Australian citizenship

To be eligible to apply for Australian Citizenship, you must meet application criteria depending on your living situation in Australia

To become an Australian Citizen, there are a number of requirements you need to meet in order to be eligible to apply.

Specific application criteria will depend on your Australian Residency, however, the below requirements are applicable to all applications.

• You must be of good character
• You must meet the general residence requirement
• You must have an adequate knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship
• You must intend to reside or maintain a close and continuing association with Australia.

You may fall into one of the below categories:

• Migrant with permanent residence
• New Zealand citizen living in Australia
• Spouse or partner of an Australian citizen

GENERAL
If you are a migrant with Permanent Residency, you must meet the below requirements to be eligible to apply for Australian Citizenship:

• You must be a permanent resident at the time of application and time of decision
• You must meet the residency requirements
• You must be of good character
• You must demonstrate basic knowledge of the English language
• You must intend to live or maintain a close and continuing association with Australia 
• You must have an adequate knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship.
  (Applicants over 60 years of age are not required to sit the citizenship test.)

RESIDENCE REQUIREMENT

• You must have lived in Australia for four years immediately before applying while holding a valid Australian visa
• You must have been a permanent resident for at least 12 months immediately applying
• You must not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total, during the four year period
• You must not have been absent from Australia for more than 90 days in the 12 months before applying.

CHILDREN
Children under 16 years of age can be included in your citizenship application if they are permanent residents.
Children under 16 years of age must be permanent residents but do not need to meet the residency requirements.

CALCULATE YOUR PERMANENT RESIDENCY
If you were granted a permanent residency before arriving in Australia, your permanent residence date will be the date that you arrived in Australia on that visa.
If you were granted a permanent residency after you arrived in Australia, your permanent residence date will be your permanent visa grant date

GENERAL
If you are a Spouse or Partner of an Australian Citizen, you must meet the below requirements to be eligible to apply for Australian Citizenship:

• You must be a permanent resident at the time of application and the time of decision
• You must meet the general residence requirement
• You must be of good character
• You must have basic knowledge of the English language
• You must have an adequate knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship
• You must intend to live or maintain a close and continuing association with Australia.
  (Applicants over 60 years of age are not required to sit the citizenship test.)

GENERAL RESIDENCE REQUIREMENT

• You must have lived in Australia for four years immediately before applying while holding a valid Australian visa
• You must have been a permanent resident for the 12 months immediately applying
• You must not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total, during the four year period
• You must not have been absent from Australia for more than 90 days in the 12 months before applying

CALCULATE YOUR PERMANENT RESIDENCY
If your permanent visa was granted before you arrived in Australia, your permanent residence date is the date that you arrived in Australia on that visa.

If your permanent visas granted after you arrived in Australia, your permanent residence date will be the date your permanent visa was granted

CHILDREN
Children who are aged under 16 years can be included in your Citizenship application if they are permanent residents.
Children under 16 years of age do not need to meet the residency requirement.

GENERAL
A New Zealand Citizen living in Australia must meet the below requirements to be eligible to apply for Australian Citizenship:

• You must hold a permanent visa, or are a ‘protected SCV’ holder under the Social Security Act 1991
• You must meet the residence requirement
• You must be of good character (if you are over 18 years)

Eligible protected SCV holders include those who:

• were in Australia on 26 February 2001 on a Special Category Visa (SCV); or
• were in Australia for 12 months in the 2 years immediately before this date; or
• have been assessed as protected SCV holders (have a Centrelink certificate stating that they were living in Australia on a particular date).
• New Zealand Citizens are automatically be granted a Special Category visa (subclass 444) upon arriving in Australia. This is not a permanent visa. Unless you have applied for another Australian visa, you will hold this temporary visa.

GENERAL RESIDENCE REQUIREMENT

• You must have lived in Australia for four years immediately before applying while holding a valid Australian visa
• You must have been a permanent resident for the 12 months immediately applying
• You must not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total, during the four year period
• You must not have been absent from Australia for more than 90 days in the 12 months before applying