Naturalisation Certificate

by Kate Cummings

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

Iwas born in Scotland and naturalised as Australian in 1974. After I transitioned from male to female in 1986 I set about changing all my official and non-official documentation, and had no problems with items such as degrees, diplomas, memberships in professional societies, credit cards, Medicard, Medibank, driving licence and so on. Some organisations, including my universities both here and in Canada required a payment and the return of the original documents, but made no fuss about replacing the testamurs after I produced statutory declarations of my gender change. Even obtaining new British and Australian passports was no problem, although the Australian Immigration Department required a letter from my surgeon to the effect that I have had irreversible gender change surgery before issuing me with my new passport. And when the new passport arrived it was accompanied by a letter emphasising that my new passport was only an administrative device to save me embarrassment while traveling, but my legal gender was unchanged and any attempt to marry in my gender of choice would result in a null and void marriage, and possibly a jail term and/or fine!

When I came to revise my Naturalisation Certificate, however, which is also issued by the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs I ran into a blank wall. Under no circumstances, I was told, would I be issued with a revised Naturalisation Certificate, despite the fact that I sometimes need to prove my citizenship when applying for new positions, and production of my old certificate was not only at variance with all my other documentation, but would also deprive me of any privacy concerning my former status.

Time and again I approached the officers of the Department but I always received the same refusal.

Finally I decided enough was enough and wrote to the Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, Senator Bolkus, pointing out the anomaly between the situation regarding Naturalisation Certificates and Passports, and suggesting that the current policy of the Department probably contravened article 12 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights ("No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his [sic] privacy ...").

Two months passed and I had just posted a follow-up letter, as well as one to my local Federal Member of Parliament, recruiting her support, when I received a letter from a Senior Advisor to Senator Bolkus which said, inter alia, that "it is acknowledged ... that the current policy guidelines do not adequately advise decision makers of their obligation to consider the circumstances of each case ... In circumstances such as yours, amendment of the certificate is warranted. The Department is currently revising policy guidelines to this effect."

The terms imposed for replacement of the certificate are similar to those for a passport, namely the return of the original certificate, a statement from the surgeon attesting to the irreversible nature of the surgery and certified copies of the deed poll document and other documents showing current name. In fact I do not have a deed poll since I chose to change my name "by reputation", but I sent off my application with my existing certificate and a number of certified documents attesting to my current name and a week or so ago I received my new Naturalisation Certificate showing my name to be Katherine Fiona Cummings.

So it is now possible for any post-operative transsexual with a Naturalisation Certificate in his or her former name to obtain a corrected certificate.

If any resistance is encountered, I suggest a reference to the letter of Bronwyn McNaughton, Senior Adviser to the Minister, dated April 28 and addressed to me, Katherine Cummings.

Now I have set out to have my document revised ... my Birth Certificate. Since this was issued in Scotland and Great Britain still follows Corbett versus Corbett with pig-headed single mindedness and prejudiced bigotry I have no high hopes of success ... but it won't stop me from trying!

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.