 11th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
would a photo of you in Australia count?
March 11th, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Maybe you could check with Dept of Health too? If you used medicare (or whatever the equivalent was back in the day), they might have records. You could also contact whatever department manages arrivals/departures from Australia – if they have nio record of you leaving Australia before your 10th birthday, that should be helpful..
March 11th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
i was thinking immunisation too (damn you, fiona!)
surely medicare would do the trick, too.
Laura´s last blog ..My Place and Yours
March 11th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
yeah i was thinking medicare also, if you get mums medicare card number, because you were on hers as a dependant… immunisation records… were you ever admitted to hospital? did you take part in any school vaccinations? you were in a couple of schools… hillcrest… GCS… niagara park…? hillcrest is a smaller school… they might have held onto their records… maybe even just mums medicare records, because you were on her card… also, surely dept. immigration would have a record of you leaving the country? bah.
March 12th, 2010 at 8:11 am
Fiona – I didn’t have a family GP, but will try Medicare for sure.
Brian – Not to my knowledge. And even if I did, I don’t think we’d have one for each year.
Stewoz – Thanks, will try find a relevant department for arrivals/departures (I’m guessing immigration?). That’s a great idea.
Laura – Great minds think alike ;)
Jules – Not admitted to hospital as far as I’m aware. The only school vaccinations I remember were done in NZ. Apparently Mum has some school reports, so they’re going to send them down to me which should help. You’ve got it easy – you don’t have to prove your citizenship because you were born before 20 August 1986.