How to organize Australian citizenship certificates for children born in Japan

I'm Australian, my husband is American, and both of my two children were born here in Japan. When they were born we lived at a US military base in Tokyo and obtaining their US citizenship documents wasn't difficult. Their Australian ones, however...I've been putting it off because it was a lot of additional paperwork. 

Even if you or your partner/spouse is an Australian citizen, your children can't just immediately get an Australian passport if they're born abroad – you have to apply for an Australian citizenship certificate beforehand. I've finally gotten around to doing that just this year (it was one of my 2023 resolutions!) and this is what you'll need.

Documents required to apply for citizenship by descent for children <18 years:

• Photo ID documents (we used their US passports for this)
• Birth Certificate 
• Proof of Australian citizenship from at least one parent (that's me!) – I used my passport
• Proof of ID from the other parent – used my husband's US passport
• Proof of current residential address – this can be in the form of a utilities bill, bank statement, etc.
• A completed form 1195 (Identity Declaration) which needs to be signed off by the Australian citizen parent and a guarantor. Usually, the guarantor needs to be an Australian citizen employed in certain professions who has known you/your children for at least a year. When overseas, however, the guarantor doesn't necessarily need to be Australian – the government understands that might not always be possible! They do still need to be employed in one of the categories listed on the form, such as a member of the military.
• Passport sized photos which have been verified by your guarantor on the back.

The citizenship certificate application + all the documents can be uploaded online, so you don't need to make a trip to the embassy or anything like that. 

If you have multiple children who you need to get citizenship certificates for, I recommend applying at the same time – the Australian government offers a discount when filing. The lodgement fee is $315 AUD for the first applicant, and $130 AUD for each subsequent sibling applying at the same time. It's still a fairly pricey $445 AUD to get their citizenship certificates squared away, but it will allow them to get their Australian passports if and when we need those.

Once you've lodged your applications, it's time to sit and wait – the government notes on their website that 90% of their applications are processed within 4 months, but it can be faster than that.

Hope this quick guide helps you if you are in the same boat!