imthedave

Thanks mate! Yarra Ranges, Vic I have to say, after the stress over the past couple of years with the 186/187 visa rule changes, I’m not embarrassed to say it was quite emotional yesterday getting the certificate!

Update from me and some information others might find helpful. Had my citizenship ceremony yesterday. 3.30pm I became Australian I’d previously posted 2 questions. 1. I’d lost my invitation letters (!) - I can confirm that these are NOT needed. I phoned to check but also took the email I’d received. When we got there, I had the email in my hand but I just gave them my name and driving licence and they gave me the paperwork to go in. They didn’t ask at all about the letter. They only need to confirm your ID on your driving licence. (Note: my 15 year old daughter came and technically she didn’t need to provide ID however because she looks a lot older than she is, they asked her for it. I’d already made sure she had her student ID on her. They wanted to check to see if she was over 16 so they would give her a voting form to fill out) 2. I’d also posted that I need to travel urgently for business next week and wanted my passport quickly. Immigration said I had to wait 10 days before applying. - WRONG. I filled out the application online last week. Got everything ready but it wouldn’t let me complete the application until I had my citizenship certificate number. I filled that in last night, it couldn’t verify it (understandably because it’d only been about 20 minutes since I’d got it!) but it did ask me to verify it was correct and then complete the application. Printed the checklist out, took it to the post office this morning at 10am with all original documents asked for and paid for the fastest service ($298 for passport + $214 for express). Got an email at 4.30pm to say it was ready for collection!!! How good is that! 24 hours after my ceremony and I have my Australian passport in my hand

Hi all We’ve got our ceremony this Wednesday 19th. I know this because I got an email and we both had individual letters. I kept the letters safe until I took them to my daughters school to show and ask for her to have the day off. I’ve now gone to look and can’t find them. I know the date (got the email), know what ID etc to take but I remember the letters specifically saying ‘bring this letter with you’ Of course, I’ve lost them over a weekend so can’t phone immigration to ask but does anyone know if it’s critical I take the printed personalised letters with me? I’m assuming they would have all my details there anyway. The email says if we haven’t received a letter before the ceremony date, to phone so they can confirm the dates and times. Therefore, I’d like to assume it won’t cause a problem. There was no unique reference or barcode to gain entry. I’m going mad here turning the house upside down but can anyone put my mind at rest that they’re not that critical? Thanks!

Hi all I have a small ‘problem’ just had my citizenship ceremony date for 19th Feb. it says I should wait 10 business days after to apply for a passport. I know I can fast track a passport in 2 days. My problem is I have to travel to a business meeting on 2nd March in Dubai. If I don’t, my job depends on it. 1. do I really have to wait 10 business days to apply for a passport? 2. Is there any way of travelling on my British passport after ceremony? 3. What if I tried to change the date of my ceremony? Is this possible? thanks a lot!

Just out of interest, does the ceremony letter come in the post, via email or via immi account? Or all?

I’m 50 and have travelled A LOT for business and pleasure since I was 18. I literally had hundreds, if not more, of travel movements so I phoned them to clarify when I was completing my application. They said only the last 10 years were relevant (which was still about 7 pages of my application) It was fairly easy in the end though because I’d had to provide 5 years worth for my PR (because I hadn’t been living in my country of citizenship) so had those records done. It was just a really laborious task doing it online because the drop box options and tick boxes all had to be completed for each one. I got bored doing it so even skipped some where I’d spent 1-2 days only in a country. I don’t even know if they looked at it because no questions came back and my application was approved.

I’M APPROVED! [emoji16][emoji16][emoji16] Applied online: 22/03/2019 Test invite: 24/06/2019 Test appointment date: 13/09/2019 (for both wife and I at same time as I linked the applications) Test taken: 13/09/2019 @ 3.30pm in Melbourne CBD. Both passed 100%. I went first, wife went about 10 mins after. Wife and Daughter approved immediately: 13/09/2019 Me approved: 30/09/2019 After all the crap we went through with my initial 457 and then PR with the government changing the goal posts for eligibility, age etc, to say I’m ecstatic would be an understatement!! [emoji485][emoji485][emoji485]

It’s been a week and mine still says ‘received’ Wife and daughters moved to approved within minutes. I phoned to ask about this (without giving any of my details) and said the interviewer said they would progress together because the applications are linked. The lady on the phone was very helpful and said this wasn’t exactly true. Each application is assessed independently and may get approved at different times. However neither will progress to the citizenship ceremony stage until they are both approved. That’s the point where they link, not before. She didn’t have my details but said there should be no reason to worry and to just be patient. It’ll get approved but the department has no clear timeline for the stage of taking a test to approval. Being patient is difficult....

Update on mine.... Applied online: 22/03/2019 Test invite: 24/06/2019 Test appointment date: 13/09/2019 (for both wife and I at same time as I linked the applications) Test taken: 13/09/2019 @ 3.30pm in Melbourne CBD. Both passed 100%. I went first, wife went about 10 mins after. Status changed to ‘approved’ on Wife and daughter (linked to her application) Immi account by 5pm Mine still shows ‘received’ We got interviewed by the same lady who confirmed our applications were linked and said as such, one won’t progress without the other to be approved so I’m guessing mine just fell off the end of the day and may update Monday. She did say confirmation would come in the post too. Region: Yarra Ranges, VIC

Actually my status still says received and the original date not updated. I got the letters via email and when I checked online, they were also there in the messages. The application status had not been updated though

Update on mine. Got my test invite today Applied online: 22/03/2019 Test invite: 24/06/2019 Test appointment date: 13/09/2019 Region: Yarra Ranges, VIC I was expecting to hear nothing until at least next year so only waiting 3 months for a test date has made my day!! 3 of us applying, myself (British), wife (Thai) and daughter (14). Both test dates at same time in same location (Melbourne CBD)

I nervously phoned immigration to find out if there was any issue and after quite a long wait, they said it must have been a glitch in their online system. They could see no reason at all why a PR application that had already been finalised 15 months ago would suddenly have a status updated against it. There are no messages and no internal updates. They also said that my current citizenship application would have no requirement for anyone to revisit or review an old PR application so they just said to ignore it. Very odd but I'm relieved there are no issues!

Yeah. Everything is unchanged. It’s still finalised as per original date and VEVO check shows everything as normal. The only thing that’s changed is the date the application was updated but there was nothing to update because it was finalised over a year ago. Either I’ll ignore it as a glitch or I’ll give them a ring and ask (although don’t want to open a can of worms!)

Can anyone advise on a weird thing with my immi account please. I got my PR granted Feb 2018. We submitted our citizenship applications at the earlier opportunity when we were eligible, March 2019. I just checked my immi account status and it still shows the citizenship applications as ‘submitted and last updated’ date of application. However my PR application, which was finalised Feb 2018 is now showing ‘last updated 19th May 2019’ There are no messages and everything else is unchanged, such as grant notice, date grant notice was issued etc. There is no logical reason why a finalised application would have been updated again (without showing any updates) yesterday. Only thing that happened in last few days is I went overseas on 18th and will be back tomorrow however I’ve been overseas for a short trip before and nothing has changed on my immi account, especially with my PR application. Any thoughts on this? Thanks

I just called them. They said they only consider the last 10 years and only countries where you spent more than 90 days continuous. Unbelievable!!! It's not clear at all on the application.

Are you serious?!?! It took me 2 days to complete my wifes travel (around 200 lines) and I'm already 2 days into mine but only up to 2002! I'm going to phone them and ask

Filling out my citizenship application (taking forever to enter in amount of travel since I was 18!!) Random question. It asks do you give permission for anyone else to ask about the application on your behalf. My wife and I want to be able to ask about each others if needed so ticking yes. It says 'describe your relationship' Options that seem correct are: "Spouse/Interdependent partner" or "Spouse/De Facto partner" Clearly I am my wifes spouse and she is mine. What is the difference between the two options above though? There isn't an option that just says husband/wife. I'm sure it's irrelevant which one I pick for this answer but I'm genuinely curious which one would be correct and why?

Thanks for this. Actually I phoned immigration yesterday and asked about this and they suggested the same thing but to go back and change the answer before I submitted it. I didn’t realise the whole page disappeared though. They reconfirmed my eligibility date is 16th Feb so I’ll do exactly this to get it ready to submit. Thanks again!

Hi again About question 4 above. I've started to fill in the online application on my immi account however it's reached the point of residence eligibility and won't let me proceed. I've entered all my passport, ID and current grant number first but when it gets to this next page it says: 'An error has occurred. The applicant is unable to proceed with this application. Access the Residence calculator to check when the applicant will have been in Australia long enough to be eligible for Australian citizenship.' I'm trying to pre-fill the application online and then save it until 16th February but it looks like I can't even do that. Anyone else experienced this? Is filling out the application through the 'new application' on your immi account what people mean by filing online or am I missing something? Thanks

That’s great thanks. That’s pretty much what I needed to know. Can I apply for my wife then within my own immi account? I.e both applications on the same account?

Hi all I'm finally getting closer to being able to apply for citizenship! Phoned immigration and they checked my details and said we could all apply on 16th February Couple of questions though if anyone can help. It's myself, wife and (step) daughter applying. Daughter is 14 so needs to be included on one of our applications. I looked at the immi page and applying online seems pretty straight forward. 1. I can see my wife has to apply in her own right however can I apply using my immi account? 2. Will my own application include her at some point on the documents and hers include mine on her documents? In other words, so they link together 3. Who should include our daughter? My wife (her natural mum), me (as the original primary PR holder) or both? 4. Can i START the applications now on line to get ahead of the game however not click submit until 16th February? Basic question but I'm assuming the lodgement date is when you lodge - not when you start the application! 5. All the above taken into account, is it better to apply via the immi account or via paper application? I see not everyones status updates. Is this because paper ones are done manually? Applying in regional Victoria. I'm taking some advice I got before on this forum and not using an agent. As has been said, Citizenship isn't migration. I think we should be able to manage this ourselves. Thanks a lot

That's perfect and totally clear. Thanks a lot for the answer. Counting the days down until we can apply! ?

Two questions... 1. Are the practice citizenship tests on http://www.aussiecitizenshiptest.com still current and actually representative of the actual test you sit (subject to any future Government changes...) 2. When we submit our application, there is myself, my wife and 14 year old daughter (wifes natural daughter, my daughter through marriage). Looking at the forms, do my wife and I submit one application each, totally separately? I guess our daughter could be included on either one then. Just seems a bit strange that I can't see any way to link the two applications. Thanks a lot!

Ah ok thanks. In Thailand, they don't reissue originals. The certified letter confirming birth details I mentioned above is as good as it gets as a 'new original'. Basically it confirms all the details of the birth certificate and is formalised by the Government. Hopefully that will be OK because we have everything else.

Original birth certificate missing.... Just slowly starting to gather all paperwork ready for our citizenship submission early next year but have a slight issue with my wifes birth certificate. She's from Thailand and her original went missing years ago. When going for our PR, we thought we needed it and literally spend 5 days going through hundreds of paper records at the local Amphur Office (district council office) unsuccessfully looking for a copy. What's happened is she grew up in Hong Kong and has HK permanent residency too. When she was a child, her mum couldn't find the original for her HK residency so took the only original carbonated copy from the Thai Amphur, took a photocopy of it and then lost the original copy (!!) What we have is: A photocopy of the 'original' carbon copy A photocopy of a certified English translation that was used for her HK residency. An original letter in Thai, formally translated in English, all certified and sealed by the Thai Ministry of Consular Affairs that confirms her identity, national ID number, date of birth, place of birth, mother and fathers name. Apparently it's very common in Thailand not to have a birth certificate if you're over a certain age and this original document is formalised for purposes of passports and things. She also obviously has her original national ID card (which is linked to the numbers on the birth certificates), passport (plus all old ones), marriage certificate, name change certificate (through marriage). Also Australian driving licence, Hong Kong permanent residency ID and we have all our PR details, plus mortgage, land/house ownership details etc. All of the above was fine for our PR grant. The citizenship application form says that when it comes to the appointment, all original documents must be provided. Are we really stuck without the original birth certificate or would you think the original consular letter was OK? The copies of the original carbon copy and certified English translation are good quality and I have some close long term friends here in qualified positions that could sign them to say certified copies of originals here but no sure if that's pushing it a bit. There must be other people that have found themselves in this situation, for example, if originals are lost in a fire or flood so any advice would be welcomed. Thanks a lot ?