Apparently, I am not an Australian

I was imported into Australia from Canada on my father’s passport 41 years ago, and at the time the Immigration officials were quite firmly of the opinion that this action made me an Australian citizen. Now, they’re not. Citizenship took a month to work this out. If I file an application for citizenship today and it’s all correct, I can be an Australian citizen in two to three months, at which point I can apply for a passport... which might take ten days to two weeks to arrive. So we’re looking at late March before I can get a passport.

I’d hate to be in a hurry, need to visit a dying relative or whatever.

The solution is apparently to travel as a Canadian, and the entire paperwork process should take less than a week, including snailmail from Canada to here.

Does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?

Meanwhile, once I’ve got a passport I need to apply for a Resident Return Visa, otherwise Australia won’t let me back in (even ’though New Zealand are quite happy to — d’oh?)... so what happens if I don’t get an RRV? Do I get deported to Canada?

Two to three months to process a citizenship application? Hello? What on earth are they doing in there? Jobs for the boys? Stealth Vogon invasion?

Comments

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