does a child born in australia with malaysian citizenship need a visa to stay

[Guest leeym]

Hi. Me and my husband are both Malaysians and Australia permanent residents. My child was born in Australia 4 months ago. We plan to stay in Australia for a few years then move back to Malaysia for good as our family is over there. The plan might change in the future, we are not 100% sure. We are planning to register the birth of our son as Malaysia citizen so it will be easier if we move home. My questions are

 

1. He was born in Australia. If he becomes a Malaysia citizen, does he need a visa to stay in Australia?

 

2. If we move back to Malaysia a few years later, can he come back to Australia and stay?

 

3. What is his status after becoming a Malaysia citizen but still staying in Australia permanently?

[sussex boy]

Hi there, we are poms and had our first child here. You will need to arrange a Malaysian passport for your child, notify diac and have the visa grant amended to include the child. You then attend/send of and your childs passport will have a permanent visa label stuck into it. On the childs 18th birthday he/she will be able to apply for Australian citizenship whether or not you are still in the country. Hope this helps.

[lebourvellec]

Welcome to PIO

 

Your baby does not need a visa to stay in Australia - as a child born in Australia to at least 1 parent that has PR, is said to be Australian Citizen at birth.

 

As Malaysia is a country that does not allow duel citizenship - this is where there may be an issue once you apply for the Malaysian citizenship, having to renounce the Australian Citizenship.

 

There is a Agent on the forum that might be able to help you with this - try Wrussell.

 

 

 

 

 

(Sussex boy information does not apply to you - as they are on a 457 TR visa)

Edited July 15, 2012 by lebourvellec

[Ken]

I'm not sure about Malaysia in particular, but most countries that prohibit dual citizenship do allow it for children (on the grounds that you need to be 18 before you can renounce your citizenship). At age 18 they would need to choose which citizenship to retain.

[Yane]

Hi lee, I am facing the similar dilemma and wondering if you have any suggestion by now. Much appreciated if you could share your experience here. Thanks

 

or any advice is appreciated.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Yane

[Sephie]

Edited to add: Oops, just realised this was an old post, but this would have been my reply! Apologies!

 

Yes, it's true that you will have to make a decision to either register your child at the Malaysian embassy and denounce his Australian citizenship should you decide to give your child the Malaysian citizenship (as our country is of a one citizenship policy). Your child can only have "dual nationality" if one of the parent of the child is foreign, for example in my case my husband is Dutch and I am Malaysian living in the Netherlands so we can apply for his Malaysian passport for our child and he/she can retain it until they turn 21.

 

In my opinion, I think you would need a visa should your child take up his Malaysian citizenship and denounce his Australian citizenship. And if you decide to go back to Malaysia, I should assume that he may need to apply for a visa if he decides to come back to Australia, but they may be different rules to it as he was born in Australia.

 

As lebourvellac has put it, I'd really advise you to also contact a migration agent in regards to this as it could be detrimental to your and his future plans in Australia. Good luck!

[vap]

Thank you, Robert.