Australian Citizenship (pt 2)

12:40 am, March 11th, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Posted in girlthings, whinging by Liz

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

Pretty lucky…

10:02 pm, March 7th, 2010 | No Comments »
Posted in girlthings by Liz

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.

Australian Citizenship

4:01 pm, March 6th, 2010 | 13 Comments »
Posted in girlthings, whinging by Liz

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?

64/365 – Everyone Likes Dry Ice

6:33 pm, March 5th, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Posted in 365, boythings, girlthings, photography by Jarod

Especially my fiance, Liz!

And after having a quick photoshoot with Liz and a chunk of dry ice, I like it too. It’s like the smoke coming off a candle…. on steroids!!

58/365 – Wedding Planning

8:37 pm, February 27th, 2010 | No Comments »
Posted in 365, boythings, geekery, girlthings, photography, wedding stuff by Jarod

We’re not even into the proper part of planning the wedding, but already it’s so very difficult. We’ve got our glass whiteboard with all the relevant info on the case. That’s it there in the background for the astute observer.

Sadly, the to do lists far far far outweigh the done list. In fact, engagement/wedding rings are the only things partially underway.

Ugh!

56/365 – Angry kitty.

7:42 pm, February 25th, 2010 | No Comments »
Posted in 365, girlthings, traaiiiiin, wedding stuff by Liz

Sometimes Train will plonk herself down infront of/on my keyboard and then refuse to budge. She doesn’t want to be patted. She certainly doesn’t want to be left alone. Try and move her and you’ll get bitten. Try and lure her away and nothing will happen. But try and take photos of her… and she leaves. Success!

Since being engaged I keep being referred to various wedding websites. One of them is on the screen behind Train. A lot of them a great. Most of them have beautiful way-out-of-the-affordable-range things. And then sometimes, you stumble across something lovely and in your price range. Someone on twitter linked to weddinggawker (a spin off of foodgawker) and found these flowers by EmersonMade.

So pretty! I like substitutes to real flowers. I love Princess Lasertron’s work but think I might just like these even better. Of course, both EmersonMade and Princess Lasertron are based in the USA. There are some very talented crafty people in Australia, but the market doesn’t seem to be nearly as big. Yet.

What Jarod sees.

7:54 am, February 24th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Posted in girlthings, local, photography by Liz

Sure, you’d think kitty walking would be easy. Take a camera, walk around, take some photos of cats. It’s not easy for Jarod. He has to explain to people why I’m lying on the ground telling random cats how wonderful they are.

Most people are very understanding. Sometimes I get a few strange looks. But it’s worth it when the kitties are super smoochy like this one was. Jarod is a spoilsport never lets me bring them home, either.

Musings on happiness.

9:27 pm, February 21st, 2010 | No Comments »
Posted in girlthings, nothingness by Liz

I think I came across that quote maybe at the end of last year? Something like that. Anyway. I’ve always had a hard time understanding people who have a purpose in life. That know where they want to be and by when they’ll be there. Whether it be career wise or life wise, it just bothers me. Because I really don’t have the same drive. I kind of just go with the flow and see where that takes me. If it’s good, I hang around. If it’s not good, I move on.

I was good friends with a girl in high school that had that drive. She knew she was going to be a primary school teacher, and to get there it was important to her to excel at every subject she took. It probably didn’t help that she was a very competitive person. She pushed herself so hard to excel at everything and she spent so much time being stressed out. She was a total perfectionist, and didn’t like it when she sometimes didn’t meet the high targets she set herself. But, she got into the course she wanted at university, made the most of it, and is now a primary school teacher doing her ‘country service’ stint. And she loves it — like she always knew she would.

I did the bare minimum in high school, especially towards the final years. One remark on my report card was “Elizabeth …was willing to do what was required to pass a subject she did not enjoy”. I also completed a Cert III in Education (IT Support) in that time, but that was more to keep the school happy. When I left high school I immediately started full time work. In June 2006 I moved down to Sydney – something I saw as a temporary thing, because really, Melbourne is where I wanted to be. In July 2007 I started chatting with Jarod online, and now we’re engaged. And I’m totally happy.

There was some point to this. It was something like, sure, if you know what you want to do work hard and achieve it and be happy. But if you don’t know what you want to do you can still be happy and get to a place you didn’t even know you wanted to be. I never thought I’d be happy living with some boy I met over the internet and working part time at an ice cream factory. But that’s the way that life has taken me. And although my friend might not understand how I can be happy because I haven’t really achieved any “life goals”, I honestly feel that I am as happy as she is – even with all her accomplishments. And that life isn’t about what score you achieved when you graduated or what position you hold at work, it’s about happiness.

For the past two weeks it’s been very hard to find happiness in stuff. Sometimes it’s good to remind yourself that there’s no point doing something if you’re not happy doing it.

33/365 – A Surprise Visit

8:21 pm, February 2nd, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Posted in 365, boythings, cuteness, girlthings, local, photography by Jarod

Whoa! We got a surprise visit from Liz’s sister Julie and her boyface Ed. They (quite randomly) decided to drive overnight from Melbourne to Sydney, in part to congratulate Liz and I on getting engaged.

The few hours went far too quickly, but it definitely was good to have Julie around. Oh, and Ed’s pretty alright too (he likes bikes, so how can we not get along).

So of course, they feature prominently in our 365 photo.

And FebuSave starts…

11:33 pm, February 1st, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Posted in febusave, girlthings by Liz

Today is the first day of FebuSave. Apparently I’m meant to have pledged to give up something, but since going to part time work, I don’t have much to give up.

Here’s a quick summary of where my hard earned money goes…

- I earn around $420 a week after tax. This is based on an hourly rate, generally around 30 hours a week. Sometimes more.

- Every month, Jarod and I put $1600 (each) into our shared account.

- $1700 of this comes out as rent (Woo, living in the inner west!)

- The rest pays for the internet/phone/electricity/food/etc and whatever is left is combined savings – our ‘emergency’ money. Soon to be joined by the ‘wedding fund’.

- This leaves me with around $200 a month.

- Taken straight out of my $200 is my $49 mobile bill and $70 for health cover.

- And that leaves me with $81 spending money per month! Woo hoo!

Big spender, huh? That $81 is generally put towards lunch, dinners out and (with saving) the occasional bit of baking equipment. I’m very lucky at the moment, my work is a 10 minute walk down a hill (and a very difficult 15 minute walk up the hill to get home.) Most other things are also within walking distance, so I don’t need to worry about petrol and car related things.

When I was last in full time employment I was earning double that weekly amount – but also spending that amount. Stegosauri, anyone? (Although that is still the most fantastic plush Stegosaurus I’ve ever seen.) I should point out, the majority of my money at that time went towards paying off my debts – that inconvenient car loan, personal loan and credit card, but once that was all over I was all ‘Look at all this disposable income!’ and it disappeared.

Only having an addiction to cats, I gave money to the Cat Protection Society and bought so many kitty things for Train, as well as buying random things on Etsy. Random lovely things. Which I guess I didn’t really need. But the kitties always need your help. And donations are tax deductible. ;)

Anyway, back to FebuSave. As I have little room to move with my own expenses, I have a fairly low target in that area (comparably), but I’m also going to try save more money through our joint account – at the end of the day, I’m half of that too!

While I have always been aware of what money goes in and what money goes out every month (even while I was getting into debt when I was younger) it comes down to making the right decisions. Not based on impulses, but long term plans and goals. Even if you don’t have ‘anything’ to save for, you should at least be saving for a possible rainy day. Because they do happen.

As Polka Dot Bride put it so nicely…

I know this month of Febusave is supported by a big bank. I know it’s a corporate and they can afford to advertise instead of promoting through word of mouth. I however, am choosing to address what I believe is the bigger issue. That people (and women to be specific for this blog and this month) owe it to themselves to be empowered and knowledgeable about their hard earned money. Simply put, how much peace of mind will you have when you take control of your finances, instead of checking your account and wondering, yet again, where and on what, your money has gone? To us, it is not a question of where you spend your money (that is always an individual decision), or of not having fun with your money. It’s about not letting your money control you and planning for a robust financial future together.

It’s not too late to join Febusave, or just start saving in general. I’ll be updating the blog with my adventures in saving*, if you’re interested. If you’re not, well, just look over at Jarod’s side of the page. ;)

*My adventures in saving may not be very adventur-y, fun, or blog worthy. But we’ll see.

32/365 – Ouch Ouch Ouch

7:43 pm, February 1st, 2010 | No Comments »
Posted in 365, boythings, girlthings, local by Jarod

Those’d be Liz’s feet. Her new shoes weren’t as kind to her as we had hoped.