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Citizenship criteria:
Residency Requirements:
Residency Requirements - Type A:
Facts to check:
- You must be a permanent resident at time of application and time of decision
- If you were granted a permanent resident visa before you arrived in Australia, your permanent residence date is the date that you arrived in Australia on that visa
- If you were granted a permanent resident visa after you arrived in Australia, your permanent residence date will be the date that the visa was granted
- If you were granted a permanent resident visa before you arrived in Australia, your permanent residence date is the date that you arrived in Australia on that visa
- You must meet residency requirements (listed in the next section)
- A period of confinement in a prison or psychiatric institution by order of a court because of an offence against Australian law, will not be counted as part of your lawful residency in Australia (except in some limited circumstances)
- You might be eligible to be exempted form this requirements or changed criteria if
- you or your family are a member of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), or
- you have ministerial discretions, or
- If you are seeking 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 (check residency requirements - type A)
- If you can provide evidence from an employer that shows that you were required to travel outside Australia for that work (check residency requirements - type B)
- you or your family are a member of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), or
- Children under 16 years of age do not need to meet this criteria
- A period of confinement in a prison or psychiatric institution by order of a court because of an offence against Australian law, will not be counted as part of your lawful residency in Australia (except in some limited circumstances)
- You must be of good character
- You must have a basic knowledge of English
- You have to pass a citizenship test of the responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship
- If you are 60 years of age or over you are not required to sit the citizenship test
Residency Requirements:
- You must have lived in Australia on a valid Australian visa for four years immediately before applying
- You must have been a permanent resident for the 12 months immediately before making the application
- You must not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total four year period
- You must not have been absent from Australia for more than 90 days in the 12 months before applying
Residency Requirements - Type A:
- You must have been living in Australia on a valid visa which allows permanent residency for two years immediately before you apply
- During those two years you must have been lawfully present in Australia for at least 180 days
- You must have been lawfully present in Australia at least 90 days in the 12 months immediately before lodging your application
- You have worked in that occupation for at least a total of two out of the past four years
- You must have held a valid Australian visa for four years immediately before applying
- You must have held a permanent resident visa for one year immediately before applying
- You must have been living in Australia for a total of 16 months (480 days) during the four years before you apply
- You must have been living in Australia at least for four months (120 days) of that time in the year immediately before your application
- Your occupation must be as
- 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
Facts to check:
- You can include children under 16 years of age in your citizenship application if they are permanent residents
- You must intend to reside or maintain a close and continuing association with Australia
- If you are 16 or 17 years of age and want to apply for Australian citizenship you need to complete and lodge Form 1290 Application for Australian citizenship – Other situations with the correct fee and all of the required documents
- If you are 16 or 17 years of age and can not satisfy the residency requirements at the time of your application, you must prove that you would suffer significant hardship or disadvantage if you had to meet this requirement