3432 ACC Report f/a 1 - Australian Citizenship

Australian Citizenship for children adopted
under this agreement will be the same as for
those children adopted under the Convention.
Australia’s obligation under the Convention is
to provide for recognition of an adoption which
takes place under the Convention and to
accord the same rights to the child as would
be accorded to a child adopted in Australia.
The Family Law Act 1975 was amended in
1998 to provide for the automatic recognition
of adoptions made in accordance with the
requirements of the Convention or the
adoption agreement with the PRC.
At the moment, parents of a child adopted
overseas under the Convention may apply
for Citizenship on the child’s behalf under
streamlined procedures. In contrast, a child
adopted in Australia automatically acquires
Citizenship. However, automatic Citizenship for
a child adopted overseas may not always be
appropriate as the child may lose Citizenship
of their country of birth and/or residence.
No submissions raised issues relating to
Citizenship by adoption.
The Council notes that the Department of
Immigration and Multicultural Affairs is currently
considering what changes to Australian
Citizenship law, policy and procedures may be
required to ensure that Australia meets its
obligations under the Convention.
Acquiring Citizenship — (3) By descent
Australian Citizen parents living overseas are
able to register their children born overseas
so that they become Australian Citizens.
Section 10B of the Australian Citizenship Act
1948 (the Act) sets out the rules for such
registrations. About 8000 to 9000 children
are registered by their parents in this way
each year.
Section 10B provides that a child not born in
Australia can acquire Australian Citizenship by
descent if an application for registration is made
by their parents before they turn 18 years of age
(parents who obtained Australian Citizenship by
descent must have spent an aggregate of two
years in Australia before being able to register
their children for Australian Citizenship by
descent under section 10B).
Section 10C was introduced to provide further
opportunities for some people who were
previously eligible for registration but had not
been registered as Australian Citizens by
descent before they turned 18 years of age.
It allows persons who were over the age of
18 on the day on which the provision was
introduced, that is, 15 January 1992, to
register as Australian Citizens by descent.
Accordingly, people who were born between
26 January 1949 and 15 January 1974 can be
registered if they can demonstrate that they
have an acceptable reason for not having been
registered before turning 18 years of age.
Those born after 15 January 1974 who were
not registered for Australian Citizenship by their
18th birthday are not covered by the provision.
The Report of the Joint Standing Committee on
Migration titled ‘Australians All — Enhancing
Australian Citizenship’ (September 1994)
recommended that the time limitation in
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