After four and a half years of waiting, an Indian man finally waited for a ruthless refusal by the immigration authorities. Immigration said he met the conditions, almost did not meet the requirements.
Shah'a (Sagar Shah) applied for Australian citizenship in December 2012, and the Immigration Department rejected his application in June 2017 on the grounds that he did not intend to remain in Australia or that he did not intend to maintain a close or lasting link with Australia. Although his wife and two children are Australian citizens.
Last week, in view of Shah's long absence from Australia after filing his application, the administrative appeals tribunal upheld the Migration Board's decision to deny him citizenship in 2017.
In the 12 years since he first entered Australia in 2006, Shah has left Australia nine times and spent about five years abroad.
After submitting his application, he spent most of his time in India for the most important three-and-a-half years, March 2014 and October 2017, and that played an important role in the immigration board's decision on his naturalization application.
Shah said he had to take care of his father, who was ill with a stroke, and that as his father fell, he had to take over the family business.
But court doesn't think he has a good reason.
"in my opinion, this is not credible because it took the applicant four years to diagnose and stabilize his father," said Tavallaris (Theodore Tavoularis), a senior member of the administrative appeals tribunal.
Shah has some business in Australia and India, and court says that part of the more likely explanation is that he is away from Australia to "pursue his business interests" and to participate in his family's business in India. On this point, he himself claimed to travel to India frequently.
Tavallaris said Shah's wife and children were Australian, but not enough to establish close and lasting ties with Australia.
Although his family and family live in Coomera, Kunn, Shah did not provide evidence of "close ties to the Australian family," court said.
"if Shah and his wife and children settle in Coomera and live not far away from his brother-in-law or sister-in-law, the evidence may exist." "but the evidence doesn't exist because his family left Coomera and settled in Sydney," Tavallaris said.
He added that he had not provided any evidence of his reduced involvement in family-owned businesses in India. Immigration told the court that for this reason, Shah is still likely to leave Australia in the future.
Tavallaris said Shah's evidence was "essentially selfish" because he returned to India in January 2018, although he told the Migration Board in April that he would not leave Australia after October 2017.
"according to this evidence, the applicant's whereabouts are not fixed, and he may leave with his family at a certain time in the future, if convenient. This raises serious doubts about Shah's ability to remain in close contact with Australia.