In this case, our client Y. Vedernikova engaged us to assist her in applying for an Australian citizenship by conferral. However, our client had been previously informed by another law firm that she was ineligible because she did not satisfy the general residence requirement of the application. The general residence component requires the applicant to be present in Australia in the 4 years prior to the date of application lodgement, and that the total period of any absence does not exceed 12 months. This presented a difficulty to our client as she had recently travelled and lived in Singapore for 3 years due to her husband being temporarily relocated for work.
In our submission to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, we provided detailed evidence to show that our client maintained a close and continuing association with Australia during the period of time that she was in Singapore. Because of this relationship, we submitted that the period of time Ms Vedernikova spent in Singapore may be treated as if they were periods of time spent in Australia as a permanent resident, which could be used to satisfy the general residence requirement.
Having accepted the reasons in our submission, the Department granted Ms Vedernikova with her Australian citizenship. Through strategic thinking and careful preparation of our submission, we were successfully able to circumvent the general residence requirement.
