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

This matter concerned an application for Australian citizenship by conferral, which was refused by the delegate of the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs. The applicant claimed to be stateless and was on a protection visa. The core of the dispute revolved around the applicant's failure to meet the "identity" requirement for citizenship, with the applicant having provided insufficient material to establish his identity. The decision was reviewed by Emeritus Professor P A Fairall, Senior Member.

The legal issues before the Tribunal were whether the applicant had satisfied the identity requirement for citizenship by conferral, and consequently, whether the delegate's decision to refuse the application was correct. The Tribunal was required to consider the "three pillars of identity" – documents, biometrics, and life story – and assess the applicant's efforts to establish his identity, particularly in light of his claim of statelessness and lack of formal identity documents. The onus of proof rested on the applicant to establish his identity.

The Tribunal considered that while the absence of identity documents is not necessarily fatal to an application, the applicant must act with candour and demonstrate trustworthiness, providing a good explanation for the lack of documents. The respondent's solicitor argued that the applicant had failed to provide any pre-arrival documentation, made no effort to acquire informal or formal documentation, and had made inconsistent statements. The applicant's explanation for not possessing a renewed "white card" was that renewal was difficult and costly, and the card itself had little practical value. However, the Tribunal found that the applicant's application was devoid of checkable and verifiable data linking unequivocally to his life prior to arriving in Australia, and he had failed to highlight the "footprints" that would typically establish identity.

Accordingly, the Tribunal affirmed the decision made by the delegate on 11 September 2019, refusing the applicant's application for citizenship.