2022
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
B
4(1)
Issue Two: Difficulty in Accessing and Navigating the Citizenship
Application Process
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.23
— Muhammad and Sumaiya,* Australian-based stateless Rohingya parents
to three children.
In addition to the lack of awareness of their child’s entitlement to apply for
Australian citizenship, our research indicated that parents of stateless children
experience difficulties navigating the complex and administratively burdensome
application process without access to free, specialised legal support.24
This is complicated by a lack of targeted legal funding for stateless children in
Australia. Our research indicates that stateless children with access to quality legal
assistance have better progressed citizenship claims than those who do not.25
Furthermore, significant barriers exist for non-English speaking applicants.
Information regarding the application process, available on the Department of
Home Affairs website only appears in English.26 The relevant application form is
also only available in English and is arduous and lengthy; 27 pages in length
including 51 questions, a majority of which are not relevant to Australian-born
stateless children.27 Indeed, even where stateless children have a relatively
straightforward claim to citizenship, they face an average wait time of 872 days
for their application to be processed. 28
C
Issue Three: A Lack of Consistent and Coordinated Data Regarding
Australia’s Stateless Population
The final key issue identified in our research is more fundamental; the number of
stateless persons in Australia — including children eligible to apply for citizenship
— is unknown. This is due to a lack of a coordinated or consistent approach to
recording such persons.29
Publicly available data regarding Australia’s stateless population does not
correlate with statistics reported by the Australian Government to UNHCR. For
example, data published by UNHCR for the 2019 reporting period lists a ‘-’ for
Australia’s stateless population meaning that either ‘zero’ persons were reported
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
ibid 14.
ibid 14.
ibid 15.
See ‘Become an Australian Citizen (by Conferral): Born in Australia and Are Stateless’,
Department
of
Home
Affairs
(Web
Page,
17
March
2020)
<https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/become-a-citizen/born-in-australia-stateless>.
ibid. See also Department of Home Affairs, Form 1290: Application for Australian
Citizenship (Form, August 2021).
Information obtained by the author in a response to a Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Australia) application, received 1 July 2020 (copy on hand with author).
Michelle Foster, Jane McAdam and Davina Wadley, ‘Part One: The Protection of Stateless
Persons in Australian Law: The Rationale for the Statelessness Determination Procedure’
(2016) 40(1) Melbourne University Law Review 401, 416.
208