Citizenship Application: Have You Ever Been an Unlawful Non-Citizen in Australia?
What Happened in the Case of Mrs. GNM?
Mrs. GNM (the Applicant), a citizen of the Philippines, who first arrived in Australia in August 1996 holding a Visitor Visa. In November 1996 she applied for a Protection Visa claiming she was afraid of the security situation in the Philippines, which was refused by the Department on 25 January 1997 and this rejection was affirmed by the Refugee Review Tribunal on 24 July 1997. Subsequently, she became an unlawful non-citizen until she lodged an application for a partner visa in 2011 and was granted an associated bridging visa in 2012. In 2017 the Applicant applied for citizenship, which was formally refused by the Delegate of the Minister on 6 June 2018. Mrs. GNM sought a review to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review the delegate’s decision.
KEY LEGISLATION
Section 21(2) of Citizenship Act 2007 (the Act) requires that the person:
(h) is of good character at the time of the Minister’s decision on the application.
THE MINISTER’S REASON FOR REFUSING MRS GINA’S APPLICATION
When reviewing the case, the Tribunal considered that Mrs. GNM was not a good character because despite she held several different visas at different times, she was an unlawful non-citizen for over a decade.
Although the Tribunal felt sympathetic for the Applicant’s position given her personal history, she did not put adequate effort to regularise her unlawful position or bring herself into conformity with the laws of Australia during these 14 years. Therefore, this rejection was affirmed by the Tribunal.
How Can Agape Henry Crux Help
If you were unlawful non-citizen and overstayed Australia before and now you want to apply for Australian Citizenship, please call one of our highly trained immigration lawyers at Agape Henry Crux. They can be contacted on (02)-7200 2700 or email us to book in a time at info@ahclawyers.com
We speak fluent English, Korean, Burmese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Indonesian and Malay. If these aren’t your language, we can also help you arrange an interpreter