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

This matter concerned an application for review of a decision by the delegate of the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs to refuse the Applicant's application for citizenship by descent. The Applicant, born in China in 1998, was abandoned by his biological parents shortly after birth and subsequently cared for by Ms Alexandra Jagelman, an Australian health care worker. The Applicant's application for citizenship was based on Ms Jagelman being his parent and an Australian citizen at the time of his birth, as provided by section 16(2)(a) of the *Citizenship Act 2007*. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) reviewed the delegate's refusal decision.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether Ms Jagelman was a "parent" of the Applicant at the time of his birth for the purposes of establishing eligibility for citizenship by descent under section 16(2)(a) of the *Citizenship Act 2007*. This required the Tribunal to interpret the phrase "a parent of the person was an Australian citizen at the time of the birth" in the context of the Applicant's abandonment and Ms Jagelman's assumption of care and parental responsibility shortly after his birth.

The Tribunal considered the evidence, including the oral evidence of Ms Jagelman and various documentary exhibits. It found that Ms Jagelman, an Australian citizen, had assumed the care of the Applicant the day after his birth, and by the following day, with the permission of the hospital director, took full responsibility for his care and raised him as her child. The Tribunal concluded that, applying the plain ordinary meaning of the phrase "at the time of the birth" and having regard to the unique circumstances, Ms Jagelman was a parent of the Applicant from the time of his birth. Consequently, the Tribunal found the Applicant eligible for Australian citizenship by descent.

The Tribunal set aside the delegate's decision to refuse the application and remitted the matter to the Respondent for reconsideration, with a direction that Ms Jagelman was an Australian citizen at the time of the Applicant's birth.