Version 1.0 | 16-01-2018
To meet the citizenship and residency requirements for VET Student Loans you must be either:
- an Australian citizen, or
- a qualifying New Zealand citizen, holding a special visa category such as the New Zealand Special Category Visa holder who meets the long term residency requirements, or
- a permanent humanitarian visa holder who is usually resident in Australia.
You must provide documents as evidence of your citizenship or residency with your enrolment application. The types of documents you are to provide will vary depending on a number of variables about you – see the guidance below.
Documents for Australian citizenship
An Australian Passport is suitable evidence of Australian citizenship.
If you do not have an Australian Passport, the evidence required to demonstrate that you are an Australian citizen will differ depending on whether you were:
- born in Australia before 20 August 1986
- born in Australia on or after 20 August 1986
- born overseas.
You do not have an Australian passport and you were born in Australia before 20 August 1986
Provide your full birth certificate issued by an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
An exception to this is where your parents were in Australia as diplomats or consular officers at the time of your birth. In these circumstances, you will need to provide a citizenship certificate as evidence that they are an Australian citizen.
You do not have an Australian passport and you were born in Australia on or after 20 August 1986 and one of your parents was an Australian citizen at the time of their birth
Provide your full birth certificate issued by an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages and one of the following documents to show that one of your parents was an Australian citizen at the time of their birth:
- your parent’s Australian citizenship certificate or
- if your parent was born in Australia before 20 August 1986, your parent’s full birth certificate issued by an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages or
- if your parent was born in Australia on or after 20 August 1986, your parent’s full birth certificate issued by an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages and your grandparent’s Australian birth certificate issued by an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
If you cannot provide this you should apply for their own evidence of Australian citizenship by lodging Form 119 Application for evidence of Australian citizenship with certified copies of the required documents and the application fee with Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
You do not have an Australian passport and you were born in Australia on or after 20 August 1986 and one of your parents was a permanent resident of Australia at the time of their birth
Provide both of the following documents to prove your Australian citizenship:
- their full birth certificate issued by an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages; and
- their Australian citizenship certificate.
Documents for those born overseas and acquired Australian citizenship by application
Provide one of the following documents as evidence of your Australian citizenship:
- an Australian passport
- an Australian citizenship certificate
- a Citizenship by Descent extract
- an Adoption in accordance with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption or bilateral arrangement extract
Documents for qualifying New Zealand citizens
Provide:
- your Special Category Visa document as evidence that you are a New Zealand Citizen and hold this visa; and
- documentary evidence to show that you:
- have usually been resident in Australia for at least 10 years; and
- was a dependent child aged under 18-years of age when you were first usually resident in Australia and
- have been in Australia for periods totaling 8 years during the previous 10 years and
- have been in Australian for periods totaling 18 months during the previous 2 years.
Documents for permanent humanitarian visa holders
Provide your permanent humanitarian visa as evidence that you hold this visa. Further information may be required from you to fully confirm your status.
To confirm if the visa class you hold is a permanent humanitarian visa contact, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection website at www.border.gov.au/vevo.