Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP ACT 2007 - SECT 22B

             (1)  Subject to this section, for the purposes of section 21 a person satisfies the special residence requirement if:

                     (a)  at the time the person made the application, the person is engaged in work of a kind specified under subsection 22C(3) and the person is required to regularly travel outside Australia because of that work; and

                     (b)  the following apply:

                              (i)  the person was engaged in that kind of work for a total of at least 2 years during the period of 4 years immediately before the day the person made the application;

                             (ii)  for the whole or part of that 4 year period when the person was engaged in that kind of work, the person regularly travelled outside Australia because of that work; and

                     (c)  the person was present in Australia for a total of at least 480 days during the period of 4 years immediately before the day the person made the application; and

                     (d)  the person was present in Australia for a total of at least 120 days during the period of 12 months immediately before the day the person made the application; and

                     (e)  the person was ordinarily resident in Australia throughout the period of 4 years immediately before the day the person made the application; and

                      (f)  the person was a permanent resident for the period of 12 months immediately before the day the person made the application; and

                     (g)  the person was not present in Australia as an unlawful non‑citizen at any time during the period of 4 years immediately before the day the person made the application.

Confinement in prison or psychiatric institution

             (2)  Subject to subsection (3), the person is taken not to satisfy paragraph (1)(c) if, at any time during the 4 year period mentioned in that paragraph, the person was:

                     (a)  confined in a prison; or

                     (b)  confined in a psychiatric institution by order of a court made in connection with proceedings for an offence against an Australian law in relation to the person.

             (3)  The Minister may decide that subsection (2) does not apply in relation to the person if, taking into account the circumstances that resulted in the person's confinement, the Minister is satisfied that it would be unreasonable for that subsection to apply in relation to the person.

Ministerial discretion--administrative error

             (4)  For the purposes of paragraph (1)(f), the Minister may treat a period as one in which the person was a permanent resident if the Minister considers that, because of an administrative error, the person was not a permanent resident during that period.

             (5)  For the purposes of paragraph (1)(g), the Minister may treat a period as one in which the person was not present in Australia as an unlawful non‑citizen if the Minister considers the person was present in Australia during that period but, because of an administrative error, was an unlawful non‑citizen during that period.