word of warning ....again!

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

One of my clients came today for a trim up and told me they sat the citizenship test a few months back and were waiting for the ceremony. Her hubs had to go out of the country for work and was told, "You are not a citizen till you have the ceremony" So he thought the PR visa in his english passport would be ok to come back in on. When he arrived at the airport overseas to get on a plane back to ADL he was told his visa had expired! The lady could only get him a temporary holiday visa, he has since had his ceremony and applied for his australian passport.

I am posting this in case there are any of you out there going overseas between doing you citizenship test and attending your ceremony

sarah

[Guest kangomik]

I thought you were told this at the test?

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

No at the test you are told youu are not officially a citizen untill you have done your ceremony and been handed you certificate with your citizenship number on it!

[Diane]

Ok, definitive answer after checking with Immigration: Your visa is only cancelled once you are officially a citizen - and you are not officially a citizien until after the ceremony, and the issuing of a Citizenship Certificate. Up until this point you are entitled to live indefinitely in Australia on a permanent visa. However, and this is what must have happened to the guy in question, if you look at your visa, you will see it says something along the lines of "must not enter the country after such-and-such a date" - this is something like five years after original issue (although it may be less - in OH's case the date is in 2010), and after this date, it is considered to have "expired" in terms of allowing you unliimited entries and re-entries - I think after this date you may need to apply for a "returning resident's visa" if you wish to leave and come back into the country (this is my assumption as obviously it doesn't apply in OH's case yet). But up until that date, and providing you have not fully completed your citizenship - including ceremony - it's not a problem!

 

Hope that clears up any confusion, have a look at the date on your visa if in any doubt - if the date has passed, you may have issues!

[Guest teabag]

Ok, definitive answer after checking with Immigration: Your visa is only cancelled once you are officially a citizen - and you are not officially a citizien until after the ceremony, and the issuing of a Citizenship Certificate. Up until this point you are entitled to live indefinitely in Australia on a permanent visa. However, and this is what must have happened to the guy in question, if you look at your visa, you will see it says something along the lines of "must not enter the country after such-and-such a date" - this is something like five years after original issue (although it may be less - in OH's case the date is in 2010), and after this date, it is considered to have "expired" in terms of allowing you unliimited entries and re-entries - I think after this date you may need to apply for a "returning resident's visa" if you wish to leave and come back into the country (this is my assumption as obviously it doesn't apply in OH's case yet). But up until that date, and providing you have not fully completed your citizenship - including ceremony - it's not a problem!

 

Hope that clears up any confusion, have a look at the date on your visa if in any doubt - if the date has passed, you may have issues!

 

You'd just need to get a Returning Resident Visa.

 

teabag

[Guest sarahsmartiepants]

They are the rules apparently, but his visa HAD NOT reached its expiry date ! It is obviously a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing, something that happens a lot here in those situations!