silencio

I don't see any advantage in getting a 457 to be honest. Maybe for singles without any family responsibilities who just wanted to explore the world and are happy for an easy entry to Australia. Last year we bought a house and on a 457 migrants won't be able to do so! (You would need a federal government permission). Also freedom of movement is not applicable on a 457 as you are bound to your employer and can't move anywhere else in Australia BEFORE finding another employer. The most disadvantage for me would be working at the mercy of a particular employer and therefore this visa type is often described as 'slave visa'.

Date applied - 02/02/2016 City/Council area - Adelaide Online / Paper - Paper Date received the acknowledgement email - 04/02/2016 Date of the Citizenship Test - 16/03/2016 - passed (100%) Approval letter dated - 16/03/2016 - received in mail 22/03/2016 Date of ceremony - 12/08/2016 -received invitation in mail 15/07/2016 - sender was DIBP NOT my council! Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal) - Normal - mass ceremony with 200 applicants hosted by DIBP in our local footy club

The problem is not (only) Australian immigration to re-enter Australia the REAL issue in this scenario is that the airline won't allow your son to board the plane! Airlines are in charge to check visas etc as they are liable for the return costs in case a passanger hasn't got a valid visa of the country of destination. I wouldn't take that risk for a couple of days in Bali. Get things sorted as your son needs an Australian passport anyway if you ever plan to travel overseas in the next coming years.

What a good idea to post about the ceremony itself! I'll do the same when my partner's ceremony is due in August - South Australia (let see if they do it with 200 applicants in once or split it in 2 ceremonies with 2 consecutive days). Have a fantastic ceremony tonight and don't forget to report if they provide that obligatory picture of Queen Elizabeth II ;-)

I read somewhere that you must have lived in Australia for at least 5 years and earned a certain income (above 50,000).

Sorry this sounds a little bit too racist for me. Australian government certainly not only imposed stricter rules for Tongans, Samoans etc it was ment to be for ALL NZ citizens! I remember my aunt telling me that in the early 90 before that change came into effect many white Kiwis came to Bondi/Sydney living in shared accommodation and the only thing they did the whole day after claiming unemployment benefits was surfing and finding the best wave. A little bit too black & white painting for me: on the one hand the 'hard working' white Kiwis and the Pacific Islander described as dole bludgers where I know the other way round!

Date applied - 02/02/2016 City/Council area - Adelaide Online / Paper - Paper Date received the acknowledgement email - 04/02/2016 Date of the Citizenship Test - 16/03/2016 - passed (100%) Approval letter dated - 16/03/2016 - received in mail 22/03/2016 Date of ceremony - 05/08/2016 (tentative) Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal) - Normal Finally some movement after months of standstill! Our council hasn't announced any ceremonies but rang them this morning in order to get the next ceremony date this coming August. Then rang DIBP as council cannot tell the names on the list. Immigration confirmed other half made it into next one but only tentative date as could be a week later (200 applicants will do the pledge in August in our council).

Just in case anybody is interested: after I have lodged my RRV via ImmiAccount, paid and then submitted my application today and directly received an instant grant! Within 1 minute after my payment was processed successfully. I have applied online and am living in Australia for nearly 4 1/2 years and never left the country. I have lodged my application for a RRV 155 online and the application was straight forward and I'm convinced no person/staff member even looked at it. It will be electronically granted nowadays and that's why it's so quick as lightning. Would be great if immi could process citizenship applications with at least half or quarter of that lightning speed!!! In another thread 'citizenship timeline 2015/2016' I have still my other half sitting in the pipeline since March 2016 with a fully approved citizenship application but no ceremony date in sight as our 'beautiful' council is not hosting any ceremonies currently. The next one will happen in August and we are positive he's in but he became really jealous how quick 'long term' PR's like me are treated in comparison to citizenship applicants.

Great Britain was always a successful thriving nation and it will be. It doesn't come down to be a member of the EU it's this typical mixture of values, ethics, skills & knowledge which makes the UK successful and not a membership of a certain 'club' (=EU). This brainwash scare campaign that bad things will happen after leaving the EU is just to frighten and to tame the population.

Today is a good day though I'm not a Brit. This 'Western' Soviet Union Experiment comes to an end ;-) hopefully!!! The UK was always a successful and thriving nation and this doom and gloom blah blah blah under no circumstances to leave the EU is just to scare campaign in order to brainwash the UK population. Dutch and French now also wanting a Referendum which is good as well. Seems to be some nations with common sense around like Great Britain. I wish to witness an end to this Soviet Union Style politics in Brussels.

My partner had his grandparents Australian passports and it didn't help (deceased). We had to apply for a PR in our own right, no matter that uncles, aunties, cousins all live in Australia. A passport is not as important as you people thing as it's not regarded as a proof of citizenship by authorities but an Australian Citizenship Certificate is. You claim you are not burdening anyone but this is not true as you would have access to Medicare and other health professionals. Why should Australian tax payers be financially liable for paying your life style choice of moving here? I'm afraid it does sound harsh but you would also certainly use tax payer funded roads and infrastructure by people who worked and paid taxes here all their lives. I would give it a shot with trying to obtain a RRV but government made it so hard to regain permanent residency as this is exactly what they wanted to prevent: aging former residents returning to Australia after long periods of absence but with a higher risk of burden of costs in the health sector.

Only you can determine if it's worth all the hassle of an 'outing' but on the other hand you will find out if your friends are really friends in a sense of true friendship. But what is wrong with living here as a long term permanent resident when the evolving situation may be too awkward for you? Many older people I know never obtained Australian citizenship I would not recommend a conversation with work colleagues though!

What about false accusations? Even very unlikely that it will hit anybody here you just have to read all these stories about released persons -for example in the US - being released as innocent after serving a life sentence! My ex-partner 25 years ago was falsely being accused of malicious injury of property while being with me and he hadn't done anything because a mentally instable (or should I say insane) person accused him. Eventually, nothing had happened regarding criminal charges but this was just because I was the witness telling the opposite and more important that woman was already very prominent at the local police station with all sorts of whopping lies. What about doctors, specialists + nurses - as many migrants came here as such - unintentionally administering wrong medication? What about aged care workers or support workers accused of battery while showering an elderly person who then has a fall?

During the days it's quite nice but sharp 4 pm it cools down rapidly and you definitely will need a jumper, coat etc. and the mornings are bloody cold. In our 'old' unit the single-glazed windows were completely fogged and you couldn't look out! I've never came across with so much water on the windows and my cloths to dry them were completely saturated with water. In Australia the building 'standard' produces door cracks (at all 4 sides of the doors, especially entrance door) my imagination wasn't good enough for! Never walked on extremely cold wooden floors before in life because foundation had cracks and after rainfalls we had a mouldy smell in the air. Luckily we now live in our own new house but survived under these conditions for 4 winters with portable oil heater and split aircon. I never wear socks in summer time and it's always hard to readjust to socks + boots in winter as my feet didn't like it after so many months. I think that's why you see 'Aussies' with thongs (=flip flops) in winter walking in a coat or winter jacket + long trousers.

Can be your dentist, GP, tax accountant etc. as long as this person knows you for at least 1 year

You're partly right but...Read your visa grant letter as it says the travel facility will expire after 5 years. This applies for offshore PR's only though as said before inside Australia you can remain on your PR forever. With a RRV PR will be converted into a 155 (I believe)

Date applied - 02/02/2016 City/Council area - Adelaide Online / Paper - Paper Date received the acknowledgement email - 04/02/2016 Date of the Citizenship Test - 16/03/2016 - passed (very easy) and approval on the spot Approval letter dated - 16/03/2016 - posted 18/03/2016 - received 22/03/2016 Date of ceremony - TBA Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal) - Normal

Date applied - 02/02/2016 City/Council area - Adelaide Online / Paper - Paper Date received the acknowledgement email - 04/02/2016 Date of the Citizenship Test - 16/03/2016 - passed and approved, letter to be in the mail next week Date of ceremony - Waiting Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal) - Normal

Don't worry too much, we did hubby's as a paper application as well and got confirmation within 2 days after mailing it off with test date attached. You will see it anyway as DIBP first step is to debit your account with the application fee. Then you gonna know anyway that application is in progress. Give the citizenship hotline a call if you getting too concerned about it. Are you able to track your application?

Received acknowledgement email with date for citizenship test as one combined email

I'm so happy to join this thread for my other half. My timeline will come by the end of this year or next year (no automatic dual nationality in my home country and have to gather documents etc) Anyway the other half's timeline: Date applied - 02/02/2016 City/Council area - Adelaide Online / Paper - Paper Date received the acknowledgement email - 04/02/2016 Date of the Citizenship Test - 16/03/2016 (received with the acknowledgement email) Date of ceremony - Waiting Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal) - Waiting

Of course pages 3 & 4 must be scanned and attached but without the photo and without the endorsed back as one document. This must be attached separately, read page 6 of the guide. Happy to hear that you were fine with your application but nowadays they make a fuss of how to attach docs.

Hi Isabelj, how did you proceed with your application? Because I read the online lodgement automatically populates some kind of 'check list' where you have to 'action' and provide supporting evidence described and outlined by DIBP and when you don't do the whole lot subdivided into 3 pieces how were you be able to submit? How were you be able to click 'submit'? Would be interesting to know for me as I haven't done it but I will certainly stick to the outlined rules by immigov. Did you apply before 15th of April 2015? Then it was different of course.

I'v copied the short cut from the official site. I hope that works as it clearly states that the form is not designed to attach photos: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=how+to+attach+documents+to+a+citizenship+application&rls=com.microsoft:en-AU:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=&gfe_rd=cr&ei=50GOVu35M8HN8AfrmLP4Bw&gws_rd=ssl#