jmartin8010

I suggest you to contact the Citizenship helpline and verify your eligibility for Citizenship if you have not done that yet.

Lots of interesting ideas here about this topic. I'm a live example of Australian citizen by conferral who is just moving back for a while to take care of his parents. Yes I'm going back to the country I was born in ( I don't call it home as I spent most of my life here in Australia, so here is home for me ). I have asked my parents to provide me with the necessary documents so I can apply for their PR for so long, but they just hesitated and did not want me to do so. The reason was, they were 100% sure that they can not live here, not because they don't like Australia, but because they can not communicate with anyone as English is not their first language. They do not have any friends or family (except me) and they will definitely suffer from those things.

At the end the one who decided to go back and take care of them is me. As mentioned already here, at least I do have this choice to make and Australian government does not stop me in any ways in that regard.

Therefore I also believe it is NOT the violation of human rights at all and I truly believe that If we want to get something we have to loose something.

Everything in this world has a price. The price for me was to give up the kind of lifestyle I have here, get the hell out of my confirm zone and go and start a new life close to my family for sometime at least and see how it goes.

Hi maulajatt,

No, DIBP does not send any emails regarding citizenship approval or ceremony dates. They only send out official letters as far as I know.

The only time you receive an email in regards to your citizenship application is when they schedule you for a test (interview) and also there is an automatic acknowledgement email sent out when the application is received by the department.

Hope that helps.

From the information provided on this thread, I understand department sends letter of approval and ceremony dates to the applicants. Can anyone let me know if department send approval and ceremony details information in email as well?

shresthaz,

You do NOT need any permission to move interstate or overseas. Your visa allow you to live anywhere in Australia as well as leaving/entering the country multiple times without informing the authorities, In one word you are a free resident and can do whatever you want as long as you obey Australian law.

The only (Moral not Legal) obligation you have based on your visa is to spend the first 2 years in the sponsoring state. Nothing will happen in the future if you do not meet this obligation under current law ( there is always a chance that they change the law and make it compulsory to live and work in the sponsoring state for 2 years).

As JoannaAch mentioned, if you wish you can let the WA migration know that you want to move but do not expect them to give you release letter. Do whatever is best for you and your family.

Best of luck

As far as I'm aware, as an Australian Citizen you MUST leave and enter the country using your Australian passport. This is a quote from DIBP website " An Australian passport is the most conclusive proof of Australian citizenship when travelling. As an Australian citizen you must always leave and enter Australia on an Australian passport." Here is the link : http://www.citizenship.gov.au/current/

In regards to the waiting period before you apply for an Australian passport, you can go to post office and apply for your passport right after your ceremony. There is no need to wait for 10 days so they can update your status in the system. I have done it and got my passport within couple of days right after my ceremony as I had a similar situation. Also a friend of mine has done it too without any issue.

Therefore, my advice to you is not to risk an air fare and postponed you trip for 3 days get your passport and then leave.

Hi Durkin33,

Thanks for sharing your timeline. I also am surprised how quick it was for you. Congrats.....

I applied around the same date as you and have my ceremony on June 12th , for me it was quick enough as it took 4 months from the date I applied.

I live in Newtown and my application timeline as follows ( all 2014)

 

Applied online 27 Feb

Interview 14 Mar

Approved 14 Mar

Ceremony date 9 May

 

I am surprised how fast it happened , that's just over a 2 month turnaround. Maybe they have a target to meet.

My advice is apply online now, upload all the scanned info make everything accurate and and easy to read.

 

Best of luck.

Glad to hear that, n much relieved

Sorry but could I ask a question. I read your comment on another thread that "I was sponsored by a State and got my PR 4 years later but never step a foot there due changed personal circumstances over the period of waiting game"

So for being absolutely fearless me n many others, you where on 886 PR or any other till your citizenship got approved?

Thanks again for your post.

Hi Saintkamy,

Be absolutely fearless as I was on PR VB 886 State Sponsorship till my citizenship was approved. Basically I only had 2 visas since I arrived here : First Student Visa and then VB 886.

Thanks

Hello Everyone,

By this post I would like to put an end to all the rumors about rejection of citizenship or putting it on hold when you don't complete the 2 years living condition in sponsoring state.

My citizenship application was approved 2 weeks after I lodged my application online and now i'm waiting for my ceremony. My PR was granted based on state sponsorship (VB 886) and I did not move to that state because I could not find a proper job there.

Although this might change in future and living in the sponsoring state may become compulsory, but at the moment it is a moral obligation and as far as there is no condition on your PR nothing will happen to your citizenship application.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to break any rules/laws by this post. However job security and family well being becomes first in that matter. If you can find a job or already have a job and there is no solid reason not to meet the obligation please go ahead and live in the state that gave you the opportunity to come to Australia. Otherwise don't panic and try to contribute to the Australian society by working and paying taxes in another place and be a good human being.

Have a nice day everyone.

Can anyone, who has had issues ( like citizenship refusal ) regarding not honoring their moral obligation to stay in the state that sponsored them for two years give me some feedback?

 

PS. I am not interested in any moral lectures. I need informative, useful and factual feedback.

 

Property prices, crime, good schools, work availability and making a success of settling in Australia with four small boys is at the core of my decision making. The best reward to Australian society is for my family to settle in and be productive tax contributors to society, i.o.w to add value to the system and to integrate.

 

I do not have the luxury of uprooting four boys after a two year trial and then to move to another state. Wherever we go has to work out. I still prefer my sponsored state of Victoria, but this might not tick all the boxes at this time? I am now considering Queensland.

 

Thanks

Pierre

Hi There,

I'm in the same boat as you and i'm just a couple of weeks away from applying. Therefore, stay put and I will give you a real world example of whether changing state will affect the Citizenship or not. I was sponsored by a State and got my PR 4 years later but never step a foot there due changed personal circumstances over the period of waiting game .

My personal opinion is that it should not affect your citizenship application BUT you never know. I may be the first victim

I understand the intention of the thread but I suspect there arem so few of us who still post on PIO four years after emigrating that we would be unlikely to be applying for citizenship in the same council area at roughly the same time as another member. Plus, giving out our council area may be getting just a little bit too specific for some of us.

I'm totally agree with you about the fact that giving the council will be too specific. That's why I wrote "City/Council area" . I don't think saying for example "applied in Sydney" would be so specific.

Anyways, thanks for your comment.

I will be applying early next year as well. I say Online will be much easier as you can check your application status etc... Not sure if the same think is possible for paper based.

I also can give you a brief info that I got from a friend of mine. He applied online in mid October. Did the test 2 days ago and they told him most likely you will be on next June ceremony (June 2014). he was kinda shock and asked them to book him earlier if possible and their response were : We can't promise anything but we may book you for April's ceremony. He applied in Brisbane City.

Seems like no one is interested in this Thread

Hello everyone...

I thought it is a good idea to have a Thread on the citizenship timeline for years 2013/2104 and it could help many people who are on their way to apply for citizenship :biggrin:

Therefore please share your timeline using below format :

1. Date applied
   
2. City/Council area
   
3. Online / Paper
   
4. Date received the acknowledgement email
   
5. Date of the Citizenship Test
   
6. Date of ceremony
   
7. Type of ceremony (Urgent/Normal)
   

Above is what I thought is good to know. If you think there are other point that could benefit anyone please feel free to add .

I'm thanking everyone in advance

Hi Folks,

I was wondering if anyone can suggest a very good migration agent in Brisbane area. I know a person who is on 457 Visa and is willing to start applying for Independent Skilled Migration visa, as his position maybe removed in the company. He is a Geologist with Master degree and more than 4 years of work experience.

I do appreciate any comments any advance.

Back in 2010 I was in the line for an unsponsored visa (175), had all of the points/skills etc to apply for one, however the wait was long and the conditions kept changing. I was advised my my agent (well known and respected on here) that if I knew which state I planned to move to, I could make the process quicker by going for SS. This we did and where granted it by Vic, the only state I applied to, some other people where applying to 3 or more states.

 

Just after this the rules and queue order was changed a number of times, at one stage a lot of people who were weeks away from visa grant suddenly got dropped to the bottom of the queue, the threads on this forum were full very upset people at the time and I don't blame them, some had sold houses etc.

 

But, I was lucky, this was when the Critical Skills List came out and my occupation was on it, within a couple of weeks I had Vic SS and a visa grant - the CSL was what got me in so quickly rather than the SS, from application to grant of PR took about 8 weeks, however I still intended to move to Vic and started looking for jobs.

 

Shortly after this a friend who had moved to NSW contacted me about a job in Sydney, quite a good consulting job at an Investment Bank, I applied and got it. This was all done via phone and video conference so I had a job before arriving - quite an appealing prospect.

 

So, I wrote to Vic and honestly explained the situation, they where great and formally released me, in writing from my commitment.

 

We'll be eligible for citizenship in just over 6 months and I'd be amazed if this affects it, never really entered my head. I believe in honoring your word and I do feel bad that we didn't move to Vic but sometimes circumstances change and I'm very appreciative of that state's sponsorship dept for their understanding (and sponsorship), who know's we may live there one day. I did the 6 monthly survey from Vic for the first two years.

 

I also wasn't the only one who did this at the time, the system really did push people to go for sponsorship, not sure if its the same now but for some it was the only option to get a visa, which put them in a difficult moral position I guess.

Thanks ozziepom,

As a matter of fact, this was exactly what happened to me. SS was my only option and was intended to move to that state. However when I was just weeks away from grant rules changed and I was dropped to category 5 and had to wait for 4 years in order to get the visa. I was onshore and decided not to think about the PR visa until it is granted.

Just wanted to share this with you guys

Anyways , Ride Hard ... Life is short

I am in Australia under a state sponsored visa and have compleated my moral two year obligation. I do feel quite strongly about this and feel that people should be made to apply for another visa if they cannot meet the moral obligations of spending two years in there sponsoring state. I do hope the governments address this issue. I understand people move states for various reasons such as lack of work, which is an extenuating circumstance but you mention you have never evern been to the sponsoring states airport.

Hi ajs604 ,

I'm totally agree with you on people should really be committed to what they agreed on. I don't want to justify my actions or anything like that here.

Firstly by saying "Not have been in the state's airport" does not mean that I did not try to get a job in that state. secondly , as I mentioned in my previous post, people's situation changes over time. At the time I got the sponsorship (4 years ago) I had every intention to move into that state. However right now I can not really quiet the job I worked hard for , in order to get into the position i'm in now and move somewhere that they don't even have my occupation on their demand list anymore and start look for the job that does not exist (most likely) .

Anyways the moral aspects have been discussed many times on different threads and I will not even give my personal opinion about this in this thread anymore so we hopefully can stick to main point of this thread Which is "putting an end to all the rumours about not being able to become citizen if you don't complete the moral obligation of state sponsorship visas."

Regards,

Hello Folks,

Thank you so much for your comments so far . Here is some real information that I got from the Citizenship Department :

I gave them a call yesterday and explained the situation (I was totally honest about everything , even I told her that I did not even visit the sponsoring state yet), Then the lady on the phone told me that she can not tell if I'm eligible to become a citizen or not without checking my information on their system. Therefore I gave her my Passport number , Name , address and DOB . Then it took her around 3 to 4 minutes to get back to me with below response ( I am trying to be as precise as possible with the words that came out of the citizenship help line ) :

Sir , you will be eligible on ... (My intended lodgement date) based on the information that we have . There is no condition on your permanent residency visa and as a result as soon as you satisfy the residency requirements there will be no problem and then she started giving me some basic information like the price for the application and how long it will take etc...

Again I asked her a very specific question, my question started like this : Thank you for all the information , but let me ask this question so I make sure I understand everything , as I said I have not yet met my state sponsorship requirement which is living in that state for at least 2 years YET , because of my work situation and to be honest I'm not sure if I can meet the requirements at least for another 3 years or so. The reason is when I got the sponsorship 4 years ago I was young and did not have a family and work but when I got the visa based on the sponsorship 4 years later, everything was changed. THIS WILL NOT AFFECT MY CITIZENSHIP APPLICATION ???????

Her response : Sir, Department of citizenship has nothing to do with the state migration offices. No your permanent resident visa (Subclass 886) has no condition based on my records and you will be eligible to apply on ... date.

Last but not least , wait and monitor this thread for the next 3 to 4 months and hopefully I will become the first real example of a person who got the citizenship approved without even knowing how the sponsored state's airport is look like

Hi Folks,

I'm new registered member of this forum so bear with me a little bit please

I have been the silent visitor for a long time and also am aware of the countless number of threads discussing the 2 years commitment on state sponsorship and its effect on the citizenship application down the road .

However I could not find anyone who actually got the citizenship approved without completing the commitment. All the discussions are around the topic that it is a moral obligation and not the legal one as well as how ethical or unethical this actions can be.

Therefore I decided to post this thread to see if really there is anyone out there who got the citizenship without even bothering to step a foot on the sponsoring state as well as all the stories post citizenship application lodgement for the people who chose the route of State Sponsorship.

Thank you all in advance for any comments.