Australia Confirms How Long Foreign Spouses Must Live In Country To Get Citizenship
- Australia's Department of Home Affairs has outlined the residence requirements foreign spouses must meet before they can apply for citizenship by conferral
- A foreign spouse married to an Australian citizen must first go through the Partner visa process, which involves two visa stages before permanent residency is granted
- The citizenship timeline for a foreign spouse follows the same 4-year residence rule that applies to all permanent residents, with strict absence limits also in place
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Australia's Department of Home Affairs has outlined on its official pages what foreign spouses of Australian citizens must do to eventually become citizens.
Marrying an Australian does not grant citizenship, nor does it create a faster route to it.
Source: UGC
A foreign spouse follows the same citizenship by conferral process as any other permanent resident, starting from the moment they first arrive in Australia on a valid visa.
How the Partner Visa Works: From 820 to 801
The journey begins with the Partner visa. According to the Department of Home Affairs, a foreign spouse applies for two visas simultaneously.
These include the temporary Partner visa (subclass 820) and the permanent Partner visa (subclass 801). Both applications are lodged together and paid for at the same time.
The subclass 820 allows the spouse to live in Australia temporarily while the permanent visa application is being processed.
Eligibility for the subclass 801 permanent visa is calculated from the date the original application was lodged, with processing for the permanent visa beginning two years after that date.
Once granted, the subclass 801 allows the spouse to remain in Australia permanently.
The Citizenship Requirement: 4 Years on a Valid Visa
To apply for Australian citizenship by conferral, the Department of Home Affairs states that an applicant must have lived in Australia on a valid visa for 4 years immediately before the day they apply.
Within that 4-year window, the applicant must have held a permanent visa for the last 12 months immediately before applying.
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Additionally, absences from Australia must not exceed 12 months across the full 4-year period, and must not exceed 90 days in the 12 months directly before applying.
The 4-year residence requirement counts time spent on the temporary 820 visa as well.
This means a foreign spouse does not need to wait an additional 4 years after receiving permanent residency before they can apply for citizenship.
In a typical case, the timeline works as follows: at Year 0, the spouse arrives in Australia on the temporary subclass 820 visa; at Year 2, they become eligible for the permanent subclass 801 visa; and at Year 4, provided all residence and absence conditions are met, including having held the permanent visa for at least 12 months, they may be eligible to apply for citizenship by conferral.
Exemptions, discretions, and special circumstances may apply to individual cases, and the Department of Home Affairs provides a Residence Calculator on its website to help applicants estimate whether they meet the residence requirement before lodging a citizenship application.
Australia lists occupations still lacking workers
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Jobs and Skills Australia identified 127 occupations that remained in persistent shortage from 2021 to 2026 across the country.
Technicians and Trades Workers and Professionals made up 90% of the persistently short-staffed roles, spread across several key industries.
Source: Legit.ng
