wendym Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 Hi Members, Apologies if this question has been asked before or is just purely silly I know that in order to be eligible for Citizenship Application, one of the criteria is to have been in Australia for 4 years. But I was wondering if this is 4 years at the time of application for Citizenship or at the time of taking the test. The reason I'm asking is because I'd like for us to do the test as soon as we've been in Aus for 4 years. Am I over eager?? A second question.... Would the 4 years be calculated for the entire family unit based on the first family member's arrival or the last family member's arrival TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FingersCrossed Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 Hi @wendym I am no agent and I stand to be corrected, however isn't each visa granted independent of other family members? So say one of your family members decides after 2 years that they want to move to the UK - then that would not have a impact on the other members applying independently for the citizenship provided that they have been in Australia for 4 years. I dont think it matters on the first / last family members arrival. It really comes down to when that person applying arrived in Australia. That was my understanding - I am interested to know what other people think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendym Posted January 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 Thanks FingersCrossed, You're right, it probably would make sense that it's based on each individual's residency I found info on the Dept of Immigration website that says that you have to have lived in Australia for 4 years before applying. General residence requirement The general residence requirement is based on the amount of time you have lived in Australia. You must meet all of the following: have lived in Australia on a valid Australian visa for four years immediately before applying must have been a permanent resident for the 12 months immediately before making an application and not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total, during the four year period, including no more than 90 days in the 12 months before applying. Under some circumstances you might be eligible to apply for a variation to the residence requirement or be eligible under the special residence requirement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardH Posted January 12, 2017 Report Share Posted January 12, 2017 When you do the application online it calculates your eligibility based on residence, so you will know when doing the application if you satisfy the residency requirement or not. It did this when I did it 2 years ago. I arrived in Australia 2 months before the rest of my family. If you need anything such as police clearances then these are requested manually by DIAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herby Posted January 13, 2017 Report Share Posted January 13, 2017 Hi wendym I've just been though the process and it calculates each applicant individually from date of entry to date of application, taking into consideration any time out of the country during that period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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