Hi
I was given a temporary resident visa in October 2009. After 2yrs I was then given the permanent residency which I activated in January 2012.
Up until January 2012 I was living outside of Australia with my wife who is Australian. We are now wondering whether my time starts from January 2012 or when I first received the temporary visa in 2009 to apply for citizenship?
Am I qualified now or do I have to wait a few more years?
Currently you must have lived in Australia for 4 years prior to applying for citizenship, including at least 1 year as a permanent resident. During the 4 years you must not have been absent from Australia for more than 1 year, and during the 12 months prior to applying you must not have been absent from Australia for more than 90 days.
That being said, there are very limited circumstances where if you were required to be outside Australia for employment (or your wife's employment, etc), and you still maintained ties to Australia, that time you spent could be eligible to be included in the citizenship residency requirements - suggest you seek professional advice if you wish to get exact clarification of whether your particular circumstances would qualify.
Sounds good - just make sure the professional you seek advice from is a Registered Migration Agent - there are any number of unregistered "agents" who may not have current info, etc as they're essentially unregulated.
Remember I promised to update you concerning my Citizenship application ,unfortunately, the agent cancelled my appointment after I tried to find out if he is a registered agent.
So, please I need more information. I lived with my wife in Japan for more than 3yrs after I was issued my Temporary visa,because that is where she works. I'm I qualified to apply for citizenship?
Prospective Marriage (Temporary)(Class TO Subclass 300) visa.
Applied: 15 June 2011
Granted: 25 August 2011
Married: 10 March 2012
Partner (Temporary)(Class UK Subclass 820) visa.
Applied: 23 May 2012
CO assigned: 05 July 2012
AFP clearance: 17 August 2012 (applied for this 06 July but it took a long time to get it)
Granted: 20 August 2012
That was great advice Mark and perfectly illustrates the difficulties in dealing with some migration agents. The fact that the appointment was cancelled after enquiring about whether the agent was registered or not shows that we need to ask questions and take nothing for granted. If you go into these situations with your eyes open then there is every chance that you can protect yourself and get the best advice possible.
If you'd like to try and work it out here online, let's give it a go. First, please provide a list of all the times you've been in Australia over the last 5 years and the length for each stay in months/years.
I think you should contact with an experienced, reputed and local immigration consultant to know about your query because it is in the rules and regulations of government. Therefore, they are well aware regarding it and they can easily assist you more.
there's an online wizard for citizenship qualification
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