JMWX and CVDK and Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (Citizenship)

This matter concerned appeals by JMWX and CVDK against decisions of the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs to refuse their applications for Australian citizenship. The core of the dispute revolved around whether the applicants were "entitled to acquire" the citizenship of Sri Lanka, a condition that would preclude them from being granted Australian citizenship under section 21(8)(d) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). The applications were heard by Deputy President Boyle of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine the meaning and application of the phrase "entitled to acquire" in section 21(8)(d) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007*. This required the Tribunal to assess whether the procedures and requirements for obtaining Sri Lankan citizenship, as evidenced by expert opinions and available regulations, presented such practical barriers that the applicants could not be considered to have an entitlement to acquire it. The Tribunal had to consider whether an "entitlement" required a formally recognised right or encompassed an underlying legal eligibility, even if procedural steps remained to be taken.

Deputy President Boyle reasoned that the ordinary grammatical meaning of "entitled to acquire" encompasses situations where a person may need to take steps to obtain foreign citizenship. The critical question was whether the required steps and the prospects of success were such that it could not be considered that the applicants had a right to acquire Sri Lankan citizenship. Drawing on previous Tribunal decisions, the Deputy President adopted an interpretation that "entitled to acquire" referred to a legal eligibility rather than the satisfaction of all evidentiary or procedural steps. The Deputy President found that the evidence presented, including expert opinions on Sri Lankan law and administrative practices, did not establish that the applicants were not "entitled to acquire" Sri Lankan citizenship, noting that the procedures, while potentially complex, did not render acquisition impossible in a practical sense.

Consequently, the Deputy President was not satisfied that the applicants were not "entitled to acquire" Sri Lankan citizenship. The decisions of the delegate of the Minister to refuse the applications for Australian citizenship were affirmed.