Once you've got a birth certificate sorted I would recommend going a bit further with the document hunt - assuming you were born after 1986. If you ever need to prove you're a citizen (which you may for some jobs) and you were born post '86 you'll also need to track down a copy of a parent's Australian birth certificate or other proof of their Australian citizenship before your birth. You'll also need this proof of citizenship if you want a passport in the future so it's worth tracking down.
this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024
25 points (100.0% liked)
Melbourne
1864 readers
49 users here now
This community is a place created for the people of Melbourne and Victoria. We are a positive, welcoming and inclusive community. We might not agree about everything, but we always strive to stay civil and respectful.
The focus of our discussions is based around things that effect Victoria, but we are also free to discuss our local perspective on wider issues. Or head to the regular Daily Random Discussion thread to talk about anything.
Ongoing discussions, FAQs & Resources (still under construction)
Adoption Certificate for Nellie, the Daily Thread numbat (with thanks to @Catfish)
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Wait what? You need a parents birth certificate to prove that your birth certificate proves you're an Australian citizen?
If you were born post '86 your Australian birth certificate is not considered sufficient proof of you being an Australian citizen (not sure on the reason for that year being the cutoff), so if you're going for the natural born Australian line of proof you would then need to prove you had a parent who was a citizen at the time of your birth. It doesn't necessarily need to be your parent's birth certificate, a passport from before your birth would also count (as would the certificate you get when becoming a citizen if they weren't born here).
At least though my generation only has to go back one step to prove citizenship. It's going to be harder work for the growing number of people who have parents born after '86 and will therefore have to go back to their grandparents birth certificates if their parents didn't get a passport or citizenship certificate before they were born.
Ugh that's stupid and makes me nervous for when I apply for a passport. I don't have any contact with either of my parents, and it's not really likely either of them would just give me their birth certificate if I asked. Luckily they were both born in the 70s then, because my grandparents on both sides are all dead too
This seems stupid, and I'd argue rather discriminatory.
It certainly makes things harder than they should be IMO, I've always thought it should be more along the lines of just proving you are who you say you are instead of chasing parents etc.
The reason for the cutoff of ‘86 is because our laws on citizenship changed that year. Before then, we used ‘jus soli’ (right of soil), which meant that if you were born in Australia, you were Australian. My father was born here to immigrant parents and was granted citizenship at birth. It also still works that way in the US. We now use the system of ‘jus sanguinis’ (right of blood) which means citizenship is transferred by descent. This is the system that’s used in most european countries. Everyone born in Australia, even the child of a tourist, is issued an Australian birth certificate, so it no longer proves citizenship.
The major flaw in our system is that, outside of citizenship certificates, we don’t have anything other than passports that proves you’re a citizen. Most people only get them when they’re planning to travel overseas, and they cost a lot of money. European countries have government ID cards to prove citizenship because international travel is a lot more common there. But many Australians never travel overseas, and it can stretch back for generations. That’s just not the background politicians usually come from.
Getting the birth certificate should be the easy one. You contact the office of births and deaths in the territory where you were born:
Weirdly, the best list of Australian agencies I can find is in New Zealand... go figure...
https://newzealand.embassy.gov.au/wltn/birth_certificates.html
So, just picking one at random, if you were born in NSW:
www.nsw.gov.au/births-deaths-marriages
Following the links through there...
https://www.nsw.gov.au/family-and-relationships/births/birth-certificates#proof
You must provide a least 3 forms of current identity, one of each from Categories 1, 2 and 3.
If you cannot provide proof of identity from Categories 1 and 2, you must still provide at least 3 forms of identity. At least two of these must be from Category 3.
If cannot meet these requirements, please contact us for further advice.
Category 1
If born in Australia:
An Australian birth certificate
Record of immigration status:
Citizenship certificate
New Zealand citizenship certificate together with passport
New Zealand birth certificate
Category 2
Australia's driver's licence
Australian passport
Firearms licence
Foreign passport
Proof of age card
Category 3
Medicare card
Centrelink or Department of Veterans Affairs card
Security/Crowd control licence
Tertiary education institution ID card
Category 4
Recent utility account with current residential address (issued within last 3 months)
You need a birth certificate.... To get a birth certificate? Jesus
Not as weird as you might think... say you're adopted, you have your re-issued birth certificate but want to get your OG birth certificate.
It’s also probably the same boilerplate that’s shown to anyone that’s applying for a copy of a birth certificate, which might include a parent getting one for their minor child.
Okay so I need 3 cards, 2 of which I have as digital copies and these documents must all be certified.
How do I get them to certify the digital copy of my cards? Does someone have to stamp my phone screen and I take a photo of my phone?
This whole process is so ridiculously complex when I can login to my MyGov or Services Vic and interact with all sorts of services without hassle.
Have you got your identity verified on services vic? If so, you can request a new birth certificate and use your services vic as verification of identity. I just did this recently and the process was pretty smooth.
IIRC print them out and get them signed by a justice of the peace, police officer, or post office worker or some such.
Doesn’t a JP only certify the copy, agreeing that the original exists and they have sighted it.
I don’t think showing them a copy will be much good on its own.
I'm only guessing really but I think they should be ok if the digital copies could be considered the original. For example I would expect that a printout of a digital bank statement would be something that you could get certified as you can pull up your bank website/app and display the 'original', but you might run into issues trying to convince someone that a photo of a card counts as it's clearly not the original form.
When I was renting I got my bills by email and printed 2 copies of the document. One for the JP to sign and one to keep as the original.
Thank you so much!
Check the requirements with the intended institution they tend to differ sadly. :(