Are you already an Australian citizen?
Some people reading this are, and do not know it. The Department puts the warning at the top of its own page: “In some instances, you might already be an Australian citizen. Check if you are an Australian citizen or get evidence.”
It depends on where and when you were born and on your parents’ status at the time, and it is worth settling before you pay for anything, because someone who is already a citizen needs evidence of citizenship rather than an application for it. That is a different form and a smaller charge, and people apply for the wrong one often enough that the Department flags it first.
Which pathway are you on?
Mostly it depends on your age and on where you were born. The gap between them is not small: descent costs less, skips the residence requirement and the test entirely, and the Department publishes processing times about four times shorter.
| Who it is for | Test | Department’s charge | Processing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, aged 18 to 59 | Yes | AUD 285, or AUD 40 for some concession card holders | 75% in 13 months, 90% in 16 months |
| Permanent resident aged 60 or over | No | AUD 180, or AUD 20 for some concession card holders | 75% in 13 months, 90% in 16 months |
| Permanent resident aged 16 or 17 | No | AUD 180, or AUD 20 for some concession card holders | 75% in 13 months, 90% in 16 months |
| Born outside Australia to a parent who was an Australian citizen at the time, at any age | No | AUD 230, and AUD 95 for each sibling applying at the same time | 75% in 3 months, 90% in 5 months |
A dependent child aged 15 or younger can be included on a parent’s application at no extra charge, and does not have to meet the general residence requirement, though they must be a permanent resident when you apply and when the Department decides. A child aged 16 or 17 cannot be included and applies on their own.
What does the residence requirement actually ask?
Four sums, all of which have to work on the day you apply. This is where most people discover they are eligible sooner than they thought, or later.
- You have been living in Australia on a valid visa for the 4 years immediately before the day you apply.
- You have held a permanent visa, or a Special Category visa, for the last 12 months of that period.
- You have not been outside Australia for more than 12 months in total across those 4 years.
- You have not been outside Australia for more than 90 days in total in the 12 months immediately before you apply.
Permanent residence starts on the day the permanent visa was granted if you were in Australia, or on the day you first entered Australia on it if you were not. That distinction moves the date for anyone who was granted permanent residence offshore and took a few months to move, and it is the single most common reason a calculation comes out wrong. The Department publishes a residence calculator for the sums.
- You are under 16 years old.
- You were born to a former Australian citizen who lost their citizenship before 4 April 2002.
- You were born in Papua before 16 September 1975 and one of your parents was born in Australia and was an Australian citizen when you were born.
New Zealand citizens count their permanent residence differently
Special Category (subclass 444) visa holders
If the Department granted the SCV before 1 July 2022 it treats you as a permanent resident from 1 July 2022, so you have been able to apply since 1 July 2023. If it was granted for the first time on or after 1 July 2022, permanent residence runs from the grant date. The 4 year residence and the absence limits still apply.
New Zealand stream Skilled Independent (subclass 189) visa holders
If the visa was granted during 2022 the Department treats you as a permanent resident from 1 January 2022, so you have been able to apply since 1 January 2023. If it was granted on or after 1 January 2023, you can apply from the grant date. You do not need to have held the visa for 12 months first. The 4 year residence and the absence limits still apply.
What else has to be true?
Three things that are judgement rather than arithmetic, and the second one catches more people than anything else on this page.
Good character
Good character is described by the Department as the enduring moral qualities of a person, and it is assessed for everyone aged 18 or over.
- Recorded criminal convictions.
- Obligations you may have to a court in Australia or overseas.
- Association with people of concern.
- Incidents of reported domestic violence.
- Whether you have been honest in your dealings with the Australian community, including whether false or misleading information was given in a visa or citizenship application.
A close and continuing link to Australia
The Department must be satisfied that you are likely to live in Australia, or to keep a close and continuing link with Australia while you are overseas.
A close and continuing association with family or other social relationships in Australia, including with Australian citizens, may not be sufficient on its own.
- Whether you rent or own property, and where it is.
- Where your high value assets are, such as a house, a car or a bank account.
- Your source of income, employment, family situation and schooling arrangements.
- Your travel in and out of Australia, why you travelled, how often, and how long you spent in each place.
- Participation in the Australian community, through community groups, clubs or charities.
- Whether you have close family who are Australian citizens or permanent residents and intend to live here.
This is the criterion that surprises long-standing permanent residents who work overseas and visit often. The absences may add up correctly and the link still be a question, because they are two separate tests and the second one is about your life rather than your calendar.
Knowledge, and English
Most applicants aged 18 to 59 sit the citizenship test, which covers a basic knowledge of English and an understanding of Australia and of what citizenship involves. You meet the requirement by scoring 75 per cent or more and answering all 5 Australian values questions correctly.
When the Department cannot approve an application at all
Some things are not a judgement about your case. They are bars, and while one applies no application can be approved however good the rest of it is.
- The Department is not satisfied of your identity, which it assesses from birth.
- Proceedings for an offence against an Australian law are pending, including an appeal or a review.
- It is less than 2 years since you were released from prison after a sentence of 12 months or more, or less than 10 years if you are a repeat offender.
- You are subject to conditions set by an Australian court, such as parole, a good behaviour bond or bail.
- You are in prison or a psychiatric institution by order of a court at the time of the decision.
- You are assessed as a risk to the security of Australia.
- You ceased to be an Australian citizen in the past 12 months.
Most of these come with a date attached, which means the useful question is usually not whether to apply but when. Lodging inside a bar costs the charge and buys the same answer you would have got for nothing.
If the arithmetic does not work, is there any discretion?
There are several, and they mostly concern time that would not otherwise count. The Minister can decide to treat a period differently in a defined set of situations.
- Time in Australia as an unlawful non-citizen, where the Minister considers that was the result of an administrative error.
- Time in Australia as a temporary resident, where the Minister considers you were not a permanent resident because of an administrative error.
- Time in prison or a psychiatric institution, where the Minister is satisfied it would be unreasonable not to count it.
- Time in Australia as a temporary resident, where the Minister is satisfied you would otherwise suffer significant hardship or disadvantage.
- Time spent overseas as a permanent resident while you were the spouse or de facto partner of an Australian citizen, if you kept a close and continuing association with Australia during it.
There is also a special residence requirement with much shorter periods, for a narrow set of people who need citizenship to do a particular thing: athletes selected for certain Australian teams, some Commonwealth roles needing a high security clearance, and some work that requires constant travel. It is worth checking against the Department’s list if that sounds like your situation, and ignoring otherwise.
Do you need to buy anything to prepare for the test?
No, and this is the one place on this site that says so about itself.
The Department publishes the resource booklet Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond free, in English and in a range of community languages, with a podcast series. It says on its own page that the booklet is all you need to prepare and that it does not endorse or recommend any external course or paid app that claims to help. Jenny does not sell test preparation and there is no reason to buy any.
The details of the appointment, who sits a test and who has an interview instead, are on the Department’s test and interview page.
What happens after you apply?
Most people become a citizen by making the pledge of commitment at a ceremony, and the certificate follows it. The Department aims to hold the ceremony within 6 months of approving an application, though waiting times vary. Some applicants do not have to make the pledge, and they become citizens on the day the application is approved.
The ceremony is the moment citizenship actually starts for most people, which matters more than it sounds: an Australian passport comes after the pledge, not after the approval.
If a citizenship application is refused, the Department sends a letter setting out the reasons, where to lodge a request for review, and the time limit for doing it. The Administrative Review Tribunal reviews citizenship refusals, and its time limits are as strict here as anywhere else. The refusals page sets out those deadlines and what the Tribunal can and cannot do.
What Jenny does with a citizenship matter
Five things, and the first one occasionally means you do not need her at all.
Checks whether you are already a citizen
Some people reading a page like this do not need to apply at all and need evidence of citizenship instead. That is a different form, and it is cheaper.
Does the residence arithmetic properly
Four years, twelve months of permanent residence, twelve months of absence, ninety days in the final year. Every trip counts, the start date is not always the visa grant date, and one day over is still over.
Finds the date you become eligible
Where you are not eligible yet, the useful answer is the day you will be, so that a trip planned for next winter does not quietly reset the ninety day count.
Deals with the parts that are not arithmetic
Character, the close and continuing link, and any of the hard bars. These are the ones worth raising before you lodge rather than answering afterwards.
Prepares the application and the evidence
Identity from birth, police certificates where they are needed, and the documents that show the link to Australia rather than asserting it.
A straightforward citizenship application is one of the few things in migration a person can genuinely do alone, and Jenny will say so when that is what she is looking at. The ones worth bringing to her are the ones where the sums are close, where the years overseas are long, or where something on the file needs explaining before it is read by someone else.
Australian citizenship, answered plainly.
If the four years are close, the date is worth getting right.
When you became a permanent resident, every trip since, and anything on the file that would need explaining. Jenny will tell you the day you become eligible, or the reason you already are.
Indicative guidance only, not migration advice. Your details stay private.
Written and checked by Jenny Satya Graha, Registered Migration Agent MARN 0429372. Every requirement, charge and processing time on this page was checked on 1 September 2026 against the Department of Home Affairs pages for permanent residents and eligible New Zealand citizens, people aged 60 and over, people aged 16 or 17, citizenship by descent and the citizenship test. Criteria, charges and processing times are set by the Australian Government and change. Check the Department’s own pages to confirm anything above, including the requirements that apply to you.