vongole83 Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 Hi All We are emigrating to Australia in May. I am British with Australian PR (Aussie wife) and our son was born in the UK in August 2020. We have been successful in obtaining Australian citizenship for him, but have not yet applied for an Australian passport for him. He does have a UK passport though. We are a little worried that we won't get his Aus passport before we leave and we need to submit a paper application to the consulate as I understand it. Are we Ok to wait until we are in Australia to apply for his Aus passport and have him enter Australia in May on his UK passport? The letter does mention that he should use an Australian passport, but that only seems to apply to re-entry. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetBlast Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 Australian law states that Australian citizens must enter the country on Australian passports. If you apply for a visa in his British passport it will be automatically refused. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vongole83 Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 Thanks. We will get on it ASAP! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulhand Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 1 hour ago, JetBlast said: Australian law states that Australian citizens must enter the country on Australian passports. If you apply for a visa in his British passport it will be automatically refused. The passport section of the AHC in London are generally quite helpful in situations like this. Otherwise you may be able to get him an "Australian Declaratory Visa" (which isn't actually a visa) to evidence his Australian citizenship in his UK passport - this will avoid a lot of hassle at the airport! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowbow Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 Hi vongole83, just wondered how long the gap was between your child being granted citizenship by descent and receiving their citizenship extract in the post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vongole83 Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 Thanks PaulHand - we will give them a ring! bowbow it only got granted yesterday so we have not had anything yet. The citizenship by descent approval is NOT actually proof of citizenship - you have to apply for that separately before you can get a passport. Only takes around a week plus postage time I believe though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowbow Posted April 8, 2021 Share Posted April 8, 2021 Thanks - are you sure about that though? I did think that but when you log on to the passport application form (which I know ultimately has to be delivered by hand), where you have to prove Australian citizenship it asks for "Australian citizenship certificate (or extract from the register of citizenship by descent)". This website also suggests the extract is sufficient to obtain a passport - https://www.passports.gov.au/getting-passport-how-it-works/documents-you-need/citizenship#citizenship certificate: What counts as a citizenship certificate? Australian citizenship certificates can also be known by other names: Conferral Certificate Evidence Certificate Declaratory Certificate Citizenship by Descent (extract) Certificate of Naturalisation Australian citizenship certificate of an adoption in accordance with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption or bilateral arrangement extract from the Register of Australian Births Abroad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vongole83 Posted April 8, 2021 Author Share Posted April 8, 2021 (edited) Sorry you are indeed correct. When you expand the options in the application form you can see this is accepted. I will edit my post above in case anyone else reads my incorrect info Edit: Option to edit my post is not there. Edited April 8, 2021 by vongole83 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vongole83 Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 (edited) Update: We landed in Melbourne earlier this evening with the little one not having an Aussie passport (Citizenship by descent). It took Etihad about 30 mins to sort it all out in London and a bit more admin at immigration in Melbourne, but all fine in the end! Day 1 of 14 in the Novotel starts now! Edited May 25, 2021 by vongole83 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laf4150 Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 On 25/05/2021 at 16:07, vongole83 said: Update: We landed in Melbourne earlier this evening with the little one not having an Aussie passport (Citizenship by descent). It took Etihad about 30 mins to sort it all out in London and a bit more admin at immigration in Melbourne, but all fine in the end! Day 1 of 14 in the Novotel starts now! Hi, can you explain a little more about how you managed this. Was this just with uk passport and citizenship via decent certificate? Or did you have additional paperwork? I think I could possibly be in a similar situation at the start of next year. Due to be emigrating early 2022, Partner and son are Australian with Aussie passports but expecting daughter next month, and after sons citizenship and passport took 10 months total I don’t think we will get them in time! TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vongole83 Posted May 27, 2021 Author Share Posted May 27, 2021 (edited) Hi Laf4150, Yes exactly this. We only managed to get the Citizenship by Descent cert before we flew (He also had a UK passport). No additional paperwork. We called both the helpline in Australia and the Consulate in London. Both advised us of the same thing. It's called 'Undocumented Uplift'. (https://uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/PassportsWelcomePage.html) We also rang Etihad about a week before our flight and advised them of the same an they seemed fine with it on the phone. At the airport we just took his passport and cert (They didn't even want to see his cert) and I believe they called Aus immigration to check his status. It took about half an hour in total so arrive at the airport in plenty of time. In Melbourne we had to go to a special desk where, again I think they rang or verified that he was a citizen. Bear in mind the process might change again between now and when you fly, but this worked for us! Edited May 27, 2021 by vongole83 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laf4150 Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 15 hours ago, vongole83 said: Hi Laf4150, Yes exactly this. We only managed to get the Citizenship by Descent cert before we flew (He also had a UK passport). No additional paperwork. We called both the helpline in Australia and the Consulate in London. Both advised us of the same thing. It's called 'Undocumented Uplift'. (https://uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/PassportsWelcomePage.html) We also rang Etihad about a week before our flight and advised them of the same an they seemed fine with it on the phone. At the airport we just took his passport and cert (They didn't even want to see his cert) and I believe they called Aus immigration to check his status. It took about half an hour in total so arrive at the airport in plenty of time. In Melbourne we had to go to a special desk where, again I think they rang or verified that he was a citizen. Bear in mind the process might change again between now and when you fly, but this worked for us! Thank you for this really appreciate your help. Hoping that things won’t take as long with our daughter with COVID things now settling slightly but it’s really good to know. Hope your quarantine goes quick and all the best with your new life down under! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 Quote I believe they called Aus immigration to check his status They did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.