This has resulted in an unusual legal situation for the family, whereby the youngest member is an Australian citizen, yet his parents and siblings are on temporary visas, with no ability to apply for a permanent protection visa, no certainty regarding a long-term future in Australia, and no pathway to citizenship or permanent protection. Muhammad and Sumaiya did not know their son had an entitlement to citizenship until they met with a lawyer at RACS, who identified this entitlement in the course of giving them advice regarding visa matters. Muhammad and Sumaiya’s Story ‘For us, being stateless means we don’t have any country or documentation. We feel very distressed about this. When our son was granted Australian citizenship we were extremely happy. It was a big deal, because we have never known in our lives what it is like to be a citizen. It is our hope that all of our children will have a good education, find jobs and live a good life. Our eldest daughter Noor is very studious, and hopes to be a doctor when she grows up. This would not have been possible for her in our home country where she was born. Our middle daughter Farrah was born on our journey to Australia. She loves school. Her favourite subjects are maths and writing. Hasan, our youngest, is full of energy. He loves Spiderman and wants to be a police officer when he grows up. While our youngest son can get Australian citizenship, our older children cannot. While we understand that this is because he was born here, it has resulted in a strange situation for us as a family. While he is a citizen, the rest of us are on temporary visas, with uncertain futures. Being on a temporary three year visa is a huge source of stress to us. Hopefully, one day our other children will get citizenship, inshallah. We would never have known about, or been able to navigate the citizenship process without a lawyer. Accessing free legal advice has been essential for us.’ 37