Can I leave the country after I applied for the citizenship by conferral?

[arkhos]

Hello everybody,

Just a bit of background: I understand that eligibility for citizenship by conferral requires the applicant to be in Australia at the moment of the application, four years of continuos residency in Australia (with a maximum of three months per year spent overseas) and one full year of PR. I will be eligible for applying for the citizenship by conferral from the 24th of February 2022 (that is, one year from the day I received my PR).

Unfortunately, I have to start a 2-years fellowship in UK on the 1st of March 2022. The fellowship will require me to go back to UK and spend most of my time during the next two years there. I will be extremely flexible in terms of travelling abroad, and I expect to be able to spend in Australia a few months without any problem, but the centre of my operations will be UK.

The start can not be delayed beyond the end of March. This implies that I will have to apply for the citizenship and then leave Australia. I will nonetheless book a return ticket, ideally for June/July 2022 and plan to periodically return to Australia every 3-4 months.

My question: since all the residency requirements apply to residency up to the day of application for the citizenship, is it ok to leave the country after applying for it? I plan to come back to Australia and settle here at the end of the fellowship, but given the nature of my job (I have to travel and stay abroad long times every year), it would be much harder for me to fulfil the residency requirements if I miss this application window.

I read somewhere that the Immigration office will contact me in case they find I am abroad at the time they handle my application. Is that true? What would the best course of action be?

thanks

[arkhos]

bump

[rammygirl]

If you are offshore when they come to check your application it will simply not be processed.  You may be contacted at some point to ask your intentions.  On the long citizenship thread there are people who have been overseas and returned and their applications have been re started so to speak.  I would go ahead and apply when you qualify. The worst that could happen is you may have to re apply, but hopefully the application will simply just be on hold until you return.

[arkhos]

Hi Rammygirl, thanks for the kind reply, I appreciate. Let's suppose I apply for the citizenship and leave the country a few days after. Say, after 4 months the department contacts me to know what is my intended plan. Since I have been more than 3 months out of country after applying, what will be of the residency requirement? If they put on hold my application, does that mean that the residency requirement is "frozen" and the application is restored as soon as I get back to Australia?

Is there a way to show a commitment to the plan of returning, apart from buying a property?

Thanks,

[rammygirl]

As far as I know the application is mothballed until you return.  I am not sure what evidence they ask for to support intentions of returning but a temp work contract overseas would help as a reason for temp absence. As I said there is a thread with people who have been in this situation so worth checking.

[DIG85]

21 hours ago, arkhos said:

Hi Rammygirl, thanks for the kind reply, I appreciate. Let's suppose I apply for the citizenship and leave the country a few days after. Say, after 4 months the department contacts me to know what is my intended plan. Since I have been more than 3 months out of country after applying, what will be of the residency requirement? If they put on hold my application, does that mean that the residency requirement is "frozen" and the application is restored as soon as I get back to Australia?

Is there a way to show a commitment to the plan of returning, apart from buying a property?

Thanks,

The residency requirement only needs to be satisfied at the time of the application. It is not an ongoing test.

However, being outside Australia after submitting the application may be an indication that you will not have continuing ties with Australia, and your application cannot be approved whilst you are outside Australia.

[arkhos]

Hi guys, thanks for the kind replies. Following @rammygirl I'll also post in the large forum to see if any further advice comes up, but my current standing after your recommendation is to apply anyways and be prepared to support in case of further interaction. Would it be possible to pre-empt (or soothe) their questioning by supporting my application with enclosing a statement showing the prestigiousness of the fellowship, a contract clearly indicating the length of it and possibly a support document from my manager in UK stating that I will be able to travel and come back any time as required?

thanks