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

This matter concerned an application for Australian citizenship by descent made by a Canadian-born child, ZQVZ, whose father was an Australian citizen at the time of the child's birth. The dispute before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) was whether the applicant met the requirements for citizenship by descent under section 16 of the *Australian Citizenship Act 1948* (Cth).

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine whether the applicant's father had been present in Australia for a total period of at least two years at any time before the applicant's citizenship application was made, as required by subparagraph 16(2)(b)(i) of the Act. The applicant's father had acquired Australian citizenship by descent in 1978.

The Tribunal found that the applicant's father had provided evidence of being lawfully present in Australia from 9 May 2014 to 28 May 2015, a period of approximately one year and two weeks. While the father claimed additional periods of presence in Australia in 1985-1986 and 2015-2016, the Tribunal found there was insufficient documentation to verify the length of these periods. Applying the principle that the provisions of section 16(2) are mandatory and do not allow for discretion or exemption, the Tribunal relied on the authority of *Forster v Jododex* to interpret "at least 2 years" as requiring a clear and full period to expire. Consequently, the Tribunal concluded that the applicant's father had not met the mandatory two-year presence requirement.

The Tribunal was not satisfied that the applicant met the requirements for Australian citizenship by descent. Accordingly, the application was refused, and the decision under review was affirmed.