BBM Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Hi there - wondering if anyone with recent experience with regard to the citizenship application could offer some advice. I have searched through the forum posts but still unsure of timing with regard to citizenship application. The citizenship calculator makes reference to Permanent Residence Date and Lawful residence date. Is Lawful Residence Date intended to refer to the date upon which one actually starts living in Australia or is it the date of first entry into Australia (i.e. the validation visit?). We first validated our permanent residence visa in Dec 2008 but only moved to Australia in October 2010. My understanding was that we could only apply once we have actually lived here for 4 years. In other words, we could apply in October this year. If though the date of Lawful Residence is in fact the date we first validated our PR visa, then we would be able to apply now already.The calculator refers to Lawful Residence date as "If you were granted a Temporary Residence or Permanent Residence visa before you arrived in Australia, the date that you first arrived on that visa is the Lawful Residence date."On the website it refers though to 4 years lawful residence in Australia, which would, in my view indicate actually residing in Australia as opposed to being entitled to reside (where one is still in SA and hasn't moved yet)?Any advice would be appreciated.Many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Lawful residence does mean the time you have actually lived in Australia.If you enter your dates into the citizenship caculator, it tells you that you can only apply for citizenship in October 2014..................remember that you must not have "absences of no more than 12 months, including no more than 90 days in the 12 months before applying"Those absences would be subtracted from your residence calculations, so that time period between validation and actually living here would be subtracted.http://www.citizenship.gov.au/learn/law-and-policy/legis_changes/res_req_changes/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magoos Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 Hi BBM, your first lawful entry is when you validated you visa, so barring your time out of the country you would have been able to apply from October last year. We have just applied and we arrived in May 2011, validated in July 2009.Also the online system checks your passport details against their records and will only allow you to proceed if you meet the time requirements, I found that out as I tried to apply for my wife at the same time as mine and it would allow the application to be completed a few days later, this was due to the fact that she had done more overseas travel then me and spent less time in Australia.Good luck and best regardsTom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronwyn&Co Posted July 4, 2014 Report Share Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) BBM this calculation almost drove me batty as I just did it all for our eldest son. The short story is that you don't have to be living in the country for the full 4 years. Have you tried to do the calculation online? One calculator works, one is broken (there are two). I took screenshots of everything but now I can't find them. The trick was that 'date of first lawful entry' is the date you first entered the country after your visa (temporary or PR but not visitor visa) was first granted. Then you include all your absences (go through passport stamps). You cannot have been absent, as Andrea says, for more than 90 days in the past 12 months.In his case we could apply at 3,5 years.I'll try & recall my son's dates for you.Temp visa granted around mid 2008.Entered Australia (only to validate) on that Visa in April 2009Came to live here permanently in Dec 2010Had about 4 months out of the country on holidays in total.Able to apply for citizenship in May 2014.I think my dates are a bit shaky but you can see it was 3,5 years after coming to live here permanently but 4+ years after first lawful entry. They just count those first months as time spent out of the country.So personally I think you might have a chance. Try the calculator that works (blue one or beige!? Lol I can't remember), using your first lawful entry date. You can also play around with the dates if you think you have only a week or two, ie change your entry date back by 2 weeks and if it says 'successful' then you know to try again in 2 weeks.I think it's relatively new that they are allowing time spent outside the country to count.I hope I haven't confused you. Good luck! Edited July 4, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBM Posted July 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 Thanks so much everyone for the feedback, most appreciated! - sounds like we may have a chance of applying now rather than waiting for November. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted July 5, 2014 Report Share Posted July 5, 2014 Use the calculator in the link I supplied.................when I put in your dates it said October 2014, but try again and see.............I may have entered the dates incorrectly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBM Posted July 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2014 Thanks again - we just phoned the citizenship department, they keyed in our passport numbers and told us we can apply now! Yay! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronwyn&Co Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 Thanks again - we just phoned the citizenship department, they keyed in our passport numbers and told us we can apply now! Yay!Awesome! I guess you know about the requirements if you want to retain your SA citizenship too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBM Posted July 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 Thanks Bronwyn&Co! We have just submitted our applications for approval to hold dual citizenship. Hoping it comes through before we get granted Aus citizenship. Did you also go down this route? How long did it take to get it? Thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBM Posted July 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 Apologies - me again. I have been working through the documents that we need for our citizenship application and noted that it requires penal clearance certificates if, since the date of grant of the permanent Australian visa the total time spent overseas added up to 12 months or more.We validated our PR visa in Dec 2008 but only moved here in Oct 2010, so would seem that we would require a police clearance.Does anyone have an experience with this and how to go about obtaining this?ThanksBrigitte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronwyn&Co Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 (edited) Apologies - me again. I have been working through the documents that we need for our citizenship application and noted that it requires penal clearance certificates if, since the date of grant of the permanent Australian visa the total time spent overseas added up to 12 months or more.We validated our PR visa in Dec 2008 but only moved here in Oct 2010, so would seem that we would require a police clearance.Does anyone have an experience with this and how to go about obtaining this?ThanksBrigitteI'm not sure about that BBM but it sounds like you might need to get the updated police clearances. You might find that you get them before your approval letter for dual citizenship. I think that took about 4 months in our case, through Canberra.I'm not sure any more about the police clearances as we did ours years ago in Adelaide still with the ink fingerprints.I think we didn't have to do it for my son because he was 17...Hopefully someone can elaborate!If you get a date for the citizenship ceremony and you still don't have the dual citizenship letter, you can probably postpone the ceremony until the next available one. Edited July 8, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocaholic Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 I see this question hasn't been answered yet - I need an answer to the exact same question - weirdly enough our dates are almost the same as yours! We validated our PR Visa in March 2008 and only moved here end of 2010, so more than 12 months! later.So do we need a South African Police Clearance Certificate or not? Am getting very mixed responses from friends - some say they didn't need them?The Aussie Immigration Helpline is impossible to get through to.....Please help, cheers, Tanja Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riekie Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Call the citizenship department on 131880 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnyskies Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 If you have lived on Australia for the last 4 years you don't have to worry about SA PCC. There is a test to follow on when you need SA PCC but only applies if you have spent substantial time out of the country.Ceremony between 4 and 6 months after the test depending on your location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eva Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Yep. police clearance is only required for any country you have lived in for more than three months in the time-frame you have been a resident of Australia, but not required for Australia.So if you validated your visa and lived back in RSA for more than three months then came to Australia say a year later I imagine you would need your PCC for the time in South Africa after activating your visa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JacquesV Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Hi Tanja,Yes you need a RSA Police Clearance Certificate.We have recently completed the citizenship application and have been approved - just waiting on the ceremony letter now . We validated our visa in August 2010 and then went back to RSA to pack up our lives and only moved over in September 2011 (13 months outside of Australia as PR's). We were asked to provide a police clearance for RSA - as Eva stated + 3 months requirement. We were then eligible to apply for citizenship in September 2014.All the best ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocaholic Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 Thank you so much everyone. Will do so then.... Hope it doesn't take forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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