Australian Citizenship (By Conferral)

Residence requirement

We consider the amount of time you have lived in Australia in the last 4 years. In certain cases, we may exempt you from this requirement

Meet the general residence requirement

At the time you apply you must have been:

living in Australia on a valid visa for the past 4 years
a permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen for the past 12 months
away from Australia for no more than 12 months in total in the past 4 years, including no more than 90 days in total in the past 12 months

For children 16 or 17 years old, if meeting this requirement would cause significant hardship or disadvantage, you will need to provide proof.

Children under 16 do not need to meet the general residence requirement but must be permanent residents.

Calculate your permanent residence

Your residency starts on the date:

we granted the permanent visa when you were in Australia, or
you first entered Australia on a permanent visa

Use our Residence Calculator to see if you meet our requirement.

General exemptions

You do not need to meet our residence requirement if you:

are under 16 years
were born to a former Australian citizen who lost their citizenship before 4 April 2002
were born in Papua before 16 September 1975 and one of your parents was born in Australia and was an Australian citizen when you were born

You will need to give us documents that support your claim when you apply.

Australian Defence Force exemption

You or your family may be exempt from our residence requirement if you are a member of the Australian Defence Force.

Situations when family members are exempt from our residence requirement

We granted you one of these visas on or after 1 July 2007:

Labour Agreement (Migrant) visa (class AU)
Labour Agreement (Residence) visa (class BV)
Employer Nomination (Permanent) visa (class EN)
Regional Employer Nomination (Permanent) visa (class RN)

AND

Your family members were granted the same type of visa on the basis that they were ‘members of the family unit’ included in your visa application.

AND

You:

were appointed, enlisted or transferred into any of the permanent forces or reserves of the Commonwealth of Australia and have served 90 days in the permanent forces
have served a total of 90 paid service days in the navy, army or air force reserve
were discharged from defence service as medically unfit for service as a result of that service

This also applies if the Australian Defence Force member died while undertaking that service.

If you are in this situation, then you and your family members may be exempt from our general residence requirement. You will need to give us proof of your exemption when you apply.

Situations when your family members are not exempt from our residence requirement

We granted you one of these visas on or after 1 July 2007, but members of your family unit subsequently came to Australia on a visa that is not listed:

Labour Agreement (Migrant) (class AU) visa
Labour Agreement (Residence) (class BV) visa
Employer Nomination (Permanent) (class EN) visa
Regional Employer Nomination (Permanent) (class RN) visa

You migrated to Australia for another purpose and subsequently decide to join the permanent forces or the reserves.

You acquired Australian citizenship automatically (for example, because you were born in Australia) or are an Australian citizen by registration (for example, you were born in Australia but would not be a citizen of another country).

If you are in any of these situations, then you and your family members will not be eligible for the Australian Defence Forces exemption. You will need to give us proof that you meet our general residence requirement.

Ministerial discretion

Ministerial discretions that may be applied to assist a person to meet the residence requirement:

- If you were present in Australia as an unlawful non-citizen and the Minister considers that you were an unlawful non-citizen during that period because of an administrative error, the Minister may treat your presence during that period as if you had been lawful.
- If you were present in Australia as a temporary resident and the Minister considers that you were not a permanent resident during that period because of an administrative error, the Minister may treat your presence during that period as if you had been a permanent resident.
- If you were in prison or a psychiatric institution, the Minister may count that period towards the residence requirement if, taking into account the circumstances that resulted in your confinement, the Minister is satisfied that it would be unreasonable not to do so.
- If you were in Australia as a temporary resident, the Minister may treat that period as one in which you were in Australia as a permanent resident if the Minister is satisfied that you will suffer significant hardship or disadvantage.
- If you were the spouse or de facto partner, or surviving spouse or de facto partner, of an Australian citizen at the time of your application for citizenship and
  - you had spent time outside Australia while a permanent resident,
  - you were the spouse or de facto partner of the Australian citizen during that period, and
  - you had a close and continuing association with Australia during that period,
  the Minister may treat that period as one in which you were present in Australia as a permanent resident.

If, at the time you applied for citizenship, you held a permanent visa granted to you because you were in an interdependent relationship with an Australian citizen and you were in that interdependent relationship, and
- you had spent time outside Australia while you held that visa as a permanent resident, and
- you were in the interdependent relationship with the Australian citizen during that period, and
- you had a close and continuing association with Australia during that period,
the Minister may treat that period as one in which you were present in Australia as a permanent resident.

If you wish to have a Ministerial discretion applied to your citizenship application, you must provide supporting evidence.

Your eligibility to have a discretion applied cannot be assessed in advance of an application for citizenship.

Special residence requirement

Activities supported by particular organisations

If you want to engage in activities that are supported by particular organisations, such as the Australian Olympic and Paralympics committees, Tennis Australia, Cricket Australia or a federal government agency, then the special residence requirement may apply to you.

You must have been living in Australia on a valid visa that allows permanent residency for 2 years immediately before you apply. During those 2 years, you must have been lawfully present in Australia for at least 180 days, including at least 90 days during the past 12 months.

Work that requires overseas travel

The special residence requirement may apply to you:

if you have been engaged in particular kinds of work
your employer can show us that you have worked in that occupation for at least 2 years of the past 4 years, and
you were required to travel outside Australia for that work.

You must have held a valid Australian visa for 4 years immediately before applying, including 1 year as a permanent resident immediately before applying.

You must also have been living in Australia for a total of 16 months (480 days) during the 4 years before you apply, with at least 4 months (120 days) of that time in the year immediately before your application.

List of relevant occupations for this special residence requirement:

a member of the crew of a ship or aircraft
a worker on a resources installation or a sea installation
a Chief Executive Officer or Executive Manager of an S&P/ASX All Australian 200 listed company
a Scientist employed by:
- an Australian university who has attained a PhD in their field of speciality and is undertaking research and development of benefit to Australia or
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) or
- a medical research institute which is a member of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI)
a medical specialist, internationally renowned in their field, who is a fellow of an organisation listed in Schedule 4- Part 1 of the Health Insurance Regulations 1975 (Cth) and holds a relevant qualification in relation to the organisation
a person who is a writer or is engaged in the visual or performing arts and who is the holder of, or has held, a Distinguished Talent Visa.

Character requirement

You must be of ‘good character‘ if you are 18 years or over.

Good character is the ‘enduring moral qualities of a person’.

When we assess good character, we consider whether you are likely to:

uphold and obey the laws of Australia
meet the other commitments made through the citizenship pledge

We may consider:

any recorded criminal convictions
obligations you may have to a court in Australia or overseas
your association with people of concern
incidents of reported domestic violence
whether you have been honest in your dealings with the Australian community, including providing false or misleading information in relation to a visa or citizenship application

Knowledge of Australia

You must understand what it means to be an Australian citizen. To assess this, most applicants will sit the citizenship test.

At the time you have an appointment, you must show that you have:

a basic knowledge of the English language
an understanding of what it means to become an Australian citizen
an adequate knowledge of Australia and the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship
an understanding and commitment to Australian values based on freedom, respect and equality

If you score 75% or more on our citizenship test, and answer all 5 questions on Australian values correctly, then you meet our knowledge requirement.

For more information, see Citizenship interview and test.

Language requirement

You need a basic knowledge of the English language to become an Australian citizen.

English is our national language. Communicating in English helps you to live a full life in Australia.

If you score 75% or more on our citizenship test, and answer all 5 questions on Australian values correctly, then you meet our language requirement.

Some applicants do not have to sit the test but must have an interview to show they:

understand what it means to become an Australian citizen
have an adequate knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship

For more information, see Citizenship interview and test.

Close and continuing link to Australia

You must intend to live in Australia or maintain a close and continuing association with Australia while overseas.

Citizenship is a privilege that requires a long-term commitment to Australia.

We may consider if you have:

a child who is an Australian citizen
a partner who is an Australian citizen and your time together
extended family in Australia
spent time in Australia
a bank account in Australia
a job in Australia
paid income tax in Australia
property in Australia

We cannot approve your application in certain circumstances

Identity

We must not approve your citizenship application if we are not satisfied of your identity. Identity is assessed from birth.

Criminal offences

We must not approve your application for Australian citizenship:
•   when proceedings for an offence against an Australian law (including proceedings by way of appeal or review) are pending.
•   when it is less than 2 years since you were released from prison after serving a prison sentence of 12 months or more, or 10 years if you are a repeat offender.
•   you are subject to certain conditions set by an Australian court (such as being released on parole, good behaviour or bail) where action may be taken against you for breach of those conditions.
•   you are in prison or a psychiatric institution by order of the court at the time of decision

Risk to National security

We must not approve your citizenship application if you are assessed as a risk to the security of Australia.

Former citizen

We must not approve your citizenship application if you ceased to be an Australian citizen in the past 12 months.

Location at time of application approval

If you apply for Australian citizenship on the basis of meeting the requirements for:

general eligibility
having a permanent or enduring physical or mental incapacity, or
being a person aged 60 or over or having a hearing, speech or sight impairment

we must not approve your citizenship application if you are outside Australia at the time we decide your application, unless:

you satisfied one of the special residence requirements, or
the spouse or interdependent partner discretion was applied to assist you to meet the general residence requirement

Provide us with any additional documents we ask for, and let us know if any of your circumstances change, for example, if you change your name or other details.

Additional documents

We may ask for additional documents or for original copies of your documents. We will contact you directly if needed.

Changing your name or other details after applying

You will need to tell us if you have changed your name or other details since applying for citizenship.

Tell us about changes in your situation.

Check the progress of your application

If you applied online, you can check how far your application has progressed by logging into ImmiAccount.

We will notify you in writing. You will receive a letter from us when we have made a decision on your application.

Approval

We will send you a letter if we approve your application. We will then ask you to attend a citizenship ceremony and make a pledge of commitment. For most people, this is the final step to becoming an Australian citizen.

Some people do not have to attend a ceremony and make a pledge. If you are not required to make the pledge, your citizenship approval letter and citizenship certificate will be posted to you.

Refusal

If we refuse your application, we will send you a letter. You can ask for a review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Your letter will advise you:

the reasons for the decision
where to lodge a request for a review
time limits for requesting a review

Most applicants for citizenship by conferral must attend a citizenship ceremony and make the Australian Citizenship Pledge to become an Australian citizen.

Generally, you will receive an invitation to a ceremony within 6 months of your application being approved, but waiting times may vary. Check the citizenship processing times.

Find out about the ceremony

Book an Appointment

Make an Enquiry

Contact Us

COST

COST

When you apply, you must be either:

A permanent resident

An eligible New Zealand citizen

You must also meet these criteria:

Residence requirement

Meet the general residence requirement

Calculate your permanent residence

General exemptions

Australian Defence Force exemption

Situations when family members are exempt from our residence requirement

Situations when your family members are not exempt from our residence requirement

Ministerial discretion

Special residence requirement

Activities supported by particular organisations

Work that requires overseas travel

Character requirement

Knowledge of Australia

Language requirement

Close and continuing link to Australia

We cannot approve your application in certain circumstances

Identity

Criminal offences

Risk to National security

Former citizen

Location at time of application approval

Identity documents

Evidence of date of birth and any changes of name

Photograph and signature

Evidence of residential address

Evidence of arrival in Australia

Commonwealth Child Migration Scheme

Evidence of identity in the community

Identity documents for a child 15 years or younger

Photographs

Good character documents

Penal clearance certificates

Australian National Police Check

Special category (subclass 444) holders

Supporting documents

Evidence of eligibility

Evidence of exemptions, ministerial discretions and concessions

Commonwealth Child Migration Scheme

Evidence to meet the special residence requirement

Evidence of residence for New Zealand migrants

Evidence of residence for British migrants

Documents relating to a child in your application

Online applications

Translate

Scan

Attach

Paper applications

Translate

Certify

Keep

Online application

Paper application

Additional documents

Changing your name or other details after applying

Check the progress of your application

Approval

Refusal

Start your migration journey today

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I Include My Partner/Spouse And Child(ren) As Dependents For This Application?

2. How Can I Prepare For My Citizenship Test?

3. What Is The Final Step Of This Application?

Do You Have Any Further Questions?

We understand that you may have specific questions about your own unique situation, so if there is anything you need to know that is not addressed on this website, do not hesitate to contact us.

Why choose us?

At Carevisa Australia, we make sure that our clients are looked after. We will manage your visa case with the highest level of care, and guide you throughout every step of the process. We are here to help you in any way, and assist you with any Australian migration related queries you may have.