Urgent situation - advice required please

[Indianinoz]

We are completing our 4 years on 31st December 2019 and eligible to apply for citizenship on that date. My wife is 2 months pregnant and is unable to manage the stress of everything at the moment. She has been advised by doctor to either call our mother from our home country(which is not possible due to other reasons) or go to our home country for a few months so that she can rest. We are planning to go to our home country for 2-3 months. Now, depending upon medical advice(I'm not sure if she can fly during her 5th/6th month as that depends on her health), it could be that we are unable to fly back to Australia until the delivery or until the baby is 3 months old. This could potentially mean that we are stuck up in our home country for about 8-9 months.

Questions:
a) If we are in our home country(not Australia) on 31st December 2019, can we apply for citizenship from that country? Note that I'm aware of the 9 month rule in the 4th year to obtain citizenship. We will make sure we complete 9 months stay. And first 3 years, we have been in Australia for about 33 months of the 36 months(just 1 month vacation per year)
b) Will it create any problems for our citizenship? Could our citizenship be denied due to this? We will continue to pay rent for our home here and my wife's job will be on 'maternity leave' which she will resume once we are back and baby is born and about 6 months old. I simply take contract work(accounting), so possibly can get contract work on the computer.
c) If not denied, do you think it could be delayed? Worst case, we should be back in 8-9 months.
d) Is there an official channel for communication with the Australian Government or Immigration Department to ask whether this would impact our citizenship application?

[Wonderingaloud]

I can’t answer all of your queries but just wanted to point out;

Be aware if you have your baby outside Australia s/he cannot just enter Australia as a citizen after x months as you plan. You have to apply for a child visa for the baby to enter the country. These are expensive and time consuming. There is an entire (massive) thread on the child 101 visa. 

If your child is born in Australia to one or both parents who are PR at the time of birth s/he is automatically an Australian  citizen, will be issued with an Australian birth certificate and can apply for a passport. This is by far the easiest route. 

[MaggieMay24]

It does sound like the timing may jeopardize your ability to apply for citizenship this year and depending on how long you remain outside Australia, perhaps for another year or two after.  As well, if the baby is born outside Australia before you gain citizenship, then s/he would need a child visa.  Of course your wife's health and the child's health are your first priority as they should be, but it may have some affect on the immigration processes.

[Indianinoz]

Thanks to both of you. It probably makes sense to continue living in Australia based on your comments then and only go to the home country for a small vacation, if need be. Considering that our long term idea is to live in Australia.

Thanks again!

[Indianinoz]

59 minutes ago, MaggieMay24 said:

It does sound like the timing may jeopardize your ability to apply for citizenship this year and depending on how long you remain outside Australia, perhaps for another year or two after.  As well, if the baby is born outside Australia before you gain citizenship, then s/he would need a child visa.  Of course your wife's health and the child's health are your first priority as they should be, but it may have some affect on the immigration processes.

Thanks! Do you mean if we have citizenship and go overseas for delivery, the child automatically gets Aussie citizenship but if we don't have citizenship(just have PR) and go overseas for delivery, the child gets my home country's citizenship? Is this correct?

[MaggieMay24]

If a child is born in Australia to a parent who is either citizen or PR, the child is automatically an Australian citizen.

If a child is born overseas to a parent who is an Australian citizen, the child doesn't automatically become an Australian citizen so I assume they would be given the citizenship of the country where they're born (depending on the rules of that country).  However you can apply for citizenship by descent for the child and they would be granted Australian citizenship once that application is processed.

If a child is born overseas to parents who hold PR status (so neither is a citizen), then the child will not be eligible for citizenship by descent - you'd need to apply for a child visa for them.

[Indianinoz]

Thanks MaggieMay24. That solves most of my questions. So if a child is born overseas to parents who weren't citizens(were PR when the child was born) when the child was born but became citizens soon after, can the child apply for citizenship by descent?

Also, is citizenship by descent approved easily or do they look at many other things?

[Marisawright]

7 minutes ago, Indianinoz said:

Thanks MaggieMay24. That solves most of my questions. So if a child is born overseas to parents who weren't citizens(were PR when the child was born) when the child was born but became citizens soon after, can the child apply for citizenship by descent?

Also, is citizenship by descent approved easily or do they look at many other things?

No

[Wonderingaloud]

If you are PR at the time of your child’s birth you cannot apply for citizenship by descent, even if you became citizens the next day. 

Your wife is 2 months preganant now, so even if you applied for citizenship today, your baby will be born before you become citizens. The wait times have blown out massively. Therefore, whilst in theory yes if you are citizens and have your baby overseas s/he is entitled to citizenship by descent, in reality this is unlikely as time is not on your side. 

It seems your realistic options, go overseas and have the baby offshore BUT you will need to pay for and apply for a child visa to return to Australia (the child will need a medical, so if there are any complications in theory the child visa could be refused on medical grounds)

OR deliver the baby in Australia, s/he is automatically a citizen, regardless of health (no medicals are required for citizenship) and go overseas for a holiday/visit after the baby is born.

Is there no way any family can come out here to help support your wife?

Good luck

Edited September 10, 2019 by Wonderingaloud
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[Indianinoz]

21 hours ago, Wonderingaloud said:

If you are PR at the time of your child’s birth you cannot apply for citizenship by descent, even if you became citizens the next day. 

Your wife is 2 months preganant now, so even if you applied for citizenship today, your baby will be born before you become citizens. The wait times have blown out massively. Therefore, whilst in theory yes if you are citizens and have your baby overseas s/he is entitled to citizenship by descent, in reality this is unlikely as time is not on your side. 

It seems your realistic options, go overseas and have the baby offshore BUT you will need to pay for and apply for a child visa to return to Australia (the child will need a medical, so if there are any complications in theory the child visa could be refused on medical grounds)

OR deliver the baby in Australia, s/he is automatically a citizen, regardless of health (no medicals are required for citizenship) and go overseas for a holiday/visit after the baby is born.

Is there no way any family can come out here to help support your wife?

Good luck

Thanks for your reply. Well, we ourselves can manage if its an issue from the immigration point of view. I guess that is what we will do until someone from our home country can come.