Australian citizenship

Children under 18 will be able to apply for Australian citizenship by grant through a new citizenship law enacted recently.

The Australian High Commission said this applies to those children who were born after their parent or parents had lost Australian citizenship under a now repealed section.

The commission said it was important to state it was not required for the parent to have resumed Australian citizenship in order to grant citizenship to the child or for the child to be a permanent resident in Australia.

The new law, it said, does not apply to children over 18 years whose parent lost Australian citizenship under the now repealed section 17 of the Act and does not apply to children whose parent renounced Australian citizenship or whose parent lost it under the Act.

Recent additional citizenship law changes include increasing the age limit for registering as an Australian citizenship by descent from 18 until before their 25th birthday for persons born to an Australian parent overseas. They also allow those who had renounced their Australian citizenship when they were 18 to resume it before turning 25, while those Maltese who have a Maltese citizenship certificate and who lost their Australian citizenship when they were 19 or older may resume it with no age limit to apply. Another change is that a child who lost his/her Australian citizenship because their parent lost it may apply to resume it.

Applications and enquiries may be made at the Australian High Commission, Ta' Xbiex Terrace, Ta' Xbiex between Monday and Friday from 8.30 a.m. to noon or by phoning 2133 8201 between Monday and Friday from 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 1 p.m. and 3.50 p.m. asking for Antoniette Mifsud.