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Residents of the USA must lodge their application for Australian citizenship by descent in the DIAC Washington office.
Residents in Mexico and Central America (including Cuba) must lodge their Australian citizenship applications and evidentiary certificates (except Citizenship by Conferral) at the Australian High Commission in Ottawa, Canada.
The following is a list of requirements to be included with your or your child's application for Australian citizenship by descent. We recommend that you submit all required documents in the first instance so as to ensure the timely processing of the application.
This office accepts copies of official documents as long as they are certified by an Australian consular officer or departmental employee. Otherwise, a person from your country of residence who has known you for at least 12 months and who belongs to one of the designated list of occupations can certify copies of the original documents.
Any material submitted in a language other than English must be accompanied with an English translation from a registered translator.
The application may be lodged in person or by mail. Please refer to our important tips for lodging your application in Washington.
Please submit the following information with your/your child's application for Australian citizenship by descent:
► Completed and signed Form 118
► Processing fee
Please refer to Form 1298i for the current fee and the currency converter for fees in US Dollars. We suggest that you also refer to our important tips for lodging your application in Washington.
Please note that the fee may be paid at any overseas DIAC office, including the DIAC office in Mexico City where cash or bank cheques in Mexican Pesos or US Dollars are acceptable.
► Return of passport and/or original documents once a visa or citizenship decision has been made:
The following two options are available for the return of your documents (passport and other original official documents you may have included with your application):
• You may enclose a self-addressed courier airbill with a company or personal account number OR a self-addressed stamped US Express Mail envelope (available for purchase from the US post office). Please ensure that in both cases, you note the tracking number so that you may monitor the return of your documents.
Note: If you have applied for citizenship, please note that we require a 9.5 inches by 8.5 inches envelope to accommodate the return of the certificate.
• If you choose not to provide an envelope for the return of your documents, you must complete a credit card authorization form to authorise billing for shipping so that we may return your documents safely and promptly via a traceable method.
Please also refer to the relevant section in our important tips for lodging your application in Washington.
► Endorsed passport size photograph
► Evidence applicant is a natural (not adopted**) child of an Australian Citizen: certified copy of applicant's birth certificate. For children born in the state of Florida and Pennsylvania, please submit the long version of the birth certificate as we require that the city of birth (not just the county of birth) be included on this document.
► Evidence of change of name:
Certified copy of marriage certificate; or
Certified copy of Deed Poll; or
Statutory Declaration (& at least two documents evidencing usage of name)
► Evidence that at least one parent was an Australian citizen at the applicant’s birth or became an Australian citizen on 26 January 1949:
Certified copy of birth certificate of parent; or
Certified copy of certificate of Australian citizenship; AND
Evidence that the Australian parent has not taken out another nationality prior to 4 April 2002. Examples of documents that may be submitted to substantiate your claim include, a copy of US visa and I-94, or US Resident Alien Card, US Naturalization Certificate or any other evidence of citizenship held from another country which shows the date that citizenship was acquired.
► Evidence of character:
Police check
If you are over 18 years of age*, you must provide an FBI criminal history record check AND a local police report (for all places of residence in the USA during the last 12 months).
If you have lived outside of the US for more than 12 months in the past 10 years, you will also need to supply reports from the relevant countries. Please refer to the Character Requirements Penal Clearance Certificates form for further information.
Applicants who will turn 18 during the application process will be required to provide the relevant police clearances described above.
Additional supporting documents may be requested in certain cases.
Please refer to information on children born through surrogacy arrangements if this applies to you so that you may be aware of the associated additional requirements.
** Adopted children are usually not eligible for registration of citizenship by descent. Please refer to our child visa options. If you require further information, please call our Contact Centre to speak to an information officer.