The first step to getting citizenship is becoming an Australian permanent resident unless you are qualified for citizenship by ancestry. However, you must first get a temporary residence visa before being granted permanent status in Australia.

Permanent residency
Permanent residency provides numerous advantages while you wait for citizenship, even though obtaining it may appear like a time-consuming and expensive step on your journey to citizenship. You may work and enroll in Medicare if you have an Australian Permanent Residency (PR), which also grants you the flexibility to travel to and from the nation. You may also sponsor family members who want to immigrate to Australia for permanent residence. Moreover, children born in Australia during your permanent residency obtain immediate Australian nationality. With Australian permanent residency, you can dwell and work in New Zealand. As indicated by the Index of Economic Freedom, New Zealand holds the position of the second-freest country all around the world.
Instructions to become a citizen of Australia
Achieving Australian citizenship follows permanent residency. Meet naturalization requirements, submit necessary documents, and pass the citizenship exam. Though the process takes time, it’s less demanding compared to some other countries. An alternative is applying for Australian nationality by descent, expediting the process, and bypassing the naturalization and exam requirements.
Citizenship by descent in Australia
The procedure of obtaining Australian nationality through descent is the simplest and least expensive of all the available alternatives. Being born outside of Australia and possessing documentation demonstrating that one of your parents was an Australian citizen at the time of your birth are the only two prerequisites. No interview or citizenship exam is required for Australia. Children born in Australia aren’t automatically citizens unless one parent is Australian or a permanent resident. If you’re above 18, prove good moral character with criminal record certificates from places you’ve lived for over 90 days. All documents must be in English or translated by an Australian government-authorized translator. Applying for Australian citizenship through descent is possible both online and on paper. Depending on how your application is handled, you could get further paperwork to complete. This is one of the shortest routes to citizenship since the whole procedure, from filing your application to getting the government’s verdict, typically takes around six months.
Steps to citizenship
There are five primary procedures you must take to apply for Australian nationality unless you can get it through descent. Your journey to citizenship begins with requesting and securing temporary residency. After obtaining temporary residency, you can apply for permanent residency for permanent residence in Australia. To seek Australian nationality following permanent residency, three stages are important: naturalization, presenting a citizenship application, and breezing through the citizenship test.
Naturalization
You should have been living in Australia for something like four years, with no less than one year spent especially as a permanent inhabitant during that time. The remaining three years may be calculated from time spent in Australia on a valid visitor’s visa before becoming a permanent resident. For instance, if you studied in Australia, those years count toward your naturalization. You cannot have spent more than three months in the year before applying for citizenship or more than 12 months away from Australia during the naturalization period. You must be very careful about how much time you spend away from Australia if your professional interests regularly demand you to go abroad.
The application for Australian nationality
You may seek Australian citizenship after four years of naturalization. The majority of individuals will have access to online nationality applications. You will be making an application for conferral citizenship if you are a migrant with permanent residency. You must go through an interview and take the nationality exam if you are younger than 60. You will often be able to have a citizenship interview instead of the exam if you are over 60.
Being approved for citizenship
Successfully passing the nationality exam or interview doesn’t mark the end of your journey toward Australian citizenship. To complete the process, you’re required to participate in a ceremony, make a commitment, and sign specific paperwork, culminating in your official status as a citizen of Australia. The citizenship ceremony may be an emotional event for some people while being simply another time-consuming task for others. After that, you may apply for a passport, which you’ll require to use your Australian citizenship’s travel privileges.
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