Australian citizenship

Becoming An Australian citizen is usually the end of peoples migration journey. As a citizen, you enjoy certain privileges but also need to take additional responsibilities.

Australian citizenship

The most natural way to become an Australian citizen is by birth, you will become a citizen automatically if you are born in Australia and at least one of your parents is citizen or Permanent resident of Australia.
However, if you and your family are immigrant and have become a Permanent Resident at later time then you will need to manually apply for Australian citizenship with Department of Home Affairs, it is also called citizenship by conferral. There are many pathways to get citizenship by conferral, and you need to choose the correct pathway based on your age and personal circumstances.

There are many ways to apply for Australian citizenship, they fall into three categories:

When Can I apply for Australian Citizenship?

When it comes to apply for Citizenship in Australia, the most frequent questions are when can I apply for it? How long I need to stay in Australia before I can apply for it?
If you are Permanent residents or eligible New Zealand citizens, you can apply for Australian citizenship by conferral with Department of Home Affairs after you meet the residence requirement.

The residence requirements are, at the time you apply, you must:

There are some residence requirements exemptions available, and you can still become Australian citizen even if you have not lived in Australia for enough time. For example, some Australian government agency staff or Australian Defense Force members do need to meet general residence requirement. Department of Home Affairs will make the final decision on the exemptions.

Please contact EZOZ Migration to check if you can meet the residence requirements or if you can access the exemptions.

Citizenship Application processing time

Application type

Period counted

Timeframe for 75% of applications

Timeframe for 90% of applications

Australian citizenship by conferral  (general eligibility and other situations)**

From date of application to decision
From date of approval to ceremony
From date of application to ceremony 
15 months
8 months
23 months
18 months
11 months
29 months

Australian citizenship by descent

From date of application to decision.

6 months

8 months

Evidence of Australian citizenship

From date of application to decision.

6 days

18 days

If you have an enquiry that relates to a particular visa:

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