PCC for application to become an Aussie Citizen

[RedPanda]

I have read on the government website that you need a Police Clearance Certificate if you want to apply for citizenship, but have spent more than 9 months in another country, during your Australian residency period. I have also heard that is somewhat cumbersome to get an RSA PCC from Australia.

 

Here is our situation: we activated our PR visas mid June last year, then we came back to RSA, and we are doing our final move mid May. So that would be an 11 month gap.

What I would like to know (from anyone who's done this or something similar): Should we apply for PCCs now, before we leave, and just take them along and keep them till the time comes? Or does the PCC have to cover the entire period outside Australia, to the day, in order to be valid? (in which case we will have to do it from Australia, or on our first visit back home)

[duppies]

Our situation was similar to yours but South Africa was not our country of residence before we moved to Australia.

 

Good news, based on our experience, your countdown to citizenship has already begun. We also activated a few years before actually moving.  We applied for citizenship 3 years and a few weeks after we moved here ”permanently".

 

The time was made up as follows: 3 years of actually living in Australia + 1 year that you can be absent + a few weeks that we went back to South Africa for a family visit(less than 90 days).

 

We had to provide police clearances for 2 countries . Australia being one. We only filled in a form for this, I think they check it themselves. A police clearance for the county we lived in before Australia. We had a police clearance dated 2 days before we left permanently but Australia wanted one that covered our entire period of residence in that country, so we had to reapply for one. We were told if it was dated 1 day after we left it would have been accepted as we have not been back to that country ( how accurate that is I do not know as we had to apply for a new one). We did not need a clearance form South Africa as we did not spend more than 90 days in South Africa.

 

Based on our experience you would need a police clearance from South Africa dated after you have left permanently. We just applied for a South African police clearance every time we went back for a holiday.

 

Hope this helps.

 

[OubaasDik]

See This place 

 

Wherein it is written:

 

To satisfy the residence requirements you must:

• have been living in Australia on a valid Australian visa for four years immediately before applying which must include the last 12 months as a permanent resident,
• and
• not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total, in the 4 year period, including no more than 90 days in the year immediately before applying.

Lawful residence means living in Australia on a valid Australian temporary or permanent visa.

If any of the following applied to you in the past 4 years, please telephone the Citizenship Information Line on 131 880 during business hours to discuss your circumstances.

• You obtained an e-visa to replace an expired Resident Return Visa (RRV)
• You obtained a bridging visa of any type
• You lodged an onshore application for a permanent visa then travelled overseas on your temporary visa
• You are a New Zealand citizen on a Special Category Visa (SCV)

 

So, basically, come here, wait for 4 years, don't spend 3 months or more away in the LAST year and not more than 12 months out of the whole 48 months - apply. No RSA PCC required if you haven't been in RSA for more than a short time, which I am too lazy to look up, but follow the link and rejoice.

[RedPanda]

1 minute ago, OubaasDik said:

See This place 

 

Wherein it is written:

 

To satisfy the residence requirements you must:

• have been living in Australia on a valid Australian visa for four years immediately before applying which must include the last 12 months as a permanent resident,
• and
• not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total, in the 4 year period, including no more than 90 days in the year immediately before applying.

Lawful residence means living in Australia on a valid Australian temporary or permanent visa.

If any of the following applied to you in the past 4 years, please telephone the Citizenship Information Line on 131 880 during business hours to discuss your circumstances.

• You obtained an e-visa to replace an expired Resident Return Visa (RRV)
• You obtained a bridging visa of any type
• You lodged an onshore application for a permanent visa then travelled overseas on your temporary visa
• You are a New Zealand citizen on a Special Category Visa (SCV)

 

So, basically, come here, wait for 4 years, don't spend 3 months or more away in the LAST year and not more than 12 months out of the whole 48 months - apply. No RSA PCC required if you haven't been in RSA for more than a short time, which I am too lazy to look up, but follow the link and rejoice.

Thanks @OubaasDik, but I have already been there, and done the calculation, and it says the residency requirement is met. The catch being that I would like to count the 11 months we have been away right now (the calculator says it's fine), but to do that I probably need a PCC for those months (because it's more than 9).

So I want to know, from people who have spent 9+ months outside Australia during their residency period, if I can get our PCCs now, or if I have to wait till later. I know it's not the end of the world if I have to get them from Aus, I'm just thinking: I'm here now, why not do it while it's 'relatively' easy?

[OubaasDik]

BUT - it's all perfectly clear (says he, sounding like John Cleese in the Meaning of Life skit with the schoolboys) - until you actually get your bum over here and start doing the Centrelink and Medicare and TFN stuff you are not living in Aus. Activating a visa, looking around on an LSD trip and going back to RSA to wrap up your life is NOT living in Aus.

 

That link I gave you says : "Lawful residence means living in Australia on a valid Australian temporary or permanent visa"

 

Let's say you land here in May 2016 (as your personal info states), then you do all the things I mentioned above and you start your residence (actually from the day you land, but ...)

 

So, in your case the first time you could apply for citizenship is 4 years after May 2016 - ie May 2020.

 

Simples   (Says he, waiting for someone like SD_MOA to contradict him)

 

Or am I missing something in your question?

 

 

Edited January 28, 2016 by OubaasDik
fixing sarcasm

[RedPanda]

23 minutes ago, OubaasDik said:

BUT - it's all perfectly clear (says he, sounding like John Cleese in the Meaning of Life skit with the schoolboys) - until you actually get your bum over here and start doing the Centrelink and Medicare and TFN stuff you are not living in Aus. Activating a visa, looking around on an LSD trip and going back to RSA to wrap up your life is NOT living in Aus.

 

That link I gave you says : "Lawful residence means living in Australia on a valid Australian temporary or permanent visa"

 

Let's say you land here in May 2016 (as your personal info states), then you do all the things I mentioned above and you start your residence (actually from the day you land, but ...)

 

So, in your case the first time you could apply for citizenship is 4 years after May 2016 - ie May 2020.

 

Simples   (Says he, waiting for someone like SD_MOA to contradict him)

 

Or am I missing something in your question?

 

 

We found the definition of 'living in' a little vague, because we have TFN, drivers licenses, and bank accounts, but we don't have Medicare or Centrelink. And we're shipping all our stuff over to arrive in August. So maybe it's a case of eating the cake we have and then going: but where is the cake? [Yes, I know the cake is a lie to begin with, but that is another matter.]

Perhaps we'll just see.

[RedPanda]

2 minutes ago, duppies said:

Our situation was similar to yours but South Africa was not our country of residence before we moved to Australia.

 

Good news, based on our experience, your countdown to citizenship has already begun. We also activated a few years before actually moving.  We applied for citizenship 3 years and a few weeks after we moved here ”permanently".

 

The time was made up as follows: 3 years of actually living in Australia + 1 year that you can be absent + a few weeks that we went back to South Africa for a family visit(less than 90 days).

 

We had to provide police clearances for 2 countries . Australia being one. We only filled in a form for this, I think they check it themselves. A police clearance for the county we lived in before Australia. We had a police clearance dated 2 days before we left permanently but Australia wanted one that covered our entire period of residence in that country, so we had to reapply for one. We were told if it was dated 1 day after we left it would have been accepted as we have not been back to that country ( how accurate that is I do not know as we had to apply for a new one). We did not need a clearance form South Africa as we did not spend more than 90 days in South Africa.

 

Based on our experience you would need a police clearance from South Africa dated after you have left permanently. We just applied for a South African police clearance every time we went back for a holiday.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you, this answers my question precisely.