After you get your citizenship in Australia, you have the right to apply for an Australian passport. People who are still on their permanent resident (PR) or temporary visas cannot apply for one. You can apply to get an Australian passport online if you know how to use the internet or you can get an application form from most Australian Post outlets. Allow yourself some time to get a passport. It normally takes about two weeks to get a passport after you submit your application and you’ll be asked to provide some documents.
You can apply to get an Australian passport if you are overseas too. You can go to an Australian Embassy or Consulate to apply for one. You must provide two recent colour photos of yourself with your application. The photos must not be older than six months. These photos must be signed at the back by your guarantor. The guarantor must write at the back of the photo that it is a true photo of you.
When you download the passport form from the internet, you need to sign it. You need to ring Australia Post office to book an interview where you submit your application during the interview. You need to take all the documents that support your claim with you. Remember to take your original documents with you. Photocopies of documents are not accepted. Documents you can take to the interview include your citizenship certificate, your birth certificate, your marriage certificate and certificates related to your education if you have any. If you are 18 years of age or over, you can use the Adult application form.
Prices for Australian passports vary from one person to another. If you want a normal passport, you pay $208. A child pays only $104 to get his or her passport. Senior citizens (people aged 75 or over) pay $104 to get their passports. If you are a frequent traveler (you travel quite often), you can get a passport that contains more visa pages for $312. If your passport is lost or stolen, you can get a new one for $69.
When you get your passport, it is to be used only by you. It is illegal to use a passport that doesn’t belong to you and you can be arrested for doing that. Always remember to keep your passport in a secure place at home. If you lose your passport, you have to report it immediately to the Australian embassy in the country you are visiting because it can be misused by another person.
It is illegal not to report a lost or stolen passport. You can report a missing passport by phoning 131232 or online at www.dfat.gov.au. Once you report that your passport is missing, it will be cancelled. Make sure before you report that your passport is missing that you have had a really good look for it.
