Australian citizenship process for newborn in SG to Australian parents

[roysg]

Hi folks,

Hoping I can get some advice here... I've been going crazy being shuffled department to department at the embassy trying to figure out the process.

My son was born over the weekend, so I'm trying to get all the paperwork filed for his Aussie citizenship and SG visa. My understanding of the process is:
1) Apply for Australian citizenship by descent
2) Once that is complete, apply for an Australian passport
3) Once that is complete, apply for Singapore PR

On step 1 I'm going a bit nuts. They want me to get a passport picture of him and get it certified by someone who is a 'trusted' profession (doctor, lawyer) and has known him over 1 year...he's only 3 days old...

There's also this requirement for me to submit evidence of my citizenship prior to Australia (for some reason). It was over 30 years ago, so I don't really have that. Trying to understand if a statutory declaration would be sufficient.

Any advice/thoughts would be really appreciated

[singaporeflyer]

Hi folks,

Hoping I can get some advice here... I've been going crazy being shuffled department to department at the embassy trying to figure out the process.

My son was born over the weekend, so I'm trying to get all the paperwork filed for his Aussie citizenship and SG visa. My understanding of the process is:
1) Apply for Australian citizenship by descent
2) Once that is complete, apply for an Australian passport
3) Once that is complete, apply for Singapore PR

On step 1 I'm going a bit nuts. They want me to get a passport picture of him and get it certified by someone who is a 'trusted' profession (doctor, lawyer) and has known him over 1 year...he's only 3 days old...

There's also this requirement for me to submit evidence of my citizenship prior to Australia (for some reason). It was over 30 years ago, so I don't really have that. Trying to understand if a statutory declaration would be sufficient.

Any advice/thoughts would be really appreciated

You have mentioned nothing about

1. What is your, your spouse's nationality, citizenhip, residence status in SG.
2 Where all of you are currently residing.

Without this basic info, how can we suggest?

[roysg]

My spouse is Malaysian and I'm Australian. We're both Singapore PR and living here

[singaporeflyer]

Hi folks,

Hoping I can get some advice here... I've been going crazy being shuffled department to department at the embassy trying to figure out the process.

My son was born over the weekend, so I'm trying to get all the paperwork filed for his Aussie citizenship and SG visa. My understanding of the process is:
1) Apply for Australian citizenship by descent
2) Once that is complete, apply for an Australian passport
3) Once that is complete, apply for Singapore PR

On step 1 I'm going a bit nuts. They want me to get a passport picture of him and get it certified by someone who is a 'trusted' profession (doctor, lawyer) and has known him over 1 year...he's only 3 days old...

There's also this requirement for me to submit evidence of my citizenship prior to Australia (for some reason). It was over 30 years ago, so I don't really have that. Trying to understand if a statutory declaration would be sufficient.

Any advice/thoughts would be really appreciated

You may need to apply for LTVP before PR

[PNGMK]

This is why I suggest to Australian's who want their child to be Australian without fuss to go back for the birth. Seriously though this should be possible through the Aust High Comm.

[RoastBeefBaron]

Yeah, it's easy, and steps 1 and 2 shouldn't take longer than a few weeks.

[dh0licious]

Hi folks,

Hoping I can get some advice here... I've been going crazy being shuffled department to department at the embassy trying to figure out the process.

My son was born over the weekend, so I'm trying to get all the paperwork filed for his Aussie citizenship and SG visa. My understanding of the process is:
1) Apply for Australian citizenship by descent
2) Once that is complete, apply for an Australian passport
3) Once that is complete, apply for Singapore PR

On step 1 I'm going a bit nuts. They want me to get a passport picture of him and get it certified by someone who is a 'trusted' profession (doctor, lawyer) and has known him over 1 year...he's only 3 days old...

There's also this requirement for me to submit evidence of my citizenship prior to Australia (for some reason). It was over 30 years ago, so I don't really have that. Trying to understand if a statutory declaration would be sufficient.

Any advice/thoughts would be really appreciated

Did you ever get this sorted? I'm currently in the same boat - Aussie husband (myself) with Indian wife, child born a week ago in Singapore

Yeah, it's easy, and steps 1 and 2 shouldn't take longer than a few weeks.

Is this something you did yourself, and can say from experience it only took a few weeks (Australian citizenship by descent followed by passport)?

[PNGMK]

^ my understanding from various FB pages for Aussie expats is that the process of obtaining paperwork for newborns for Aussies (PP esp) has really slowed down in the pandemic. There is a new Australian High Commissioner in town and hopefully he will address this.

[roysg]

Hi folks,

Hoping I can get some advice here... I've been going crazy being shuffled department to department at the embassy trying to figure out the process.

My son was born over the weekend, so I'm trying to get all the paperwork filed for his Aussie citizenship and SG visa. My understanding of the process is:
1) Apply for Australian citizenship by descent
2) Once that is complete, apply for an Australian passport
3) Once that is complete, apply for Singapore PR

On step 1 I'm going a bit nuts. They want me to get a passport picture of him and get it certified by someone who is a 'trusted' profession (doctor, lawyer) and has known him over 1 year...he's only 3 days old...

There's also this requirement for me to submit evidence of my citizenship prior to Australia (for some reason). It was over 30 years ago, so I don't really have that. Trying to understand if a statutory declaration would be sufficient.

Any advice/thoughts would be really appreciated

Did you ever get this sorted? I'm currently in the same boat - Aussie husband (myself) with Indian wife, child born a week ago in Singapore

Yep all sorted but it was a giant pain in the ass and took like 5 months all up to have my son legally allowed to stay in Singapore long term.

The first step was to get a citizenship by descent. I did it online (https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizen ... by-descent) and it was mostly ok except for where it asked me to prove my citizenship prior to Australia (I had Indian citizenship like 30+ years ago but don't have my original passport on hand anymore). No-one on any helpline was very helpful so ultimately I just filled out a statutory declaration stating what my previous citizenship was, when I lost it and declared that I have no other citizenships other than Australian (https://singapore.embassy.gov.au/sing/S ... ation.html). My understanding is that you can use a statdec as a replacement for most forms if you really cannot provide them.

Anyway, this took a few weeks to get processed. In the meantime you have to go back to ICA every 30 days to request an extension to the temporary stay visa your baby has. You need to bring a print out of the submitted citizenship form as proof.

Once the citizenship was finalised that was a HUGE weight off my shoulders as even if later there are paperwork issues, at least my son wouldn't be stateless and has some recourse to go to the embassy to get help.

Applying for a passport was next (https://www.passports.gov.au/getting-pa ... d-passport). The tricky parts here were that you need a photo which is signed by someone who has known the applicant for more than 12 months. It doesn't say this anywhere, but the policy is that you can get your baby's paediatrician to sign this (even if they are not certified by the Australian medical association), and the 12 month requirement is just "whoever has known them since birth" if they are <1 year old. If you are not residing in Australia, the requirement for the authoriser to be a citizen/certified in Australia is waived.

The other unclear part of the process was that you cannot pay for express service of the passport if you are not living in Australia. In Singapore we can only apply for normal speed processing.

Once THAT is done, you get your passport and apply for a LTVP as Child of a Singapore PR (https://www.ica.gov.sg/pass/LTVP/pass_LTVP_apply). This is way more straight forward and takes only a few weeks. My son is still on LTVP, I have basically gone and renewed it once a year and haven't moved him to a full PR yet as we're not sure how long we will continue to stay in SG.

Oh yes, and throughout all this you need to keep going back to ICA and requesting extensions to the temporary stay visa for your child every 30 days........

[dh0licious]

^ my understanding from various FB pages for Aussie expats is that the process of obtaining paperwork for newborns for Aussies (PP esp) has really slowed down in the pandemic. There is a new Australian High Commissioner in town and hopefully he will address this.

That's good to know, fingers crossed.

Hi folks,

Hoping I can get some advice here... I've been going crazy being shuffled department to department at the embassy trying to figure out the process.

My son was born over the weekend, so I'm trying to get all the paperwork filed for his Aussie citizenship and SG visa. My understanding of the process is:
1) Apply for Australian citizenship by descent
2) Once that is complete, apply for an Australian passport
3) Once that is complete, apply for Singapore PR

On step 1 I'm going a bit nuts. They want me to get a passport picture of him and get it certified by someone who is a 'trusted' profession (doctor, lawyer) and has known him over 1 year...he's only 3 days old...

There's also this requirement for me to submit evidence of my citizenship prior to Australia (for some reason). It was over 30 years ago, so I don't really have that. Trying to understand if a statutory declaration would be sufficient.

Any advice/thoughts would be really appreciated

Did you ever get this sorted? I'm currently in the same boat - Aussie husband (myself) with Indian wife, child born a week ago in Singapore

Yep all sorted but it was a giant pain in the ass and took like 5 months all up to have my son legally allowed to stay in Singapore long term.

The first step was to get a citizenship by descent. I did it online (https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizen ... by-descent) and it was mostly ok except for where it asked me to prove my citizenship prior to Australia (I had Indian citizenship like 30+ years ago but don't have my original passport on hand anymore). No-one on any helpline was very helpful so ultimately I just filled out a statutory declaration stating what my previous citizenship was, when I lost it and declared that I have no other citizenships other than Australian (https://singapore.embassy.gov.au/sing/S ... ation.html). My understanding is that you can use a statdec as a replacement for most forms if you really cannot provide them.

Anyway, this took a few weeks to get processed. In the meantime you have to go back to ICA every 30 days to request an extension to the temporary stay visa your baby has. You need to bring a print out of the submitted citizenship form as proof.

Once the citizenship was finalised that was a HUGE weight off my shoulders as even if later there are paperwork issues, at least my son wouldn't be stateless and has some recourse to go to the embassy to get help.

Applying for a passport was next (https://www.passports.gov.au/getting-pa ... d-passport). The tricky parts here were that you need a photo which is signed by someone who has known the applicant for more than 12 months. It doesn't say this anywhere, but the policy is that you can get your baby's paediatrician to sign this (even if they are not certified by the Australian medical association), and the 12 month requirement is just "whoever has known them since birth" if they are <1 year old. If you are not residing in Australia, the requirement for the authoriser to be a citizen/certified in Australia is waived.

The other unclear part of the process was that you cannot pay for express service of the passport if you are not living in Australia. In Singapore we can only apply for normal speed processing.

Once THAT is done, you get your passport and apply for a LTVP as Child of a Singapore PR (https://www.ica.gov.sg/pass/LTVP/pass_LTVP_apply). This is way more straight forward and takes only a few weeks. My son is still on LTVP, I have basically gone and renewed it once a year and haven't moved him to a full PR yet as we're not sure how long we will continue to stay in SG.

Oh yes, and throughout all this you need to keep going back to ICA and requesting extensions to the temporary stay visa for your child every 30 days........

That's really helpful man. I have a few questions;

1) For the Citizenship by Descent, I'm being asked to complete a Form 1195 (https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/form-li ... s/1195.pdf) which requires:

a) passport photos of the baby, and
b) states that;

"Questions 2 and 3 must be completed by a person
who:
• is an Australian citizen, and
• has known the applicant for at least one year, and
• is currently working in a profession or occupation listed on
pages 1–2, and
• is not related to the applicant by birth, marriage or de facto
relationship, and
• is easy to contact by telephone during normal working hours"

I noticed you said that you had to obtain the above (1a and 1b) only once you got to the stage of applying for passport (and not at the Citizenship by Descent stage). Is that correct? You didn't have to obtain this for Citizenship by Descent as well? Did you not have to do Form 1195 for Citizenship by descent?

If possible it would be great to have a quick chat. Let me know and I can PM you.

Appreciate your input so far by the way

[roysg]

I might be remembering the sequence a bit off. Possible they had the photo at an earlier stage, but basically I just took one and got the Singapore pediatrician to sign it and everything worked fine. PMd you

[dh0licious]

I might be remembering the sequence a bit off. Possible they had the photo at an earlier stage, but basically I just took one and got the Singapore pediatrician to sign it and everything worked fine. PMd you

Thanks a lot for the response and sorry for my lack of response.

As an update, I applied for Australian citizenship by descent online. I had to get our pediatrician to sign the form as well as the back of her passport photo. This got approved within only 4 business days.

I then went ahead and applied for AU passport at Australian embassy. Awaiting the outcome for that currently. Here as well I had to get the pediatrician to sign the form as well as back of passport photo.

Thanks for your help.

[PNGMK]

This is really good information. Thanks for posting it (fellow Aussie here but well past child breeding).

[KasiaF]

Thank you for this thread. We are facing a similar issue. My husband and I were both born in Australia and our son will be born in Singapore. The Australian authorities have said to us that it could take up to 8 months to issue his citizenship by descent certificate......this obviously means no passport and no DP too for that period.
What have others’ experience been in processing times of Australian citizenship for newborns in the past year....this seems far too Long for a vanilla online process.

[roysg]

Thank you for this thread. We are facing a similar issue. My husband and I were both born in Australia and our son will be born in Singapore. The Australian authorities have said to us that it could take up to 8 months to issue his citizenship by descent certificate......this obviously means no passport and no DP too for that period.
What have others’ experience been in processing times of Australian citizenship for newborns in the past year....this seems far too Long for a vanilla online process.

Yep, that's right. You will need to go back to ICA every 30 days to get an extension on the temporary visit pass for a few months. I did find the citizenship did come in a bit faster than they had estimated because I think they do prioritize newborns vs. those applying that already have existing citizenship