Abdi and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs (Citizenship)

This matter concerned an application for Australian citizenship by conferral made by Mr Abdi, a 23-year-old Somalian national. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs refused the application, and Mr Abdi sought review of that decision before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The Tribunal, presided over by Brigadier AG Warner, AM LVO (Retd), was required to determine whether Mr Abdi met the eligibility requirements for citizenship, specifically concerning his identity and good character.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether Mr Abdi had satisfied the Minister of his identity and his good character, as required by sections 21 and 24 of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). Section 24(3) mandates that the Minister must be satisfied of an applicant's identity before approving citizenship, with no discretion to grant it otherwise. The Tribunal was also guided by the Citizenship Policy Instructions (CPIs) regarding the assessment of identity and good character, which define identity as a combination of characteristics distinguishing an individual and good character as enduring moral qualities.

The Tribunal found that Mr Abdi had not satisfied the requirement of establishing his identity. This conclusion was largely based on the assessment by the Visa Integrity Unit that the birth certificate provided by Mr Abdi was counterfeit. The Unit identified inconsistencies with genuine Somali birth certificates, noting that the registration of birth in Mogadishu for an event that occurred in Kismayo during a period of civil unrest was highly improbable, and that the signatory was not identifiable as a Mayor of Mogadishu at the relevant time. Given the doubts surrounding the authenticity of this crucial document, and the lack of other verifiable primary identity documents from his early life, the Tribunal was not satisfied of Mr Abdi's identity. Consequently, the Tribunal did not proceed to assess Mr Abdi's good character.