Our 2 years will be up soon and we will be going for our citizenship.

Just wondered if anyone else has already been through this process and can let us know what it involves. Do I have to sing the National Anthem :o :o . My kids know the words but I wouldn't have a clue.

Have also heard that you have to pay for the privilege too.

I know there is a website but wondered if anyone has any personal experiences.

Thanks :D

Xenia

:lol: sorry.

our two years will be up in a six months, so i be watching this.

Do I have to sing the National Anthem


SING!!!! :o

Whats this about singing??????? :blink: :doh:

No, but you have to chant "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie - Oi, Oi, Oi" while eating a Vegemite sandwich. ;)

I know they give you a wattle plant...

I did it in 1993.

Yes we had to sing. We were all given a sheet of music and the words which I still have. We did it through Onkaparinga City Council, but had to apply to the Immigration Dept in Currie Street, which we did two years to the day of arriving here. The application process might have changed now nearing in mind this was 12 years ago - it only cost us $55 each then.

If you have kids you have to choose ONE parent on whose citizenship form their names will appear. They do not get an official certificate in their own name - more of that later. After application we waited about 2 months to hear when our ceremony would be, and it was held at the council chambers with the mayor present, and some councillors.

There were about 60 people doing it the same evening as us and we all went up in groups of 10 I think (bad memory) and swore allegiance to the Queen (this could have changed now), and sang the anthem. Then we were all presented with a native tree or shrub from the council, and our certificates in lovely big white envelopes with Australian Citizenship Certificate printed on it.

Afterwards my family had drinks with the mayor as we knew a couple of the councillors from doing voluntary work.......then it was off home with plants in tow. All of our native plants died eventually!

Now to the kids...........mine were 8 and 6 when we did it and were put onto my husbands certificate. Their names were printed on the back. They both got a certificate from the council recognising them as Aussie citizens but that is NOT a legal document. When they turn 16 they can apply for the real certificate - another $$$ cost of course - and it is posted out to them, without attending another ceremony. My son had to get one in his own right when he joined the army.

My daughter got an Aussie passport when she was 12 and her name appearing on hubby's cert was used as ID with no problems.

I'm not sure how you get to do the ceremony on Australia Day, although I think if you apply for the citizenship, then when you get the invite to the ceremony you can ask to have it deferred until Australia Day.

One other thing - in the certificate envelope was an electoral role registration form. Once you are a citizen you are obliged to vote in State and Federal elections, so the council pops that in there to remind you to get on the electoral register.

Hope that makes sense. That's what it was like in 1993.

I became a citizen on 19th May 1993, and now hold an Aussie passport - let the British one go years ago!

Hi Wizzy and all, so whats the difference between Permanent residency and citizenship? can you have PR and not be a citizen?? With the SIR I understood that you can apply for PR after two years is this the same thing as becoming a citizen?

Thanks!

UMmmmmmmmmmmmm ............pass!!

On my limited knowledge, I'm certain than PR and citizenship or 2 separate things. PR allows you to stay in the country. Citizenship allows you to call yourself a bona fide Ozzie and vote.

Please correct me people if I'm wrong.

Andrew

The way read it is,PR allows you to stay in Australia for 5 yrs,after 2yrs but within 5yrs you can apply for your Australian Citizenship.after the 5yrs you must have applied for another 5yr visa or applied for your Citizenship to stay in Australia.


Kev :cool shake:

PR is only valid for a set period e.g. 5years then you must apply for a further period of PR.
Citizenship, however, means no more paperwork and of course you become an Australian.
When DIMIA look at granting further PR they look to see if you are contributing to the economy and are therefore, desirable.
People have been PR's for years without becoming citizens.

Adrian

This is wrong. With PR you do not have to reapply. Look at the Visa label "permitted to remain in Australia indeffinatly" The P stands for permanent! If after 5 years you are still a resident and wish to leave the country (and then come back in)you have to apply for a residents return visa (RRV)

Gjn200 is right, with PR you can stay forever but if you want to leave the country after your original 5 years is up then you must get a Residents Return Visa. I've heard of people forgetting to do this and not being able to get back into Australia :sign68:

As a citizen you have all the rights of a natural-born Aussie.

Our ceremony was 16th August 1994 and we had to read out a pledge (you get a choice of two,you can pledge allegiance to the Queen or pledge your loyalty to Australia). Here are the words for the 2nd pledge.

"From this time forward, I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey".

adelaidegirl

And if you did something horrific while here on a PR it could be revoked and you could be deported. Recently (last few years) a woman found this out after about 23 years, as did a man in his twenties brought here as a child. In the latter case he didn't actually speak the language of his 'home' country.

As a citizen, they're stuck with you.

So here's one for you.

We are here on an SIR visa. After two years we can apply for PR, then after 2 years PR, apply for citizenship.
Our youngest daughter was born in Sydney, & has British nationality but can apply for an Aussie passport if a parent has PR.

So if we get PR, she gets citizenship. Does that mean the rest of us still have to wait the two years, or can she sponsor us? (She's only 3 now!)

Desiree
:D :D

You still need to have been a Permanent Resident for 2 years before you can apply for Citizenship. I've just been granted my PR and still have to wait 2 years even though I've been in the country for 3 years! My PR visa allows me to stay in Australia indefinitely but if I need to leave the country I have to apply for an RRV (Resident Return Visa) to get back in. I will be applying for Citizenship in 2 years but I am also entitled to keep my British passport - easier to travel that way!

Michelle

Thanks everyone.

Better get practising our harmonies Dionne as it looks like singing is involved after all. :68:

Oh Dear!! :68:


I'll have to practise miming to me hairbrush :doh:

PR means a visa in your British passport. You can come and go freely for 5 years from first entry. If you want to leave Oz after that, you have to get a Residents Return Visa to be allowed to return again - even if you've lived here for years and years.

Citizenship means you get an Oz passport - you don't have to give up British citizenship or passport though.

Here's the link on how to apply for citizenship http://www.citizenship.gov.au/how.htm

Desiree - I think your daughter would have to sign to say she is happy to support you for 2 years so you don't become a burden on the state, so hurry up and teach her to sign her name!

yeah ok, but did you have to sing, and if so does everyone sing at once, or do you all have to do solo's.
I'm not looing forward to this :unsure:

Me neither :doh: :cry baby:

The new laws in SA state..."You have to sing while holding a coopers in a stubbie holder in one hand..in the other you have to hold a bag of fruchocs...and a fritz sandwich....You must also swear there and then allegience to The Crows and Holden ......."

All seems very odd!!!

what sort of cows? :unsure:

OK GUYS

It will now cost you $120 EACH to become citizens, get your forms from you local rates office, they ask you all the same questions about births deaths marriages etc, they already know it all

Good Luck
Sheila

:bouncing smiles:

Sorry to pick you up on a technicality Elaine but just to clarify:

On a PR visa your right to come and go freely in and out of Aus is for 5 years from the date of visa grant, not from first entry.

I expect that's what you meant!

Elaine M :)

I must admit I really thought it was from first entry??? But I bow to your knowledge here, it was a memory rather than a checked fact :lol:

Speaking as someone who got their sticky mitts on an Aussie passport before ever arriving here, it hasn't affected me directly (only Howard!!!) :rolleyes:

(Yep, it's printed there on his visa, you're spot on there....)

Blimey!! I think I got all that!

Anyway a couple of years beofre I need t think about it :dance:

Don't mind singing!!! :68: :cool shake: