Moving to Australia for 2 years so kids can become citizenships

[AussieManque]

Hi all, wondering if anyone has suggestions for my situation. I'm Australian by descent but was born overseas so my children (also born outside Australia) won't automatically qualify for citizenship. I've never lived in Australia. I understand that if I go and live there for 2 years, my children would then be able to get citizenship. My husband is not Australian.

Has anyone been through this process? We're starting to look into it as a possibility (moving the whole family rather than just sending me), either going there for a specific job, or, if we go while kids are young enough, to live a more 'freelance' life and properly explore the country for a couple of years before they have to start school.

We might end up settling there, or we might decide to do the bare minimum to qualify and then leave - in which case I want to make sure all our ducks are lined up so we don't end up somehow missing something and not qualifying. I expect we need a paper trail to prove I've lived there.

Some questions:
-presumably I need a fixed address to register for Medicare etc - how does it work if we travel around?
-any advice for getting the visa for dependents (husband, kids) as we'd be doing this from outside Australia?
-any other key points we should be considering at this stage?

Thank you!

Are you planning to come and travel for two years or come and work? If you’re husband wants to work he will need to apply for a partner visa, which is granted in two parts (you need the first part to enter the country) and takes a while to processes (6-18 months) but it would allow your husband to work in Australia and access Medicare while here. It is an expensive visa and takes a lots of effort to complete the form - proving your relationship, doctors checks…He might be eligible for another working visa (possible working holiday depending on his age…) but they can be more difficult to get so you need to check that out.

If you’re just coming to travel, then he can come on a tourist visa but there are time limits to those so he may need to leave the country for a while between visas.

I believe your children will also need a visa but check the immi.gov.au site to figure out which one is the correct visa and see the current processing times.

You will need an address for Medicare as you have to go register in person and bring proof of address such as a rental lease or house contract. Without an address I don’t think you qualify for Medicare as you aren’t a resident, more a tourist.

Ultimately if you want to use this time to ensure your kids qualify for citizenship, then you will need address history, bills, bank accounts so it would probably be best to consider moving to live and work for that period rather than just travel.

A child can only qualify for citizenship if one of their parents was a citizen at the time of their birth. I'd suggest having a talk to the people at Australia House before you make plans.

From what I understand, the 2 years doesn't have to be one chunk of time. So you could break it up over a period of time. I think you have until they turn 25 to get them citizenship by descent. So when they head to Uni might be a good time!

If they have British passports you can access Medicare on reciprocal rights even on holiday. From memory just pop into Medicare office for a temporary card.

@ShippingNews I was and am a citizen at the time of the child's birth. But the Australian citizen parent has to have lived in Australia for a minimum of 2 years at the time at which the child applies for citizenship. I have not lived in Australia for 2 years. http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/aca2007254/s16.html

@ittakes2 ooh that is good to know!

@OrderOfTheKookaburra thanks, though given the paper trail we need to leave I think it'll be easier to do it one stint!

@ERDC I think we'd go for the spousal visa route so that husband can work if he chooses. At this stage we're toying with a sort of casual work/holiday approach, e.g. trying different places for a few months at a time, doing odd jobs, rather than settling in one location for an office job, but this depends if we make it over before the kids have to start school. But it sounds like we need a fixed abode for some of the bureaucracy!

The spousal visa is great but you should consider staying for four years to get your husband citizenship as well if you’re coming over anyways. As a permanent resident he can return to Australia after the travel validity has lapsed on his PR visa but unless he meets the residency requirements (2 years in Australia out of the previous 5 years I believe) it will be difficult for him to come back in the future (he will need to apply for a resident return visa and demonstrate significant ongoing ties to Australia - having an Australian spouse is not enough). Something to consider in case your kids both end up in Australia as adults and you and he want to move back to be near them…

You don’t sound hugely keen about going to Oz, if you’ve never lived there are you sure you want to go?

Moving here when the kids are young is perfect timing.
As they get into secondary school disrupting their studies might be harder and also knowing whether you like Australia while you are young enough to move back (if you do not like it) seems sensible.

Unemployment is low so jobs should be obtainable.
My daughters have flat mates who are from the Uk and are almost qualified for permenant residency. They love it enough to stay..

I'm Australian by descent but born in the UK; currently live in NZ. DD born in NZ and I just registered her with the Australian consulate in NZ so she also has citizenship by descent also. No problem whatsoever.

@LostInTheColonies but have you lived in Australia at any point in your life?

It's quite clear that if the parent is an Australian by descent, they need to have lived there for at least 2 years. Here's a screenshot from the Dept of Home Affairs Immigration and Citizenship page:

Yes , backing up pp that medical rights are reciprocal. My son ( who is Australian) walked into an A&E and was wonderfully looked after and didn't pay a cent - same as UK people in Australia. Wonderful decision by the 2 govts as there is so much interchange.
OP - when you say "by descent" what exactly do you mean.

Sorry to explain he was an Australian in London at the time

@LostInTheColonies NZ permanent residents or citizens have different requirements to anyone else, so that might be why its been different for you.

@margarine17 "by descent" is a legal term. So Australian citizens who are not living in Australia when their DC are born, can apply for Australian citizenship 'by descent'. But if their Citizen parents are citizerns "by descent" they must have lived in Australia for 2 years before the citizenship can go down to the next generation.

Unlike some European countries, where if you can trace descent from a citizen back several generations you can apply for citizenship.

@margarine17 by descent means I inherited Australian citizenship from my dad due to him being Australian when I was born (overseas). My citizenship certificate specifies that it was by descent.

Incidentally the UK has the same restrictions on handing citizenship to children born to UK parents outside the UK, if the parent was also born outside the UK. So say you are born to British parents in China or Kenya, your child can automatically become British, but if they then also have children outside the UK, citizenship is not automatic.

It can potentially create a lot of problems if both parents were born overseas as the child could potentially end up stateless - but there are measures to avoid this, but it just makes gaining citizenship a lot more complicated.

Argh missed a bit out!

"So say you are born to British parents in China or Kenya, and you have a baby in Thailand or Peru, your child can automatically become British, but if they then also have children outside the UK, citizenship is not automatic."

Given you've never lived in Oz OP and it's really easy to emigrate there for work, why are you so bothered about your children getting citizenship?

@OrderOfTheKookaburra I'm not a kiwi, and the rules for kids who have NZ parents and who were born in Aus (I.e. kiwi family living in Aus) have only changed in the last couple of weeks. DD's Aus citizenship is based on my Aus citizenship by descent only. I have lived in Aus for a few years though, which I think was a prerequisite for DD's citizenship.

Yes - 3.5 years as a child, and on & off for a few years as an adult. Which may be what's making the difference for me!

I haven't got any advice particularly to add - apart from agreeing that going before your children start school sounds an excellent plan to give you maximum flexibility to see where your lives are leading you as a family. However, I wanted to thank you as this wasn't something I was specifically aware of and it might be in my own UK born children's interests for us to make a note of when we have visited grandparents over the years. Since the eldest has also done a gap year in Australia, a rough guesstimate suggests she might only need another 7 months to tot up the 2 years if it becomes relevant in the future. I'm not sure how we'd be supposed to evidence any of this though given that our passports never get stamped anywhere coming or going ...

That does raise the question to the OP though - did you ever visit grandparents or other relatives in Australia growing up? (can understand if you didn't. Our trips in the other direction weren't many either due to expense++, and really only happened when there was a justification for my mother to help out)

@Pythonesque yes I did a few trips to Australia growing up, and most recently went in 2019. But it would not end up adding up to 2 years and these trips were holidays rather than "living lawfully" in Oz.

I'd definitely go and live there. It's fabulous

This
mine have dual Canadian and it’s nice but pointless (are now young adults )