Australian Citizenship Four Year Residency Requirement
From 1 July 2010 all citizenship applicants will need to meet the following residence requirement at the time they apply for Australian citizenship.
- You must have been living in Australia on a valid Australian visa for 4 years immediately before applying, including 1 year as a permanent resident, and
- You must not have been absent from Australia for more than 1 year during the 4 year period, including no more than 90 days in the year immediately before applying.
Source: www.border.gov.au/Trav/Citi
The Minimum Rules for Australian citizenship for new migrants are:
- be a permanent resident at time of application and time of decision
- meet the residence requirements (as above)
- be of good character
- have a basic knowledge of English
- intend to live or maintain a close and continuing association with Australia.
- have an adequate knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship.
There is a citizenship test that determines the “adequate knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship“. If you are 60 years of age or over you are not required to sit the citizenship test.
www.border.gov.au/…/Australian-citizenship-test-resource
The Current fee in 2016 is A$285