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

This matter concerned an application for Australian citizenship by the applicant, RTFY, a Chinese citizen who arrived in Australia in 2000. The applicant's citizenship application was refused by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs on the grounds that he was not a person of good character, as required by paragraph 21(2)(h) of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). The applicant sought review of this decision before the Tribunal.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant was a person of good character for the purposes of the *Australian Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth), notwithstanding his prior criminal record and periods of unlawful residence in Australia. The Tribunal was required to consider the relevant law and policy concerning character assessments for citizenship applications, and to evaluate the material presented by the applicant and the respondent.

The Tribunal affirmed the delegate's decision to refuse the citizenship application. In reaching this conclusion, the Tribunal considered the applicant's criminal history, which included offences committed in 2002 and 2010, as well as periods of irregular residence in Australia between 2001 and 2010. While acknowledging that the applicant was not precluded from making future applications and that his present attitude, rather than the objective nature of his past record, was the primary impediment, the Tribunal found that it could not be satisfied that the applicant was a person of good character at the time of the review. The Tribunal concluded that coming to terms with and facing his past was required of the applicant.