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

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application for citizenship by conferral made by an Iranian national. The applicant had arrived unlawfully in Australia in 2001, initially claiming to be from Afghanistan under a false passport. He later obtained a protection visa and subsequently applied for Australian citizenship. The Department of Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs refused the application, finding that the applicant had provided misleading or false information regarding his identity, which raised serious concerns.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether it was satisfied as to the applicant's identity for the purposes of section 24(3) of the *Citizenship Act 2007* (Cth). If the Tribunal was not positively satisfied of the applicant's identity, it was required to affirm the decision under review. The applicant provided various documents, including an Iranian birth certificate (shenasnameh), but these were unable to be verified by overseas authorities, although some details about his father could be confirmed.

The Tribunal noted that the applicant claimed his original Iranian birth certificate was destroyed and that he had made unsuccessful attempts to replace it. However, the Tribunal also observed that the applicant had not attempted to obtain evidence from his siblings in Iran, despite having contact with them and having returned to Iran multiple times since leaving Nauru. The Tribunal considered information from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade regarding the process for obtaining Iranian identity documents, including birth certificates and national identity cards, which indicated that birth registration is compulsory and that replacement documents require proof of identity. Given the applicant's inability to verify his identity documents and his lack of proactive steps to gather further evidence, the Tribunal was not satisfied as to his identity.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision under review. The Tribunal noted that the *Citizenship Act* provides an enduring right to apply again for citizenship, and it remained open to the applicant to seek further information to meet the necessary evidentiary burden to satisfy the Tribunal of his identity in a future application.