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

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the applications for Australian citizenship by conferral made by two brothers, citizens of Afghanistan. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs had refused these applications, raising concerns about inconsistencies in the applicants' dates of birth and their character. The applicants, who were Shi’a Muslims of Hazara ethnicity, had arrived in Australia as sponsored orphans.

The primary legal issues before the Tribunal were whether it was satisfied as to the applicants' identities and whether they were of good character, as required by sections 21(2)(h) and 24(3) of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth). The Minister contended that the inconsistencies in the applicants' dates of birth, particularly the discrepancy between their Afghan identity documents and their Australian records, and their travel using documents with different birth dates, demonstrated a lack of good character and raised doubts about their identity.

The Tribunal found that the inconsistencies in the dates of birth arose from the circumstances of their upbringing in Afghanistan, where birth registration was not formalised, and their ages were estimated by authorities. The Tribunal accepted that the applicants, upon arriving in Australia as young teenagers, had their dates of birth corrected on Australian documents following bone density tests. It found their delay in reconciling these dates with their Afghan documents to be understandable given their age, unfamiliarity with a new country, and the lack of immediate necessity to do so, as they had no intention of leaving Australia. The Tribunal also accepted that when they later sought new Afghan passports for travel, the Afghan authorities relied solely on their original Afghan identity documents, resulting in the passports reflecting the earlier, estimated birth dates. The Tribunal concluded that the applicants were truthful witnesses and that their identities were proved, and they were of good character.

Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the Minister's decisions to refuse citizenship and remitted the matters for reconsideration, directing that the applicants satisfied the requirements of the relevant sections of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007.