Applying for citizenship online or on paper: which channel is yours

Two channels, one set of rules

Online and paper applications are assessed against the same criteria and the same fee schedule. What differs is how you identify yourself, how you send documents and how you pay. Neither channel is faster by rule; Home Affairs says delays come from incomplete files and verification, not from the channel. This site only explains the options: the application itself is lodged by you, in ImmiAccount or on the form downloaded from the Home Affairs permanent resident page.

Who has to use paper

The criteria section of the permanent resident page gives five cases for paper: no current or expired passport or travel document (a Document for Travel to Australia, ImmiCard, PLO56 or Titre de Voyage counts as one), no travel in or out of Australia since July 1990, eligibility for a fee exemption, a claim to the Australian Defence Force residence exemption, and being stateless after birth outside Australia. Its summary box adds 16 and 17 year olds applying on their own and anyone part of the Australian Defence Force. The fee exemptions are narrow: at least 90 days in the permanent forces, British and Maltese former child migrants, and the statelessness provision of section 21(8). Form 1298i is explicit that a fee exemption cannot be claimed online.

The concession card contradiction

The Home Affairs summary box on the permanent resident page tells applicants eligible for a fee concession to complete and post a paper application. The fee concessions page, updated on 24 July 2026, says the opposite for concessions: applicants who qualify can apply online through ImmiAccount, attaching a scan of both sides of their Pensioner Concession Card, and only paper applicants need a certified copy. The same page keeps paper compulsory for fee exemptions. Form 1298i also speaks of providing "a copy of both sides" with certified copies only for paper. We read the newer and more detailed page as the current position, but the department's own pages disagree; if ImmiAccount does not offer you the concession fee, the paper form remains open. The checker at the top follows the stricter reading.

Building an online file

An online application starts in ImmiAccount, where you create an account if you do not have one. Home Affairs asks you to translate any document not in English (with the original attached too), scan every original in colour, save multi-page documents as one file, and attach each document only once even if it proves several things. Pay at lodgement, then keep the receipt. You can later attach new documents, for example after a change of address or name, and check progress from the same account.

Building a paper file

On paper, every copy must be certified, including non-English documents and their translations. The certifier must be an Australian citizen, work in an occupation on the department's designated list and not be related to you by birth, marriage or de facto relationship. Pre-pay through My Payments in ImmiAccount, then post the form, the certified copies and the payment receipt to the address printed on the form. Applicants claiming a fee exemption post the same package without a receipt. Keep a copy of the whole application before it leaves your hands.

Which form, which fee

Form 1300t covers general eligibility for applicants aged 18 to 59 at $595. Applicants on another basis, such as people aged 60 or over or teenagers applying alone, use form 1290 at $365. The panel under the summary returns the form and fee for your age and card; the cost page has every fee and the documents page the evidence to attach.