By: Amy Kim, RMA 

Many people think that Australia has a similar system to the USA where if your born here you automatically become and Australian Citizen. Not so.

Australia's laws regarding citizenship are not so complicated as laid out in Section 12 of the Citizenship Act;

(1)      A person born in Australia is an Australian citizen if and only if:

(a)      a parent of the person is an Australian citizen, or a permanent resident, at the time the person is born; or

(b)      the person is ordinarily resident in Australia throughout the period of 10 years beginning on the day the person is born.

The first part (a) then is pretty straight forward, one of the parents (not both) needs to be an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident. This is an operation of law and as such there is no decision to approve or refuse the citizenship, it is just a finding made on the facts.

The second part is a little more complex. Many of our international students who have studied here, then obtain working visas etc and had children along the way, are hoping their offspring's can become citizens once this ten year residency requirement is met.

Of course there are guidelines where the DIBP case officers can refer to regarding this 10 year rule.

2.2.5      Ordinarily resident in Australia over 10 years since birth

Children born in Australia on or after 20 August 1986, who did not acquire Australian citizenship at birth, automatically acquire it if they have been ordinarily resident in Australia for ten years from birth (s12(1)(b)). In this case, the child will become an Australian citizen on their 10th birthday.

This provision operates regardless of the migration or citizenship status of the parent(s).

The DIBP take into account the follow information in an assessment if the child has been "ordinarily resident"

•  the length of physical residence in Australia
•  whether the applicant considered that their home was in Australia for the first ten years of their life
•  the nature and extent of any periods of absence from Australia and
•  the nature and extent of ties with Australia such as presence of family, attendance at school, club memberships.

It is important to note that the child does not need to be in Australia on their 10th birthday to meet the s12(1)(b) of the Act. Temporary absences from Australia can be accepted for they do not necessarily mean that Australia has ceased to be the permanent place of residence. However, there is consideration to whether the child had permission to return (a valid visa) for in cases where the child may have been removed from Australia (deported) and did not have the right to come back, they would not be considered as ordinarily resident by the DIBP.  

For those kids out there turning 10, good luck!  

The NSW government run Business NSW announced on Friday that the 1000 application quota has been met in apparent contradiction of its own guidelines in how valid applications must be made.

In emails sent out to these 1000 applicants who lodged their applications which stated;

"Please note that under usual circumstances, NSW Trade & Investment does not consider an application to be a 'valid' application unless the application fee is paid at the time of application. However, your online application form was successfully submitted and on this occasion, will be accepted as a valid application and assessed under the October 2014 intake."

This directly contradicts the guidelines publicly announced before the applications were made which stated;

Q: Can I apply now and pay later?

A: No you must make your payment at the time of application or your application will be closed without assessment.

Q: What happens if I do not make a payment or there is a payment error when I lodge my application?

A: Your application will be closed without assessment.

Q: What does a red asterisk* mean?

A: A red asterisk* identifies mandatory fields which must be completed. You must enter the requested information when you see a red asterisk or you will not be able to submit your application.

So what precisely are the unusual circumstances which has forced the government to mislead the public by changing the rules after applications had closed?

Nobody knows.

As we reported last Wednesday, Business NSW had received hundreds of complaints of a forms which were corrupted by not allowing applicants to complete certain information.

It now appears many made applications using these corrupted forms and somehow made applications without payments taking place or even completing all the mandatory information Business NSW claimed was necessary.

What has many people hot under the collar is that they did not proceed further with their forms because they could not complete a mandatory field as the form was corrupted. However it is now apparent that many applications have been accepted without those fields being completed.

So is this fair to the Public? No, it certainly is not.

Is Business NSW acting in transparent and accountable manner? No, they have refused to answer the complaints made against them or even acknowledge publicly what difficulties took place last week.

Business NSW has in fact acted in a deceiving and calculating way to ensure the public does not become aware of the truth in the problems occurred in last week's intake. They have breached their own guidelines and acted in a manner that ensured many people who were trying to lodge their applications have been disadvantaged.

It is hardly the actions of an honest accountable government, but given the recent behavior of NSW Ministers and the scandals that have plagued this administration, in reality last weeks fiasco seems to follow the pattern.