Steve_s Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Hi, I have applied for Australian citizenship and met all the criteria. However, after applying, I had to move back to the UK for family reasons so no longer have an address in Australia. I received the citizenship test notification just now and will fly back to Australia to sit the test. My two questions: 1. Does moving back to the UK before the citizenship test effect my application at all? 2. Do I need to update my application to show my UK address? Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 Not sure about the address bit, BUT you must be in Australia for approval. This can be almost immediate following the test or can take up to a year or more looking at some posters on here! Also the ceremony is normally taken in the council of residence, some councils only send invites out by post. It is possible to do the test and ceremony in the UK though. If you still have strong ties to Australia and intend to return then it might be worth discussing with the citizenship people. They will know you are not in Australia anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caz Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 Hi Steve, Just wondered how you got on with this? I'm in the same situation as you and have just received my email to say that I can sit the test on 25th Jan '19 - but I'm in the UK now. I actually can't afford to fly back so am hoping I can sit the test in the UK - haven't called immigration yet just in case it affects my application. I know that you are free to leave Aus after you've sat the test and then just fly back for the ceremony but I couldn't wait in Aus to have the test, due to multiple reasons, and had to leave Aus before my test invite came through (that in itself was a 13 month wait). Keen to hear what route you've gone down and if you've flown to Aus for the test with no issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadee Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Hi Guys! Interested in this post! Just wanted to bump it up! Have a great day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LouDYorkie Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 Unfortunately I don’t have an answer but given that the process is now taking so long from start to finish I could imagine this will be an increasingly common occurrence. I hope those in charge have put some sensible thought into policy changes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 4 minutes ago, LouDYorkie said: I hope those in charge have put some sensible thought into policy changes! Probably not, because it's all political! If you need citizenship to go on holiday, it's probably wise to think about getting a RRV to cover the short-term. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movingtoaussieland Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Hi all, Has anyone managed to find any solutions to this? I got my invite for interview in Melbourne for April, but in the time it took to get the application processed I got offered an opportunity to move to the US to work for a couple of years. I moved about a month ago and therefore no longer have a residential address in Australia. I have no issues flying back to do the test and interview, but I am worried it'll be a wasted trip if my move out of the country is going to prevent me getting approved. Would be great to hear of how anyone else has got round this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 6 hours ago, movingtoaussieland said: Hi all, Has anyone managed to find any solutions to this? I got my invite for interview in Melbourne for April, but in the time it took to get the application processed I got offered an opportunity to move to the US to work for a couple of years. I moved about a month ago and therefore no longer have a residential address in Australia. I have no issues flying back to do the test and interview, but I am worried it'll be a wasted trip if my move out of the country is going to prevent me getting approved. Would be great to hear of how anyone else has got round this! Not sure, I know that until you've had the ceremony, you're not a citizen (even if you've sat/passed the test and been approved), it's the actual ceremony that confers citizenship. We had to nominate a shire to attend (generally where you're living). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 8 hours ago, movingtoaussieland said: Hi all, Has anyone managed to find any solutions to this? I got my invite for interview in Melbourne for April, but in the time it took to get the application processed I got offered an opportunity to move to the US to work for a couple of years. I moved about a month ago and therefore no longer have a residential address in Australia. I have no issues flying back to do the test and interview, but I am worried it'll be a wasted trip if my move out of the country is going to prevent me getting approved. Would be great to hear of how anyone else has got round this! Your best option might be to forget about the citizenship application and just make sure you keep your RRV up to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadee Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Hi everyone! Just wondering if anyone has actually sat the test in London? Thanks Jade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkiroon Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 Hi there, How did you all get on with your respective situations here? Keen to hear! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadee Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 Hi Nikkiroon. I’m non the wiser at the moment, if anyone has any personal experiences I would be interested to hear! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKane Posted August 26, 2019 Share Posted August 26, 2019 On 04/12/2018 at 07:10, Steve_s said: Hi, I have applied for Australian citizenship and met all the criteria. However, after applying, I had to move back to the UK for family reasons so no longer have an address in Australia. I received the citizenship test notification just now and will fly back to Australia to sit the test. My two questions: 1. Does moving back to the UK before the citizenship test effect my application at all? 2. Do I need to update my application to show my UK address? Thanks in advance! Hi Steve, I am wondering how you had been able to get the test date. Did you inform the department before moving to UK? What the department said? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkiroon Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Doesn’t seem anyone has any answers here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadee Posted August 29, 2019 Share Posted August 29, 2019 Hi Nikkiroon, it's a shame as I thought this would be a hot topic- with citizenship processing times adding up! I'll keep an eye on this thread though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ007 Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 On 22/01/2019 at 03:44, movingtoaussieland said: Hi all, Has anyone managed to find any solutions to this? I got my invite for interview in Melbourne for April, but in the time it took to get the application processed I got offered an opportunity to move to the US to work for a couple of years. I moved about a month ago and therefore no longer have a residential address in Australia. I have no issues flying back to do the test and interview, but I am worried it'll be a wasted trip if my move out of the country is going to prevent me getting approved. Would be great to hear of how anyone else has got round this! Hi mate, how did your citizenship application go after you moved back to UK? I'm kind of in the same situation now (taken the test, waiting for approval, need to go overseas). Could you please shed some light on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time for Tea Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 We were in the same situation, the change from the normal 7-8 weeks processing time stopped our son getting loan for Uni, as 2.5 yr processing time then. Been back in UK 14 months now. Left June 18. Applied for citizenship before we left, invited to sit test for March 19, both husband and myself returned to Aus, sat test, passed. Not approved within our 2 week timescale. Returned to UK. Received e mail in July 19 asking us our return date and links to Aus. Explained we wanted to return in a few years as strong urge to get back, committed to Aus, middle daughter wants to attend Uni. I can get job. Need Citizenship for Gov’t jobs. Unclear as to what is next, We cannot afford continuous returns there to Aus as there are no transparent and accountable processing times and no confidence in dept will approve us. we do love Aus, the people, values. Frustrated that we have possibly been failed by Australia and the social contract to become Aus Citizenship. It was the migration pathway as set out to us at the start of our journey. The changes Have not provided parity for our teenage children in their Education pathway/ HECS loans and would have disadvantaged them to stay with 2.4 years to drift whilst classmates went forward. I hope Dep’t: Citizenship could honour its agreement as we for-filled the criteria set out to us at time of application. perhaps we should share our journey here, understand if we can do anything to promote, achieve our objective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ007 Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 On 01/09/2019 at 04:56, Time for Tea said: We were in the same situation, the change from the normal 7-8 weeks processing time stopped our son getting loan for Uni, as 2.5 yr processing time then. Been back in UK 14 months now. Left June 18. Applied for citizenship before we left, invited to sit test for March 19, both husband and myself returned to Aus, sat test, passed. Not approved within our 2 week timescale. Returned to UK. Received e mail in July 19 asking us our return date and links to Aus. Explained we wanted to return in a few years as strong urge to get back, committed to Aus, middle daughter wants to attend Uni. I can get job. Need Citizenship for Gov’t jobs. Unclear as to what is next, We cannot afford continuous returns there to Aus as there are no transparent and accountable processing times and no confidence in dept will approve us. we do love Aus, the people, values. Frustrated that we have possibly been failed by Australia and the social contract to become Aus Citizenship. It was the migration pathway as set out to us at the start of our journey. The changes Have not provided parity for our teenage children in their Education pathway/ HECS loans and would have disadvantaged them to stay with 2.4 years to drift whilst classmates went forward. I hope Dep’t: Citizenship could honour its agreement as we for-filled the criteria set out to us at time of application. perhaps we should share our journey here, understand if we can do anything to promote, achieve our objective. Thanks for sharing, it's been very helpful to me as I now know they will reach out and ask your return date and links to Aus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadee Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Good luck with every thing time for tea I hope you get the result you deserve and want. Keep us updated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkiroon Posted September 3, 2019 Share Posted September 3, 2019 Thanks so much for you sharing your experience .... what did they mean by ties ? Have you been given examples to work with that constitute a tie ? Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkiroon Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 On 26/08/2019 at 06:17, HKane said: Hi Steve, I am wondering how you had been able to get the test date. Did you inform the department before moving to UK? What the department said? How did you get on here Steve? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkiroon Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 On 31/08/2019 at 13:25, JZ007 said: Hi mate, how did your citizenship application go after you moved back to UK? I'm kind of in the same situation now (taken the test, waiting for approval, need to go overseas). Could you please shed some light on it? How did you get on with this ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
movingtoaussieland Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 Hi all, Just to update on my experience. I pushed my interview/test date back to September (from original invite in April) and flew back to Melbourne for 3 weeks to do test and wait until I received formal approval. I took as much evidence of my intention to return to Australia as I could think of - including bank statements showing I'd left my savings there, statements showing I'm still paying into my Superannuation fund in Aus and a copy of my US visa showing it's a temp visa. I also changed the address on my Vic drivers license and bank statements to a friend's address in Melbourne. At the interview I was asked to explain why I was living overseas and convince them I was returning to Australia and doing so relatively soon (I think they're ideally looking for within 3-6 months, i.e. you'll be living there again by the time you get the ceremony invite). Honestly, I think a lot of whether you get approved or not depends on a) the reasons you're not living there at the moment, b) how much evidence you can bring to show your commitment to returning and c) who you happen to get as your interviewer. I was very fortunate that I had someone willing to listen to me, review all my documents and take my personal circumstances into account - in my case I have every intention of returning once my current work commitment finishes and I was able to clearly explain myself and provide enough evidence. Interviewers seem to have a lot of discretion so whilst my experience was positive, I don't think it's a given that everyone will have the same experience. My application was, thankfully, approved and the confirmation was sent to my friend's address in Melbourne, had I not been able to provide that address I think I would have had more trouble getting through the system as the interviewer said only having an overseas address on file usually means you'll get an email asking for a return date before they'll approve you and get you in line for a ceremony date. I am waiting on an invite for ceremony, which I'm expecting to be sometime early next year, and will have to travel back for about a month to do the ceremony and get my passport. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 Were you still in Australia when the actual approval (viewed on line) happened. The actual letter comes a couple of weeks later. Just that I thought you had to be physically present in Australia for approval. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikkiroon Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 Interesting information @movingtoaussielandthanks for sharing - please keep us posted. Does anyone know of a good migrant agent that is an expert in such situations ?’i.e. being out of the country whilst an application is in process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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