# Child born in overseas to Australian citizen



## keerthy (May 6, 2013)

Hi All,
Please assist with my below query.

I am Australian citizen (recently received my citizenship) and my wife is in Australian PR. We are planning to have our baby delivered in India as both our parents couldn't able to travel down to Australia because of their health conditions for delivery.

With given condition, would it be possible for my new born child to get Australian citizenship though child birth would happen in India? Or would it be the case, that I need to go through a formal PR application process and need to wait for 14months to get my baby back to Australia.

Request your advise on this.


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## espresso (Nov 2, 2012)

Hi keerthy, 

just to point you in the right direction: 
Citizenship - How to Apply (Citizenship by Descent) 

I can only think of one restriction, to quote from the 
Citizenship FAQ - Child born overseas to an Australian citizen: 


> If your responsible *parent* became an Australian *citizen by descent*, he or she must have been present in Australia for *periods totalling two years at some time in their life*.


Not sure if that would apply to you, but I thought I'd include it just in case. 

Cheerio, 
Monika


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## keerthy (May 6, 2013)

Hi Monica,
Thank you for the pointers. It helped. Guess below would be complete match for my circumstances

"You may be eligible to apply to become an Australian citizen by descent if:

you were born outside Australia
and
one of your parents was an Australian citizen at the time of your birth."

And also as the eligibility criteria as per above clause is meet, I may be able to follow instructions from below URL to get the application process for my baby

DIAC home page --> in search box --> select "citizenship" --> and search for "Application process for citizenship by descent" 

Now we have the first link in search results page for the instructions on how to apply for my circumstances. Sorry couldn't provide this page link as expat forum web portal prevents me in posting URL.

Could you please help me in validating above data or is there anything I am missing. Thanks a lot!


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## Guest (May 6, 2013)

You have it right, your child can apply for citizenship by descent. But you should know your child will not be able to pass this citizenship on (under current law) if they have children outside of Australia if they have not lived in the country for more than 2 years.


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