PR to citizenship

colman1212

So I I finally received my PR 2 weeks ago. On may 5th this year I will have been in Oz for 4 years between my WHV, 457 and PR. Can I then apply for citizenship on May 5th or do I need to wait until I have been on PR for over a year? My goal for the citizenship is because it will make it a lot easier to get into the USA as thats my ultimate goal. Being a citizen here gives me access to an E3 visa for the USA. Cheers in Advance.

d.pop

colman1212 wrote: »

So I I finally received my PR 2 weeks ago. On may 5th this year I will have been in Oz for 4 years between my WHV, 457 and PR. Can I then apply for citizenship on May 5th or do I need to wait until I have been on PR for over a year? My goal for the citizenship is because it will make it a lot easier to get into the USA as thats my ultimate goal. Being a citizen here gives me access to an E3 visa for the USA. Cheers in Advance.

Have a poke around the Immi.gov website, citizenship section.
Pretty sure you need 4 years lawful residence so you're ok there but need 12 months on PR so it will be March 2016....
Never too sure about 457 visas and the like though as never had one so could be wrong.
And by the way...maybe don't mention America!

colman1212

d.pop wrote: »

Have a poke around the Immi.gov website, citizenship section.
Pretty sure you need 4 years lawful residence so you're ok there but need 12 months on PR so it will be March 2016....
Never too sure about 457 visas and the like though as never had one so could be wrong.
And by the way...maybe don't mention America!

So can you actually get citizenship then in March 2016 or do you have to wait around until the following Australia day for the ceremony? And yeah I wouldn't mention America!!!

Peregrinus

Once you have satisfied all the requirements you can become a citizen as soon as you can arrange to attend a citizenship ceremony. While nearly all councils hold a ceremony on Australia day, they can be held any time, and larger councils will hold them a couple of times throughout the year. Contact your council and ask.

You aren't, incidentally, confined to attending a ceremony conducted by the council in whose area you live.

Small councils can be especially helpful. When I contacted my (very small) council they explained that due to their small size and very settled population they didn't have that many naturalisations coming through, and they scheduled citizenship ceremonies very infrequently. They offered to refer me to the neighbouring, much bigger, council, which had a ceremony scheduled in about four weeks time. Or, they said, if I needed a passport and was in a hurry I could come down the following evening at around 5 p.m. and the mayor would administer the oath in his office.

colman1212

Peregrinus wrote: »

Once you have satisfied all the requirements you can become a citizen as soon as you can arrange to attend a citizenship ceremony. While nearly all councils hold a ceremony on Australia day, they can be held any time, and larger councils will hold them a couple of times throughout the year. Contact your council and ask.

You aren't, incidentally, confined to attending a ceremony conducted by the council in whose area you live.

Small councils can be especially helpful. When I contacted my (very small) council they explained that due to their small size and very settled population they didn't have that many naturalisations coming through, and they scheduled citizenship ceremonies very infrequently. They offered to refer me to the neighbouring, much bigger, council, which had a ceremony scheduled in about four weeks time. Or, they said, if I needed a passport and was in a hurry I could come down the following evening at around 5 p.m. and the mayor would administer the oath in his office.

Awesome. Thanks for that, Any idea on the question of whether I need to be a permanent resident for a full year? or if the fact that I've been in the country for 4 years and have PR is enough?!

Peregrinus

My understanding is that d.pop is correct. To qualify you have to have been lawfully resident in Australia for four years and you have to have been in Australia for 12 months as a permanent resident. (And there are various other requirements you have to satisfy as well - good character, not more than a certain amount of absence from Australia during the four-year period, etc. But you know about these.) So the earlier you can qualify is 12 months after the date your PR visa was issued.

mandrake04

colman1212 wrote: »

Awesome. Thanks for that, Any idea on the question of whether I need to be a permanent resident for a full year? or if the fact that I've been in the country for 4 years and have PR is enough?!

You need at least 12 months as a PR out of the last 4 years so the earliest you could apply would be March 2016, also if you have left the country for any time over the last 4 years you have then to add that time on.

d.pop

colman1212 wrote: »

So can you actually get citizenship then in March 2016 or do you have to wait around until the following Australia day for the ceremony? And yeah I wouldn't mention America!!!

Approx timeline?
Apply march 2016 online.
Get called for interview and test April 2016.
Get accepted start May 2016.
Wait for next available slot in local council 1-3 months.
All up, reckon could be July-August before citizenship then 2-3 weeks more for passport.
Like other poster said depends on local council too but best advice/info I got was that after you get accepted your certificate has to be issued to council from Canberra so that can take 4-6 weeks, only after receiving it can the council do the ceremony.
They could prob do it without but you need that certificate to apply for new passport.
Often this is the delay as you can miss out on next ceremony and have to wait. You have to nominate a council on your application so might be hard to swap after the fact.

d.pop

mandrake04 wrote: »

You need at least 12 months as a PR out of the last 4 years so the earliest you could apply would be March 2016, also if you have left the country for any time over the last 4 years you have then to add that time on.

The citizenship wizard on Immi website is a handy tool, type in dates and she'll do the maths for you, you are allowed a certain period overseas so the wizard is handy, even give you a date to apply if you don't meet the criteria first time around.

Mellor

mandrake04 wrote: »

You need at least 12 months as a PR out of the last 4 years so the earliest you could apply would be March 2016, also if you have left the country for any time over the last 4 years you have then to add that time on.

I used to think that too, and i'm pretty sure that it was even stated somewhere, but its not correct based on what IMMI told me recently. If you are out of the country for a holiday, (as opposed to residing somewhere else), that time can still count towards the 4 years.

I had to contact immi about my citizenship application three weeks ago. It wasn't letting me apply online despite 18 months PR. There was a gap between two of my visas on the system, so it was only counting my time from the 457 lodge, the guy checked the system and says that my 4 year date is due on the 17th March 2015, exactly 4 years after I applied for 457. Even though I've been out of the country for 12 weeks total during those 5 years.

If you are out of the country between visa, I imagine you might have to make up that time.


Edit: Just checked it there, youy are allowed to be out of the country for up to 1 year total during the 4 calender years

ArseBurger

But within the last year since PR you can't be out of the country for more than 90 days in total. The effect of being out for more than 90 days is just extension of you date of eligibility. Mine was close because I was out of the country working for 87 days in total.

ArseBurger

colman1212 wrote: »

My goal for the citizenship is because it will make it a lot easier to get into the USA as thats my ultimate goal. Being a citizen here gives me access to an E3 visa for the USA.

I'd just like to state that I've got a bit of a problem with this. People give out about people on 457s rorting the system. Making it harder for others to get their head down and just get on with working and living here. Similarly with this. While it's not against the rules to get citizenship and then use that to obtain access to another country. It's not in the spirit of what getting citizenship is. And it's yet another thing that adds to the Irish getting a bad name in Australia.
It took us five years and it was a pain in the arse. But we're now on the last track waiting for our ceremony date.
Things like this, piss me off.

Peregrinus

ArseBurger wrote: »

I'd just like to state that I've got a bit of a problem with this. People give out about people on 457s rorting the system. Making it harder for others to get their head down and just get on with working and living here. Similarly with this. While it's not against the rules to get citizenship and then use that to obtain access to another country . . .

It may be against the rules, actually. One of the conditions for qualifying for citizenship by naturalisation is that you are "likely to reside, or to continue to reside, in Australia or to maintain a close and continuing association with Australia". As part of the application for citizenship, you have to declare that this is your intention. If you want citizenship as a springboard for access to some other country where you hope to settle, you don't meet this condition.

colman1212

People get citizenship because it gives them options, a lot of people get a passport here and then move home because it gives them options for the future. I want to go to the states for a few years and citizenship gives me that option. I may come back to Australia and live here, I may go to America, I may go back to Ireland. The world is a different place these days and its hard to ever say you are going to stay in one place forever. Maybe for you it is, that's your agenda and that's fine. Its not for everyone.

ArseBurger

Would you have the same opinion of someone getting Irish citizenship for the sole purpose of using it to live elsewhere?

Sundy

ArseBurger wrote: »

Would you have the same opinion of someone getting Irish citizenship for the sole purpose of using it to live elsewhere?

I don't have any problem with that. Some of my friends here in oz were able to get Irish passports through ancestry so they could work and travel in Europe for a few years. The spent a week in Ireland. Good on them. Would you argue that they should have ignored their option of an Irish passport just because it goes against some charter somewhere?

Immigration is such a pain you should take every advantage you can get.

colman1212

ArseBurger wrote: »

Would you have the same opinion of someone getting Irish citizenship for the sole purpose of using it to live elsewhere?

Yeah I'd have no issues with it whatsoever...

Peregrinus

Different, though, because when someone gets Irish citizenship by ancestry, it's not a requirement that they should intend to live in Ireland or to have a continuing connection with it. So the same dishonest statement does not have to be made.

Sundy

Peregrinus wrote: »

Different, though, because when someone gets Irish citizenship by ancestry, it's not a requirement that they should intend to live in Ireland or to have a continuing connection with it. So the same dishonest statement does not have to be made.

Maybe colman intends to keep a close connection with Australia. Close connection seems to be undefined so it doesn't look like they are trying to use this as a means to block anybody from gaining citizenship.