this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024

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How can I prove I exist? (quokk.au)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm born here and a citizen, however I don't have a passport, nor a copy of a birth certificate yet I need to prove I have a right to work here for a job.

From my look on the gov site, I can use a passport to get my birth certificate or a birth certificate to get a passport. Neither of which is any bloody help.

Does anyone know what to do?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You need a birth certificate.... To get a birth certificate? Jesus

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wait what? You need a parents birth certificate to prove that your birth certificate proves you're an Australian citizen?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Births, Deaths & Marriages Victoria

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

IIRC print them out and get them signed by a justice of the peace, police officer, or post office worker or some such.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Thank you so much!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Check the requirements with the intended institution they tend to differ sadly. :(