InnerVoice Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 I tried searching the forum but couldn't find an exact answer, so I'm just looking for clarification. My wife got her PR in 2015, then we went back to the UK for a few years (family reasons) before returning to Oz in January 2020. We haven't been overseas since then, so by my reckoning my wife will be eligible to apply for Australian citizenship this coming January, after being here 3 years. The residence requirement states that you have to be lawfully residing in Australia for 4 years with a maximum of 12 months absence allowed, so I assume if the 12 months absence is at the start of the 4 years then that's still okay? I've used the residence calculator on the Dept of Home Affairs website but found it a bit confusing. They ask you to enter the 'Lawful residence date', which I assume would be when my wife arrived here on her Partner 309 visa, so that would actually be before the 'Permanent residence date'. Many thanks in advance to anyone who can put me straight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted November 11, 2022 Share Posted November 11, 2022 The year overseas counts if you were holding a valid visa. Try doing the application for citizenship as it will not let you progress if you don’t qualify. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InnerVoice Posted November 11, 2022 Author Share Posted November 11, 2022 9 hours ago, rammygirl said: The year overseas counts if you were holding a valid visa. Try doing the application for citizenship as it will not let you progress if you don’t qualify. Thanks - we will try this in January, once the 3 years has been completed. I just checked back and it was actually the autumn of 2014 that my wife was granted PR, but then she applied for a RRV in 2019, before the original 5 years was up. She then returned to Australia on the RRV. Would this qualify as holding a valid visa then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted November 12, 2022 Share Posted November 12, 2022 On 11/11/2022 at 18:26, InnerVoice said: I tried searching the forum but couldn't find an exact answer, so I'm just looking for clarification. My wife got her PR in 2015, then we went back to the UK for a few years (family reasons) before returning to Oz in January 2020. We haven't been overseas since then, so by my reckoning my wife will be eligible to apply for Australian citizenship this coming January, after being here 3 years. The residence requirement states that you have to be lawfully residing in Australia for 4 years with a maximum of 12 months absence allowed, so I assume if the 12 months absence is at the start of the 4 years then that's still okay? I've used the residence calculator on the Dept of Home Affairs website but found it a bit confusing. They ask you to enter the 'Lawful residence date', which I assume would be when my wife arrived here on her Partner 309 visa, so that would actually be before the 'Permanent residence date'. Many thanks in advance to anyone who can put me straight! Yes, that's the same way I met my 4 year residence requirement - with the first 12 months out of the country and then 3 years in Aus. As to your other questions it's 'Lawful residence date' not 'Permanent residence date' so temporary or provisional visas count, and yes, an RRV is a valid visa - but so is a PR visa on which the travel portion has expired (unless you are trying to enter Australia) so it's not really relevant whether she obtained an RRV or not (athough if she did travel on it you'd have to deduct that period from the 12months outside of Australia). It's only periods in Australia without a valid visa (not possible once you have PR) that don't count for residence at all and which trigger the start of a whole new 4 year residency period. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InnerVoice Posted November 12, 2022 Author Share Posted November 12, 2022 Hi @Ken, thank you very much for the clarification. We were surprised as we had the 4-year figure in our heads, and thought it would be January 2024 before we could apply. That said, it seems to be about 18 months from applying to the citizen ceremony, so there's still a long road ahead. As a matter of curiosity, where does the Citizenship take place and what did they ask you at the interview? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 1 hour ago, InnerVoice said: Hi @Ken, thank you very much for the clarification. We were surprised as we had the 4-year figure in our heads, and thought it would be January 2024 before we could apply. That said, it seems to be about 18 months from applying to the citizen ceremony, so there's still a long road ahead. As a matter of curiosity, where does the Citizenship take place and what did they ask you at the interview? Citizenship ceremonies normally take place at your local council offices. Mine was actually at a venue arranged by the department (just across the road from the IMMI building in Melbourne) as Maribyrnong council (where I lived at the time) had a huge backlog compared to other councils and they wanted to help clear it. Now every council seems to have a bigger backlog than Maribyrnong had back then. I don't really recall anything being asked at the interview, they just checked the originals of the documents sent as part of the application. I think the interview is more about checking that the person who shows up to take the test is the applicant than it is about anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InnerVoice Posted November 13, 2022 Author Share Posted November 13, 2022 Thanks again, Ken. So was your interview/test in the local council offices? Just one last question - once a citizenship application has been approved, is there any restriction on overseas travel before the ceremony takes place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 3 hours ago, InnerVoice said: Thanks again, Ken. So was your interview/test in the local council offices? Just one last question - once a citizenship application has been approved, is there any restriction on overseas travel before the ceremony takes place? No, the interview/test was in the IMMI offices in Melbourne (or I should say the old offices as I just googled and see the office has moved to Docklands). In regional areas I think they do use council offices for the tests but not in any of big cities. I'm sure you can travel overseas before the ceremony takes place as there are lots of people on this site who have done so. You've already said your wife has an RRV but worth mentioning to anyone reading that if the travel portion of your PR has expired that is needed to return to Australia even if citizenship has been approved. Note too that Australian citizens are not permitted to hold Australian visas so the RRV will be cancelled as soon as the ceremony takes place. That means that after the ceremony you'll need to obtain an Australian passport to travel as no airline will agree to fly you to Australia without a valid visa or Australian passport. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InnerVoice Posted November 13, 2022 Author Share Posted November 13, 2022 Many thanks for this additional info. We like to travel when we have the chance so my wife renewed her RRV in July, and this time they gave her 5 years as she'd already been back here two years. Thank you for pointing out that once citizenship has been granted the RRV will be cancelled - hopefully it doesn't take too long for the passport application. I became a citizen nearly 20 years ago, so I can't really remember how long any of this took! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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