Hi Jowill:
AJ looked into that, this is from an earlier posting:
Myself: Born in Australia but moved out to NZ at 5 and was registered as a NZ Citizen by descent (therefore cannot sponser my son to become a NZ citizen). Because I was living out of Australia when the laws changed in 2001 I am not eligible to become an australian citizen which I did check with Immigration. (so cannot sponser him as an australian citizen). So I have been in Aus for the last 2 years on a NZ 444? Visa.
Yes I saw that - but i must've read it differently.
AJ said that he checked with immigration and that he wasn't eligible for citizenship because of changes in 2001. The changes in 2001 only applied to NZ citizens living in Australia and who wants to apply for citizenship - so if he was in Australia in Feb 01, he would automatically have been considered a permanent resident for citizenship purposes (and he could apply for citizenship directly, instead of having to apply for a PR visa first). It sounds to me that he checked whether he could become an Australian citizen from his status as a NZ citizen living in Australia.
But i'm not sure whether he checked with immigration to see whether he was already a citizen
by birth. This would've depended on when he was born - nothing to do with whether he was in Aus in 2001.
Anyone born before 1986 in Australia were citizens by birth, regardless of the citizenship or residency status of his/her parents. Unless his/her parents were diplomats or certain other exclusions.
After that, he would've been a citizen by birth if either of his parents were an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident. Since he's a NZ citizen by descent, I'd assume either one of his parents were NZ citizens.
NZ citizens were NOT considered permanent residents for this purpose between 1986 to 1994. NZ citizens WERE considered permanent residents for this purpose between 1994 to 2001. (After Feb 2001, NZ citizens are NOT considered permanent residents).
So in summary - he should've been an Australian citizen by birth if he was born in Australia - before 1986, or between 1994 to 2001, unless his parents were diplomats or had some special status in Australia.
The other possibility I thought of was if he had lost his Aus citizenship later on - by acquiring another citizenship or by formally renouncing it. Since his NZ citizenship was by descent, that shouldn't have been considered acquiring a new citizenship. Even if that caused him to lose his Aus citizenship (by birth), there are provisions for him to resume his Aus citizenship (these came into effect in 2007).
Maybe AJ was born between 1986-1994 and unluckily missed out. Otherwise DIMA would've been quite careless not to have realised he was an Aus citizen already when they gave him a PR visa.