5.6 ‘After the honeymoon’: Citizenship is not the complete answer to statelessness but holds significant weight and meaning for stateless people It is important to state that although obtaining citizenship means somebody is no longer considered legally stateless, this does not resolve many of the ongoing challenges a person may experience by virtue of their previous statelessness status, such as family separation, a sense of exclusion from their new community, separation from one’s land, country and culture, socio economic barriers stemming from their previous visa restrictions (such as a prohibition on working, and therefore saving money for many years) and ongoing mental health challenges. “After I got my citizenship, I felt that after 30-something years, I belonged somewhere. I can actually have a life without having issues. Not without having any issues—there are always issues for everyone—but without having the basic issues. But after the honeymoon, you realise where you live now is still far from the perfect world. So I feel happy. I feel I belong somewhere. At the same time, I feel sad about being out of my own land. Yeah, there is a mixture of happiness and growth in me. It reminds me of the season of autumn. When you see the colourful leaves floating from the branches to the ground. The beauty of walking through the colours of these leaves, the crunch as you walk across them. But also the sadness, because the leaves are leaving the tree. Winter will come, but then it will be followed by Spring—there is hope coming.” — Amir The unexpected challenges that can continue once a stateless person finally obtains some form of legal certainty (such as a visa, permanent residency or citizenship) were noted by members of the mental health profession. “There’s almost like a honeymoon period after they get their visa, but then they realise that isn’t actually the fix to all their problems. They still then are starting their life in Australia, all those lost years, all that trauma then can often—you know, they’re finally able to almost land and then all the trauma symptoms that they’ve kept at bay and they’ve been in fight or flight, they crash.” — Psychologist, Torture and Trauma Rehabilitation Service The powerful role, however, that citizenship can play in relation to a stateless person’s sense of ‘belonging’ in Australia was also highlighted by mental health professionals. “Citizenship is very significant obviously for a lot of people of refugee backgrounds, getting the passport enabling them to travel, et cetera. But particularly for stateless people, its recognition, it’s belonging to a community which they’ve never had.” — Mental Health Worker The significance of citizenship was emphasised consistently in many of the interviews we conducted with stateless people for this Project. “(Obtaining citizenship) means I’ve finally cracked it. It’s almost felt like this quest that I’ve been on for as long as I could remember… For me, citizenship is critical. And forget the legal part of it; to be called a citizen of a country, I mean, that’s something I’ve always wanted. I wanted to belong somewhere… Oh, I can’t even describe what (obtaining Australian citizenship) is going to be like. It’s going to be 33 years in the making, and lots of good people tried their best and unfortunately they’re not here anymore to celebrate it. It’s going to feel, I think, overwhelming. Because I feel I’ll be the one receiving that citizenship, or that certificate, but that’s the combination or the accumulation of the effort of so many amazing people—including my family—over 30 years, three decades, that helped me get to this point. So really, it should be around 30 people standing on that stage receiving that, with me, but I’ll try to make the best out of it and make the best out of this opportunity, because a lot of people paid a great price for me to get here.” — Fadi This extended to the sense of relief stateless parents reported feeling by seeing their children become Australian citizens, even in situations where they were unable to access any pathway to naturalisation for themselves. “When my youngest child got Australian citizenship I felt like crying. I am so happy. I don’t believe it really. I feel relief. All my life hardships are worth it to see my son okay. After more than a decade of limbo here, that is enough. Enough time to wait.” — Kareem* “Both our children have citizenship. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me feel. So very happy for the kids and what this means for their future. When I came here we had nothing. We are happy for the kids because their life is here now. They are Australian.” — Yasmin* Understanding Statelessness in Australia | Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness 67