I want to cancel my visa

The greatest benefit to cancelling your own visa is to avoid breaching visa conditions and be subjected to cancellation by the Department of Immigration. The difference could mean applicable exclusion periods preventing you from being granted another visa.

Situations where it is better to cancel your own visa may include:

• Accessing your superannuation accumulated while holding work visa if you no longer wish to work in Australia

• Being relieve of the visa conditions if you have applied for another visa, eg. cancelling your student visa if you have applied for partner visa

• Cancelling your student visa if you no longer wish to study

I want to renounce my Australian citizenship

Circumstances may arise necessitating the need to renounce your own Australian citizenship. Australian citizens lose their Australian citizenship if they formally renounce it. They can only do this if they have dual citizenship or will acquire another citizenship immediately after renouncing their Australian citizenship. An applicant must:

• be over 18 years and a national or citizen of another country; or

• have been born, or is resident, in another country but not entitled to acquire nationality or citizenship there because they are an Australian citizen - the most common situation is where a person born with dual citizenship is required by another country’s laws to decide which citizenship they want to keep when they become an adult.

The applicant should include a statement from a representative of another government that the person is a citizen of their country or, if the person was born or is ordinarily resident in that foreign country, will become one on renunciation of Australian citizenship.

A renunciation may not be approved if:

• the Minister is not satisfied of the person’s identity;

• the application is made when Australia is at war;

• it is in the interest of Australia to refuse it; or

• it would result in the person being stateless.

Children of parents who lost their citizenship

Children under 18 may lose their Australian citizenship if their responsible parent loses their Australian citizenship in certain ways, eg. the responsible parent renounces their citizenship. This is discretionary, ie. the Minister must decide whether to revoke the child’s citizenship. A child cannot have their Australian citizenship revoked if it would cause them to become stateless. It also cannot be revoked if at least one responsible parent is still a citizen of Australia or was an Australian citizen when they died. If a child does lose his or her Australian citizenship, they may be able to regain it.

Our Expertise

There are a number of dangerous issues that may arise from cancelling your own visa or citizenship. For example, the Department of Immigration may choose to exercise its own powers to cancel your visa. There are many other ways to cause your visa to cease to be in effect, particularly to preserve the bridging visa A. Contact us for assistance.