# Certificate of Identity



## ahmed84 (Apr 3, 2013)

I have been granted PR but I only got to know now that the Australian Gov does not recognize my country (Somalia) passport due to the lack of an actual government for more than 25 years now. 

They will instead issue me a single entry travel document called (Document for Travel to Australia) which will allow me to enter Australia ONCE before my initial entry date. 

I was initially planning to return to Saudi after validating my visa for about 3-5 months to finalize my work and other commitments here before I finally move to Australia. I did know nothing about the passport situation so now my plan got complicated. 

There's something called a certificate of identity document that can be issued to people in similar situation like mine but there is little information about this document online. 

Does Anyone know about its requirements and processing time? Can I apply for it straight away once I land or is there a waiting period?

I called the passport dept. by the way but they said check with immigration and i can't reach the immigration inquiry line for some reason. 

Any help is really appreciated.


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## Haadka (Jun 10, 2014)

Hi Ahmed,

I am glad to see you have got your grant! I know nothing about this but I make prays may everything go OK with you.

Sadly, our passport is a miserable one. I Hope you found a solution to this problem, update us please.


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## Haadka (Jun 10, 2014)

I think you have seen this link. There are many other options:




> Document of Identity (if holder is not an Australian citizen then a visa is required)
> Certificate of Identity (a visa is required) - see below
> Document for Travel To Australia – DFTTA (a visa is required. DFTTAs are normally issued to offshore refugee and humanitarian entrants for their initial entry to Australia.)
> Laissez Passer (a visa is required)
> Convention Travel Document (such as Titre de Voyage – a visa is required) - see below



Travel Documents for Entry to Australia

Out of those, the most relevant to us is, as you said, Certificate of Identity:



> Certificates of Identity (COI)
> 
> A COI is primarily issued to non-Australian citizens holding specific DIAC issued visa classes, who are about to leave Australia and are unable to obtain a travel document from the country of which the person claims to be a national.
> 
> ...


https://www.passports.gov.au/web/travelrelateddocuments.aspx

So you can apply for COI and you should contact the embassy in Riyadh. 

About processing times: The only resource I found says it takes 20 days for overseas Australian passport application, so COI it should be in that range.

https://www.passports.gov.au/Web/BrochuresWebPages/BrochureProcessingTimesAndPriority.aspx


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