Citizenship Time Frames (Another one) and Police Clearance?

[RichardH]

Hi All

I have a question regarding applying for citizenship and the timelines involved between the application and actually receiving a passport as well as SA police clearances.

Our situation is:

We received our PR visa on 11 Aug 2010.

The visa expires on 11 Aug 2015.

We validated on 14 March 2011 and returned to SA after 2 weeks.

I returned to take up employment on 1 July 2011 and have only been back to SA for 3 weeks in total.

1 week in 2011 to collect wife and kids and 2 weeks on holiday in 2013.

My wife and kids came to Aus. on 1 Sept 2011 and have only been back to SA for 3 weeks in 2013.

As mentioned, our visa expires in 11 Aug 2015.

We plan to travel to SA on holiday in late September 2015.

I understand that we are eligible to apply for citizenship after 14th March 2015 since we have not been out of Aus. for more than 1 year in the 4 years since validation.

My questions from anyone who has applied for citizenship recently (especially in WA) are:

1. What is a rough timeline for the process of applying for citizenship from:

a. Application for citizenship online.

b. Going for the test and interview (are they same event?).

c. Attending the ceremony.

d. Applying for and receiving your Aus. passport.

2. Will my wife and I need SA police clearance because in 2011 (between validation and moving here) we spent more than 90 days in SA?

The 1300t form reads as follows:

“…When to provide overseas penal clearance certificates

Penal clearance certificates from overseas countries are

required if:

• you lived or travelled outside Australia since the age of

18 years or over, and

• you held a permanent Australian visa at that time, and

• the total time spent outside Australia added up to

12 months or more, and

• the time spent in any one country was more than 90 days,

or

• requested by the department….”

The way I read it is that we don't. If anyone can confirm this then it would be great?

If I leave the application for citizenship too late (i.e. wait until our cumulative time out of SA is below 90 days to avoid requiring a police clearance) then it means we will likely not receive our new Aus. passports in time to travel.

I don't believe you can really rush the process of applying for citizenship through to ceremony?

My alternative to all of this is that I could be up for return resident visas which look like they cost $345 x 4 = $1380 (ouch) as well as possibly new passports for my son and I since our foreign passports expire in October 2015.

Technically it seems like you don't need 6 months validity on a foreign passport when entering SA or Australia but it is something I would not like to chance. That’s another issue though.

Any comments or advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks

Richard.

[SurferMan]

Give the citizenship hotline a call.

[JacquesV]

You will need a RSA police clearance certificate regardless of when you apply. While holding PR you've been out the country longer than 90 consecutive days - There's no "cumulative period is less than 90 days" rule that will absolve the required certificate.

Edit: I think I'm wrong on this one. I re read the requirements and believe your view is correct - you won't need them

Edited February 5, 2015 by JacquesV

[Avatar]

Safest to ask the citizenship department if you need a PCC. I would think it also depends on the validity date of the PCC you handed in for your visa. The PCC is valid for a year from date of issue. if It expired well before you moved to Australia, they might ask for another copy. You might even need the PCC to apply for the resident return visa.

[RichardH]

For anyone interested.

I just sat my citizenship test today.

It definitely works as shown below.

I thus did not need a PCC for SA.

Hope this helps anyone who might be facing tight timelines with travel and passports etc.

(The DIAC offices are from a different planet to Home affairs, my word... )

".....Penal clearance certificates from overseas countries are

required if:

• you lived or travelled outside Australia since the age of

18 years or over,

and

• you held a permanent Australian visa at that time,

and

• the total time spent outside Australia added up to

12 months or more,

and

• the time spent in any one country was more than 90 days,

or

• requested by the department….”

[mrniceguy]

For anyone interested.

I just sat my citizenship test today.

Did you retain your ZA citizenship?

[RichardH]

Did you retain your ZA citizenship?

I'm a colonial mongrel like OubaasDik originally from Zambia.

I was never a SA citizen, I only have PR there, and still do.

So there was nothing to give up.

My wife retained hers though.

[elleneo]

Applied for a test date beginning Feb, got a test date within two weeks, got a citizenship ceremony 4 months later on 10 June.

So all in all took 4 1/2 months from online application to ceremony. We are in Kuringai Council. We haven't left Australia since arriving more than 5 years ago and didn't need South African police clearance.

Received our Aussie passports today, took 15 days from application to delivery by registered mail to my door

Edited August 6, 2015 by elleneo

[RedPanda]

Just checking, but from the AND and OR "statements" in the explanation it would seem that if we spend less than a year in RSA after the date of visa activation, then we won't need PCCs?

eg activate mid June2015, immigrate mid May2016, period in RSA<12 months = No PCC?

[elleneo]

When you do your online application it will prompt you to upload docs as you go along..best thing is to ting the dept, they are very helpful and will give you a direct answer.

[RichardH]

Just checking, but from the AND and OR "statements" in the explanation it would seem that if we spend less than a year in RSA after the date of visa activation, then we won't need PCCs?

eg activate mid June2015, immigrate mid May2016, period in RSA<12 months = No PCC?

Yes, but I would call to confirm:

The complication with us was:

Granted Visas August 2010

Validated March 2011

Me moved to Aus July 2011

Wife and Kids moved to Aus Sept 2011.

For me I had not spent a cumulative time of a year between getting the visa in Aug 2010 and moving to Aus in July 2011.

My wife had spent just over a year out of Aus between getting the visa in Aug 2010 and moving to Aus in Sept 2011.

As a result she needed an SA police clearance and I did not.

As Elleneo says give them a call, they are very helpful.

In our case getting the SA police clearance delayed us a bit, but things worked out because I phoned our local council once citizenship had been approved and they moved our ceremony date forward to mid August and we should have our passports by end of September when we fly and thus avoid expensive RRVs.

The council treated me like a customer which I am and were very helpful as they could see my request was legitimate.

I am happy to let the whole process run it's course but the complication was us travelling.

[RedPanda]

Thanks RichardH, that also answers my question of whether they use the grant or activation date.

[OubaasDik]

I'm a colonial mongrel like OubaasDik originally from Zambia.

I was never a SA citizen, I only have PR there, and still do.

So there was nothing to give up.

My wife retained hers though.

RichardH, I resemble that ....

Another Richard, BTW.