# Citizen By Descent - Australia



## LisaWard14 (Jan 28, 2012)

Hi,
So I am currently living in Canada and have never visited Australia. I have a Citizenship by Descent as my father lived there for years. I am thinking about visiting Australia and living/working for a few years. I am not sure what my Citizenship by Descent means... Am I a full citizen? Do I still need to get a visa? Can I get a TFN or Medicare card with only my citizenship by descent?

If you have any experience or knowledge with this please help!

Thanks
Lisa


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## Guest (Jan 28, 2012)

My husband is a citizen by descent, from which I got my spouse visa. 

You're a citizen, you can come and go freely into Australia. You can and should apply for a TFN & register for full medicare. 

ETA..... You must apply for an Australia passport if you do not have one. Citizens can not have visas and you will not be allowed into the country on your Canadian passport without a visa. Simple to do and the high commission in Canada should have all the details on the website. 

If living in Australia you are legally obliged to fille taxes every year. You are also legally obliged to register and vote, punishable by fine if you do not. 

You are entitled to Centrelink (welfare payments) immediately though most come with criteria and are means tested. 

You are entitled to HECS help (student loans) to pay for any education you want to undertake. 

If you have children outside of Australia and you have never lived in Australia your children wont be Australian. But if you have then outside and have lived in Australia for 2 years at some point they can also apply for citizenship by descent. BUT if you have children in Australia they are Australian citizens by birth. 

You can sponsor your spouse, children or parent for a visa. 

Go enjoy Australia, good luck.


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## LisaWard14 (Jan 28, 2012)

_shel said:


> You must apply for an Australia passport if you do not have one. Citizens can not have visas and you will not be allowed into the country on your Canadian passport without a visa. Simple to do and the high commission in Canada should have all the details on the website.


Thank you so much! The only problem here is that I've looked into getting an Australian passport, and it says I need a guarantor to sign one of my passport pictures. The guarantor needs to have known me for a year and have an Australian passport. They can't be related to me. I don't know anyone from Australia who isn't related to me! Do you know if there is any way around this?

Lisa


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## Guest (Jan 28, 2012)

They only have to be Australian if you are in Australia. My hubby used a British friend who is a school teacher to sign his. We applied for his passport in person at Australia house in London. They phoned the woman in front of us to verify she knew him etc so was not an issue.


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## LisaWard14 (Jan 28, 2012)

You're right, I looked a little more into it. The non-Australian guarantor has to have one of the jobs that they list. My friends dad is a cop so that will work just fine. Thank you so much for the information, feel a lot more organized now!


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