Australian citizenship: every route, what it costs and what it gives you

Five routes under the Act

The routes are not interchangeable. If one applies to you, the others usually do not, and choosing the right one decides the form, the fee, whether a test is needed and when citizenship begins. The tool above sorts the most frequent cases; the sections below give the detail.

Citizens from birth

Home Affairs explains that citizenship by birth depends on the date of birth. Most children born in Australia before 20 August 1986 are citizens by birth, unless a parent had diplomatic privileges or was a consular officer of another country. A child born on or after that date is a citizen at birth only if at least one parent was an Australian citizen or a permanent resident at that moment. Nobody applies for anything: the birth certificate and a parent’s status are the proof. A child born in Australia to two parents on temporary visas is not a citizen at birth, but there is a second door: such a child automatically becomes a citizen on the 10th birthday after living most of that time in Australia, whatever the parents’ visas were. The page on being born in Australia explains how to prove either case, and why an evidence certificate ($290) is optional but useful for a first passport.

The Act also has provisions on automatic citizenship through adoption and for abandoned children. These cases are rare and handled one by one.

Citizenship by descent

A person born outside Australia on or after 26 January 1949 may apply if one parent was an Australian citizen at the time of the birth. There is no age limit, no test and no ceremony, and citizenship begins on the day of approval. One extra condition applies when the parent was a citizen by descent or by overseas adoption: that parent must have spent at least 2 years lawfully in Australia at some time before the child applies. Applicants aged 18 or over must also be of good character. Brothers and sisters who apply together pay $380 for the first and $160 for each of the others. The descent page covers the parent’s documents, DNA requests and surrogacy.

Citizenship by conferral

Conferral is the route for migrants. It needs a permanent visa (or, for New Zealand citizens, a Special Category visa), the general residence requirement, good character from age 18, a close and continuing link with Australia and, for most people aged 18 to 59, a pass in the citizenship test. The residence rule has three parts: 4 years living in Australia on a valid visa, the last 12 months as a permanent resident, and no more than 365 days away in those four years, of which no more than 90 in the final year. After approval, the pledge at a ceremony is what makes you a citizen. Every condition is set out on the requirements page, and the conferral page follows the process from lodging to ceremony.

Adoption and resumption

A child adopted outside Australia under the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption or a bilateral arrangement, by a parent who is an Australian citizen, applies on form 1272. The fee mirrors descent: $380, then $160 for each sibling who applies at the same time. Resumption is for people who were citizens before: those who lost citizenship by taking another nationality as adults before 4 April 2002, those who renounced it to keep or gain another nationality or to avoid significant hardship, and a few other listed cases. It costs $255 on form 132, has no test and no ceremony, and the resumption page lists the groups who qualify.

Dual citizenship since 2002

Under section 17 of the former 1948 Act, an Australian aged 18 or over who took action to acquire another nationality lost Australian citizenship at that moment. That section was repealed on 4 April 2002. Since then Australians can hold other citizenships, and new citizens by conferral are not asked to give up their first nationality by Australia. Whether the other country lets you keep its citizenship is a question for its own law. One limit remains at home: Our Common Bond says the right to seek election to parliament belongs to citizens aged 18 or over who are not dual citizens. The dual citizenship page explains how to check whether a parent or grandparent lost citizenship before 2002.

What citizenship gives and asks

Our Common Bond lists the privileges: voting in federal, state and territory elections and referendums, applying for children born overseas to become citizens by descent, applying for jobs in the Australian Public Service and the Australian Defence Force, seeking election to parliament, holding an Australian passport and re-entering Australia freely, and asking for consular help overseas. It also lists the duties: obeying the law, voting, defending Australia should the need arise and serving on a jury if called. The panel below shows which of these apply at your age.

Seventy-five years of citizenship

Australian citizenship was created by the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948, and the first ceremony was held in 1949; the descent rules still use 26 January 1949 as their starting date. The law was renamed the Australian Citizenship Act in 1973, an anniversary marked each 17 September as Australian Citizenship Day since 2001. The citizenship test was introduced in 2007. Home Affairs counts more than 6 million people who have become citizens since 1949, as told on its history of Australian citizenship page.

Where to go from here

If you hold a permanent visa, the residence calculator gives the first day you can apply and the cost page totals the fees for your household. If you were born overseas to an Australian parent, start with the descent page. Applications are lodged with the Department of Home Affairs, online in ImmiAccount or on its paper forms; this site explains the rules and does not lodge anything for you.