fanta112

Disclaimer: I'm no immigration agent/lawyer. But I believe the date of meeting the eligibility in the OP's original post, i.e. Mar 2020, is correct. I was in a similar situation when I applied and I got my citizenship already.

Here is my timeline:

• First arrival in Australia: 2009 (on student visa)
• Absence from Australia: Mar 2013 ~ Aug 2014 (during which my previous student visa ceased in Sept 2013, and I got a new student visa upon return; no other absence)
• PR grant: Jan 2016
• Citizenship application submitted: Aug 2017

So my understanding based on my own experience is, the four year counter starts after your first arrival in Aus and immediately before submitting application. The 12-month max absence can be at the beginning of the four-year period (while you are overseas) , and even includes time where you don't have any visa in effect. Cheers

18 hours ago, em-r said:

Ryde council but the location for the ceremony in the invitation is Sydney Olympic park.  we received the invite via email from DHA/NSW Ceremonies team.

It seems like you are going to a departmental ceremony, ranther than one held by the council. I hear the department did the same thing last year and held a large ceremony in Sydney Olympic park. Did you request this specifically?

We have a similar timeline but i havent got invite yet..

Cheers

1 hour ago, em-r said:

Our timeline

Applied: 26/05/2018
My Test/Approval: 26/03/2019
Husband's test/approval: 01/04/2019

Ceremony Email: 23/04/2019
Ceremony: 19/05/2019
Ceremony will be in Sydney Olympic park

Congratulations!

May I ask if you live in Parramatta council or just invited to attend ceremony there? also, did you receive the ceremony invite email from the council or the department? Cheers

5 hours ago, hb31 said:

Here’s my timeline now

Applied: 30/03/2018
Test: 24/02/2019
Approval: 11/03/2019
Ceremony Email: 17/04/2019
Ceremony: 25/05/2019
Start to end - 14 months
Location: Perth

Hopefully this info will be useful to someone here as it helped me while anxiously waiting.

Congratulations!

May I ask if you received your ceremony invite email from your council or the department?

One of the eligibility criteria from the Citizenship Act is (quote from the Act):

Quote

"A person is eligible to become an Australian citizen if the Minister is satisfied that the person is likely to reside, or to continue to reside, in Australia or to maintain a close and continuing association with Australia if the application were to be approved"

Short trips overseas are perfectly fine. But extended travels may trigger scrutiny into your intention to reside, or ties in Australia. This happens much more often now as processing time has rocketed from several months to now 16-21 months. When you get a request from your case officer to provide evidence in this aspect, and you have been away for a long time, it could be difficult to deal with. So my advice is, consider all the pros/cons and then make a wise choice. If you do decide to leave, make sure you will have enough evidence to prove your intention/ties when requested

Here is the relavent guideline for case officers from department's Citizenship Policy. I attached the document below, you can read it for yourself (chapter 7)

Quote

Intention to reside should be investigated further in situations where: 

 the applicant has spent significant periods outside of Australia since becoming a permanent resident or 

 has requested a citizenship test or citizenship ceremony be conducted overseas. 

If a person indicates that they intend to leave Australia or remain overseas for an indeterminate period, officers must consider whether they have a close and continuing relationship with Australia. Officers should note that the applicant must meet either likely to reside, or continue to reside, in Australia OR maintain a close and continuing association with Australia, not both, to meet requirements of this provision. 

Factors that may contribute to a close and continuing association with Australia include: 

 Australian citizen spouse or de facto partner 

 Australian citizen children 

 length of relationship with Australian citizen spouse or de facto partner 

 extended family in Australia 

 return visits to Australia 

 periods of residence in Australia 

 intention to reside in Australia 

 employment in Australia (for example, public or private sector) 

 ownership of property in Australia and 

 evidence of income tax payment in Australia. 

Also, you can read the cases appealed to AAT that were refused based on this ground: https://www.austlii.edu.au/databases.html (just search for key words like "Citizenship application", "likely to reside" etc.) 

Citizenship Policy - 1-6-16 (1).pdf

1 hour ago, Yeyebonel said:

Hi @fanta112 what was the additional documents did they asked for?

I was asked for overseas police checks and proof of ties in Australia (as I travelled overseas after applying)

On 07/04/2019 at 00:05, Laura Fawbert1 said:

Both my husband and myself met citizenship  requirements in June last year (2018), applied and then had to leave the country. We came back and sat our citizenship test and had interview and passed in March-this year but could not remain onshore for the timeline of 6 months for approval and left Australia,

Hi Laura, I'm not sure about adding children to your application so better not answer that part.

Regarding your travel, here is you should be aware of. The rule is that an approve decision cannot be made while your are overseas. What's likely to happen is that department might send you an email and asking you come back within 28 days. 

In addition, extended overseas travel after PR grant may also trigger an request to prove your intention to reside in or ties to Australia. Here is an excerpt from the department's Citizenship Policy. When that happens, you will need to provide additional documents to the department and it will almost certainly prolong the process.

Quote

Intention to reside should be investigated further in situations where: 

 the applicant has spent significant periods outside of Australia since becoming a permanent resident or 

 has requested a citizenship test or citizenship ceremony be conducted overseas. 

If a person indicates that they intend to leave Australia or remain overseas for an indeterminate period, officers must consider whether they have a close and continuing relationship with Australia. 

My recommendation is, if it's possible for you, stay a bit longer and leave after you got approval. If that's not possible, make sure you have enough evidence to prove your ties when asked.

Best of luck!

On 06/04/2019 at 16:33, Steve2019 said:

its very good news for you. What’s your timeline?

Thanks!

Here is my timeline:

– Application submitted: Aug 2017
– Interview: 11 Feb 2019
– Request for additional documents: 12 Feb 2019
– Approved: 6 Apr 2019 (status shown in immiAccount)

Hello everyone,

I see in my ImmiAcccount that my application status changed to "Approved" just now. But today is Saturday (checked EOD yesterday and it was still "Received") and there was some system maintenance. I don't want to get my hopes up yet... Is it possible that this is a system error? Has anyone had similar experience?