Citizenship Certificate

A citizenship certificate is issued by the Australian Government and is proof that someone born outside Australia is an Australian citizen.

Citizenship documents

We use the Document Verification System (DVS) to verify the following citizenship certificates so that a USI can be created:

• certificate of naturalisation 
• certificate of registration 
• declaratory certificates 
• evidentiary certificates 
• extracts of registration by descent 

Some citizenship certificates do not verify with the DVS. This can include declaratory judgements that are issued with or without a formal certificate.

Some declaratory documents also show the date of issue rather than the date of acquisition of citizenship. The Department of Home Affairs is currently addressing this issue.

Information to help verify your citizenship documents:

• The acquisition date is the date Australian citizenship was acquired.

• You must use the stock number (please refer to image below). All stock numbers must be longer than 4 digits.

• The family name, given name and date of birth must match.

  • The following details need to verify for the client presenting the document:
    • given and family name
    • date of birth

  • If a child named on the certificate uses the certificate as proof of ID, then their details need to pass, not the parents' details.

• The document must not be void or cancelled within the Department of Home Affairs systems.

• Partial dates of birth are accepted (ie. MM/YYYY or YYYY) on citizenship certificates. If a partial date of birth is recorded on the certificate, then you must enter the partial date to verify.

  • Date of birth fields which are partial should be entered as spaces rather than 0’s. 

• If a child or spouse is included on the citizenship certificate, their details are recorded separately on the certificate. The certificate number and acquisition date applies to all the people on the certificate (eg. children under 16 years of age).

• If a child or spouse is endorsed on the citizenship certificate, enter the date of endorsement in the date of acquisition field. The date of endorsement is found in the endorsement section of the certificate.

Find out how to verify a registration by descent document

Stock Number or an Evidence Id

Image

Broadly speaking there are six certificate number types that can be presented. The following certificate number types are verifiable via the DVS as a CC document type:

1. Stock number - found on the top at the back of the citizenship certificate. On some older certificates it is located in the bottom left hand corner. Stock number examples: ACC 123456, CDM 1234, ACS 1234, CAS1234

2. Evidence ID - found on the bottom left hand corner on the front of the citizenship certificate after the words “Evidence No:” or “No.”. It is 11 digits in length, and always has a 0 at the front. Evidence ID example: 012345678901.

The following certificate number types are NOT verifiable via the DVS:

1. Old citizenship ID found on the bottom left hand corner on the front of the citizenship certificate after the word “No.”. The ID is alpha-numeric eg. PA12345678N.