Australian Citizenship
From 1 October 2020, Citizenship by descent applications lodged in India will be processed in Australia
General Information
Australian Citizenship can be acquired in three ways - by descent, by birth or by conferral.
See: Citizenship by Birth
Please forward all other enquiries to [email protected]
DNA sample collection
Form 1259i provides information about DNA testing for visa and citizenship applicants, including the availability of counselling.
If you wish to proceed with the DNA testing for your family, please contact a National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) accredited laboratory that can satisfy the department’s testing requirements in an international context. A list of NATA-accredited DNA testing laboratories can be found under ‘Forensic Science’, ‘Parentage testing’ on the NATA website.
Once you have chosen a NATA-accredited laboratory in Australia, you will need to schedule an appointment with the doctor in your region for DNA sample collection.
DNA sample collection is done in one of the below premises for the region:
New Delhi
Dr. (Ms) Malkit Law
Sadhu Vaswani Mission
Medical Centre
4/27 Shantiniketan
New Delhi - 110021
Phone: +91 11 24111562/ 24114316/ 24111693
Nepal
IOM, Kathmandu
768/5 Thirbam Sadak
Baluwater – 5
Kathmandu
(Next to Russian embassy)
Phone: +977 1 4417219/ 4429599/ 4414946
Bangladesh
Dr.Billal Hossein
Migration Health Physician
IOM-Migration Health Assessment Clinic
International Organization for Migration (IOM)
House 13/A, Road 136, Gulshan-1, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh
Phone: +880-2-55044811 - 13(Ext-228)| Fax: +88-02-55044818 - 19
Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
Web: www.iom.org.bd
Surrogacy
Australia’s International Obligations
As a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, Australia is committed to protecting the fundamental rights of children. These Conventions include obligations to prevent the abduction, sale or trafficking of children.
While Australia does not have obligations toward children who are not within its jurisdiction, extreme caution is exercised in cases involving surrogacy arrangements entered into overseas to ensure that Australia's citizenship provisions are not used to circumvent adoption laws and other child welfare laws.
Surrogacy in India and Nepal is illegal for foreign nationals
India
Indian surrogacy laws make it illegal for foreign intended parents to complete a surrogacy in India. The ban on foreign intended parents in 2015 was only the start of legislation regulating surrogacy. In September 2019, an Indian surrogacy bill was passed again that proposed on permitting only Indian heterosexual couples married for at least five years with infertility problems to access altruistic or unpaid surrogacy and thereby banning commercial surrogacy.
Nepal
Surrogacy was ceased by the Nepal Supreme Court on 25 August 2015 and the practice was formally banned on 18 September 2015. The Supreme Court’s final verdict announced on 12 December 2016 made surrogacy legal for infertile Nepali married couples, but illegal for single men or women, transgender couples, and foreign nationals.
Exit permit
Once the child has been issued an Australian passport you will need to obtain an Indian exit permit from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO). Please refer to the FRRO website for details. You can apply for the Exit Permit (EP) online.