Citizenship Aussie pasport

[Pommy99]

Hi, can anyone who has recently become a citizen tell me if I HAVE to get an Aussie passport or is it ok to still use the GB one till it expires?

Thanks.

[Guest Anne29]

Citizenship and travel

 

Main content

An Australian passport is the preferred and most conclusive proof of Australian citizenship when travelling.

You will not be able to apply for an Australian passport until you have become an Australian citizen by attending an official citizenship ceremony and made the Australian Citizenship Pledge.

If you travel outside Australia before your ceremony you will be travelling as a permanent resident on your current passport. See further information about travelling before your citizenship ceremony.

Once you have become an Australian citizen any visa you held ceases.

As an Australian citizen you must always leave and enter Australia on an Australian passport. If you also have a passport from another country you can use that for travel once you have left Australia.

People trying to enter Australia as an Australian citizen but without an Australian passport face difficulties and delays. The Australian Passport Office provides more information.

If you also have a passport from another country you should always use your Australian passport when leaving and entering Australia.

Travel after Australian citizenship has ceased

 

If you renounce your Australian citizenship while overseas you cannot re-enter Australia without a valid visa.

You will automatically become the holder of an ex-citizen visa if you renounce your Australian citizenship while in Australia. This visa allows you to remain in Australia but does not allow you to re-enter Australia should you leave.

You will need a Resident Return Visa if you travel overseas and intend to return to Australia. Form 968i, Return documents for Australian citizens and permanent residents (61 KB PDF File), provides information on return travel documents.

 

Source: http://www.citizenship.gov.au/current/travel/

 

Hope this helps

[Pommy99]

Thank you but I wonder if this bit is really true? As an Australian citizen you must always leave and enter Australia on an Australian passport:huh:

[Guest Anne29]

Thank you but I wonder if this bit is really true? As an Australian citizen you must always leave and enter Australia on an Australian passport:huh:

 

Yes it should be as got it from the official government website.

[Guest Guest75]

Thank you but I wonder if this bit is really true? As an Australian citizen you must always leave and enter Australia on an Australian passport:huh:

When our Brit passports were in date we would leave on the Aussie and enter the UK with the Brit one to speed things up.

Now our Brit passports have lapsed we enter via the "Foreigners channel" - makes me giggle does that:biglaugh:

We have always entered here on our Aussie passports as it is quicker.

[Pommy99]

So once a citizen you have to leave Australia on an Aussie passport?

[Guest kerfumph]

More importantly, if you don't have an Aussie passport, how will you get back in, as any visa in the Uk one is void once you become a citizen.

[Diane]

More importantly, if you don't have an Aussie passport, how will you get back in, as any visa in the Uk one is void once you become a citizen.

 

I think this is the key point to the original question. If you get citizenship and don't get an aussie passport, then you would not be able to re-enter Australia if you went offshore for any reason. The only way round that I can think of is if you got a returning resident's visa each time you left.

[Pommy99]

So the new citizenship visa would not go in the UK passport? Or more precisely as there are no longer 'stickers' I thought my UK passport number would be listed as Aussie citizen each time it was scanned and that would be enough?!??

[Diane]

But that wouldn't enable them to get more money out of you for your new passport!!

 

When you get citizenship, you don't get a "citizen's visa" - you get a certificate of citizenship - nothing at all to do with your British passport I'm afraid!

[Guest WhatNow?]

If you still have your original visa in your UK passport and it is still valid then there is technically nothing to stop you using this to leave the country, as several of my family who are citizens have found - HOWEVER - if your visa is likely to expire while you are away then you WILL NOT be allowed back in. This was explained in no uncertain terms to my nephew recently. He found himself about to travel on a visa that had expired two days earlier (he hadn't checked). The security officers at the airport spotted the expiry date as he was about to board his flight to the UK and he was advised that he could leave but would have to apply for either a Resident Return visa or his Australian passport while he was in the UK toget back into the country. As he was about to board his flight, he had little choice but to leave. Fortunately there was a family member still at home in Adelaide. This person had to mail my nephew his Citizenship certificate and birth certificate (copies were NOT acceptable) and he then had to apply to Australia House in London and go through a nerve wracking couple of weeks waiting for an appointment to have his Aussie passport issued. Because it was his first, he had to have the full interview and then travel back two days later to collect his passport (the day he was due to return, fortunately from Heathrow). It was pointed out to him at Australia House that when you get your citizenship the 'recommendation' that you apply immediately for an Australian passport should be interpreted as a 'requirement' if you intend to leave Australia. It also cost him twice as much for the application in London as it would have done if he had applied here.

 

Really it isn't worth the hassle, if you know you will be travelling to the UK after you become a citizen, then get your Australian passport. Of course if your UK visa/passport is still valid then use it by all means to avoid the queues at the airport - it certainly hasn't stopped my citizen relatives from using their UK passports. Technically you are supposed to travel in and out on the same passport but I know someone who does this all the time and it doesn't seem to cause any problems even though you'd think it would, with the entry and exit stamps in different passports. I'm sure with the technology available that this loophole will be closed before too long and we'll all be waiting in the long queue!

[Anne B]

Use your Australian passport for travelling in and out of Australia, and use your UK passport when entering/leaving the UK. My children have both passports and despite the cost, it is worth keeping both. They then have the choice when they are older to live in either country. On holiday in Australia once (when living in the UK), when we left Adelaide the children presented their Australian passports but the immigration officer also wanted to see their UK passports, as proof that they had the right to reside in the UK. Australian Immigration are very thorough !

 

If you are going to become an Australian citizen then I would say it's a must to get an Australian passport - especially as, reading your previous posts, you intend to leave Australia as soon as you get citizenship, for a considerable period of time.

 

Australian citizenship isn't an add-on to British citizenship, it's a totally separate thing. You can keep both passports but you have to pay for them.

[Pommy99]

If you are going to become an Australian citizen then I would say it's a must to get an Australian passport - especially as, reading your previous posts, you intend to leave Australia as soon as you get citizenship, for a considerable period of time.

 

 

I have been offered a two year extension on my contract so am staying here for a good while longer than I thought. Last September I had to pay for 4 new bio data uk passports which cost loads. Next September we have an 80th birthday party in the Uk to attend and I was trying to save money by not buying the Aussie passports.

 

Thanks for your input.