A father-of-two from Victoria has his world turned upside down by an immigration law repealed in 2002. When he spoke to the ABC, the Department of Immigration changed its tune.
Last month the 55-year-old was informed by Home Affairs that he had no Australian citizenship or visa, due to a law that was repealed more than 20 years ago.
“I’m no longer Australian and apparently I haven’t been for the last 33 years,” Mr Keogh told Raf Epstein on ABC Radio Melbourne Mornings.
Mr Keogh received Irish citizenship and a passport, which he held alongside Australian identity documents which technically were not valid.
Mr Keogh first realised he may be in trouble when he read an ABC article about another man whose citizenship was revoked because of a little-known, now-repealed piece of legislation.
When immigration officials eventually got in touch in February, they said Mr Keogh had likely lost his citizenship, and a few weeks later they confirmed the worst.
“What the average Australian views as unjust and most likely unconstitutional has been left unchallenged in the High Court, as to do so would be to risk financial ruin,” Mr Niall said.
The original article contains 689 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Last month the 55-year-old was informed by Home Affairs that he had no Australian citizenship or visa, due to a law that was repealed more than 20 years ago.
“I’m no longer Australian and apparently I haven’t been for the last 33 years,” Mr Keogh told Raf Epstein on ABC Radio Melbourne Mornings.
Mr Keogh received Irish citizenship and a passport, which he held alongside Australian identity documents which technically were not valid.
Mr Keogh first realised he may be in trouble when he read an ABC article about another man whose citizenship was revoked because of a little-known, now-repealed piece of legislation.
When immigration officials eventually got in touch in February, they said Mr Keogh had likely lost his citizenship, and a few weeks later they confirmed the worst.
“What the average Australian views as unjust and most likely unconstitutional has been left unchallenged in the High Court, as to do so would be to risk financial ruin,” Mr Niall said.
The original article contains 689 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!