“I didn’t commit a crime. I haven’t killed or robbed anyone,” says Mr Habib*, an Iranian refugee whose application for Australian citizenship was refused over a traffic offence in February this year.
Mr Habib was given a 24-month good behaviour bond after he was found driving while suspended in 2017. He applied for his citizenship before the good behaviour period ended.
“I gave out all the information about my traffic offences in the application because I wanted to be completely honest, and I didn’t remember that my good behaviour period was still on otherwise I could have waited another couple of months,” he told SBS Punjabi.
Mr Habib’s citizenship had been refused by a delegate of the Minister for Immigration on the basis that the Minister wasn’t satisfied he was of good character – a mandatory requirement under the law.
The 31-year-old who was given a permanent protection visa in 2012, sought a review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of the decision to refuse his citizenship application. However, it came to light during the review that Mr Habib has another traffic-related offence which is pending in the court.
He appeared in Elizabeth Magistrates Court in South Australia in October in respect of a charge of exceeding the speed limit by 20 to 29 km an hour after he was stopped by the police.
مراسم و گواهی شهروندی استرالیا Source: AAP
The Tribunal was told that Mr Habib’s over the speeding matter had been adjourned until February 2020.
It noted that the Citizenship law prohibits the Tribunal from approving Mr Habib's application to become Australian citizens while those proceedings are pending in the court.
Tribunal Member M O’Loughlin, without considering the question of Mr Habib’s good character, upheld the decision to refuse his citizenship application.
Mitchell Simmons of MSM Legal says the character test when applying for Citizenship is broader than the test for the purposes of visa refusal or cancellation, and involves an assessment of the ‘enduring moral qualities of a person’.
“So while someone may think it’s only a traffic offence, it’s actually an offence against the law in Australia. And if there’s repeat offending, or a pattern of offending of increasing seriousness, particularly while on a good behaviour bond or a suspended sentence, it becomes very difficult to satisfy a decision maker that an applicant is of good character for citizenship,” Mr Simmons told SBS Punjabi.
“Irrespective of the inability of a citizenship application to be resolved while a court case is pending, it is always our advice that if you are charged with an offence, even if you think it is insignificant, you should always seek legal advice on how this can impact on your visa or citizenship eligibility because the way in which these tests are being applied has become increasingly harsh.”
*Not his real name
