AU · Citizenship by descent

Australian citizenship by descent

Reaches a grandparent. Every answer on this page is what Postern’s rulebook returns, word for word, with the law it cites. The free check runs the same rules.

Last verified 25 September 20263 sourcesNot legal advice

AU · PARENTLIKELYThrough a parentCitizenship by descent (s. 16)AU · GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a grandparentCitizenship by descent through a citizen-by-descent parent (s. 16, as amended 2020)AU · GREAT-GRANDPARENTUNLIKELYThrough a great-grandparentThree generations
Routes
Citizenship by descent, registered (s. 16)
Dual citizenship
Kept on every open route

The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.

On this page
  1. 01Who qualifies
  2. 02Dates that matter
  3. 03Mothers’ lines
  4. 04Keeping your citizenship
  5. 05The routes and the law
  6. 06The documents
  7. 07What it takes
  8. 08Where the records live
  9. 09Law changes
  10. 10Other doors
  11. 11Sources

01Who qualifies

Who qualifies, generation by generation

LIKELY

Can you claim Australian citizenship through a parent?

Citizenship by descent (s. 16)

A child of an Australian citizen, born outside Australia, is entitled to register as a citizen by descent at any age; it is an application, not an automatic grant.

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Australian citizenship through a grandparent?

Citizenship by descent through a citizen-by-descent parent (s. 16, as amended 2020)

Since a 2020 reform, citizenship by descent can pass a second time: if your parent is a citizen by descent (through your Australian grandparent), you can still register as a citizen by descent yourself, provided your parent — or the other parent — lived in Australia for a total of at least two years at some point in their life.

What would settle itWhether your parent, or your other parent, has spent a total of two years physically present in Australia at any point in their life.

UNLIKELY

Can you claim Australian citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Three generations

For a great-grandparent line to work, your grandparent would first need to have registered as a citizen by descent, and then your parent as well, each meeting the two-year residence condition introduced in 2020 — we cannot confirm those earlier links without knowing whether they were made.

What would settle itWhether your grandparent and parent have already registered as citizens by descent, and whether either meets the two-year residence condition.

  • Citizenship by descent depends on the immediate parent's own citizenship status at the child's birth, or on the 2020 residence condition; it is not a direct grandparent or great-grandparent rule. Australian Citizenship Act 2007, s. 16

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

  1. 1949
    26 January 1949

    A person born outside Australia on or after 26 January 1949 is eligible to become a citizen by descent if a parent was an Australian citizen at the time of the birth. Australian Citizenship Act 2007, s. 16

  2. 2002
    4 April 2002

    Australia has allowed dual citizenship without restriction since 4 April 2002. Australian Citizenship Act 2007

  3. 2020
    1 July 2020

    Before 1 July 2020, a citizen-by-descent parent could not pass citizenship on to a child born overseas; the Citizenship by Descent Act 2020 removed that bar. Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship by Descent) Act 2020

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

Australia’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.

04Keeping your citizenship

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

05The routes

Every route, and the law behind it

Citizenship by descent (s. 16)

Open through a parent

  • LIKELY
    Through a parent

The law

Citizenship by descent through a citizen-by-descent parent (s. 16, as amended 2020)

Open through a grandparent

  • POSSIBLE
    Through a grandparent

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether your parent, or your other parent, has spent a total of two years physically present in Australia at any point in their life.

Three generations

Closed: no open answer on this route

  • UNLIKELY
    Through a great-grandparent

    For a great-grandparent line to work, your grandparent would first need to have registered as a citizen by descent, and then your parent as well, each meeting the two-year residence condition introduced in 2020 — we cannot confirm those earlier links without knowing whether they were made.

The law

  • Citizenship by descent depends on the immediate parent's own citizenship status at the child's birth, or on the 2020 residence condition; it is not a direct grandparent or great-grandparent rule. Australian Citizenship Act 2007, s. 16

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether your grandparent and parent have already registered as citizens by descent, and whether either meets the two-year residence condition.

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizenship by descent (s. 16)

Through a parent

  • Your parent's Australian citizenship certificate or passport
  • Your birth certificate
  • Form 118, Application for Australian citizenship by descent

Citizenship by descent through a citizen-by-descent parent (s. 16, as amended 2020)

Through a grandparent

  • Your grandparent's and parent's Australian citizenship records
  • Your birth certificate
  • Evidence of your parent's (or the other parent's) two years of residence in Australia

Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.

07What it takes

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizenship by descent (s. 16)

Time
A few months for Home Affairs to decide, once Form 118 and the supporting evidence are lodged.
Cost
AUD $370 (about $250) for the first applicant as of 1 July 2025, plus certified copies and translations; AUD $150 for each additional sibling on the same form.
The hard part
None if your parent’s Australian citizenship is already documented; this route is paperwork, not discretion.
Who decides
The Department of Home Affairs, online via ImmiAccount.
The first record
Your parent’s Australian citizenship certificate, Australian birth certificate, or Australian passport, from The Department of Home Affairs (citizenship certificate) or the state or territory births, deaths and marriages registry (birth certificate). Apply online through ImmiAccount with Form 118, attaching your parent’s citizenship evidence and your own birth certificate. immi.homeaffairs.gov.au

How it’s filed

Where
Online, through ImmiAccount. office list
How
Online; no appearance needed
Fee
About $250
Decision
1–6 months
What goes in the file (5)
  1. Form 118, completed online
  2. Your parent's Australian citizenship certificate, Australian birth certificate, or Australian passport
  3. Your birth certificate
  4. Your parents' marriage certificate, if applicable
  5. Identity documents as ImmiAccount's checklist asks
What goes wrong (3)
  • AUD $370 for the first applicant as of 1 July 2025 (about $250 at 2026 exchange rates); AUD $150 for each additional sibling on the same form. Fees are indexed and can change.
  • There is no age deadline to apply; this is a registration of an existing entitlement, not a discretionary grant.
  • Dual citizenship is unrestricted; the application does not ask you to give up any other citizenship.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Citizenship by descent through a citizen-by-descent parent (s. 16, as amended 2020)

Time
Several months to a year: assembling two years of scattered presence evidence usually takes longer than the decision itself.
Cost
AUD $370 (about $250) government fee, plus the cost of requesting old travel, tax, Medicare or school records to document the responsible parent’s time in Australia.
The hard part
Proving a “responsible parent” was physically present in Australia for a cumulative two years at some point in their life; passport stamps and decades-old records rarely add up neatly, and the two years need not be continuous or before the birth.
Who decides
The Department of Home Affairs, online via ImmiAccount, with the responsible-parent presence evidence attached.
The first record
Your grandparent’s Australian citizenship record, and any record of your parent’s time physically present in Australia (passport stamps, Medicare, tax or school records), from The Department of Home Affairs (citizenship records) and the parent’s own retained documents. Start by listing every trip to and period of residence in Australia the responsible parent can document, then request historical movement records from Home Affairs if the family’s own records are incomplete. immi.homeaffairs.gov.au

How it’s filed

Where
Online, through ImmiAccount. office list
How
Online; no appearance needed
Fee
About $250
Decision
2–12 months
What goes in the file (5)
  1. Form 118, completed online
  2. Your grandparent's Australian citizenship record
  3. Your parent's Australian citizenship-by-descent certificate
  4. Your birth certificate
  5. Evidence of the responsible parent's two years' total physical presence in Australia (passport stamps, Medicare, tax or school records)
What goes wrong (3)
  • Before 1 July 2020, a citizen-by-descent parent could not pass citizenship on to a child born overseas; the Citizenship by Descent Act 2020 replaced that limit with the responsible-parent presence test.
  • The two years of presence need not be continuous, and need not fall before the child's birth; assembling scattered historical evidence is usually the slowest part of this application, not Home Affairs' own decision time.
  • Same AUD $370 first-applicant fee as the direct route (about $250 at 2026 exchange rates).

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.

08Where the records live

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

  • birth

    The Department of Home Affairs (citizenship certificate) or the relevant state or territory births, deaths and marriages registry (Australian birth certificate)

    Order the citizenship certificate through Home Affairs, or the birth certificate through the state or territory registry where the parent was born.

    Ask
    Online, in English · request page ↗
    Takes
    2–9 weeks
    Good to know (1)
    • Unverified: exact turnaround for a citizenship certificate reissue requested from abroad.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into
English
Who may translate
No translation needed
About
$0–$0 a page

U.S. records are already in English; no translation is required. Non-English documents need a translation by a NAATI-accredited translator.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where
The Australian Passport Office, once citizenship by descent is granted.
Fee
Not confirmed
Time
2–4 weeks
  • Passport fee shown as a placeholder; the Passport Office prices adult passports by validity (5 or 10 years).

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Law changes

Recent and pending changes

The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Australia.

The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.

10Other doors

If descent doesn’t reach you

3 residence programs lead to Australia without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

11Sources

Every source on this page

2 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing. Records and filing checked 25 September 2026.

  1. LawAustralian Citizenship Act 2007 · s. 16
  2. LawAustralian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship by Descent) Act 2020
  3. RecordsThe Department of Home Affairs (citizenship certificate) or the state or territory births, deaths and marriages registry (birth certificate): Your parent’s Australian citizenship certificate, Australian birth certificate, or Australian passport · checked 25 September 2026

Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.

Check your family for Australia.

Name one ancestor. The check runs these same rules and answers in about a minute, with the law behind the answer.

Check your family

All 79 countries · Every door, not only descent