I believe you might have to stay married for a certain length of time to qualify for Australian citizenship though. Mike would know I suppose. What is it Mike? ***************
First in response to a quip from a fellow LOBster, I *didn't* get married to get health insurance. As a retiree from Stanford, I had health insurance and could have kept it either here in Australia or in the USA.
And Bill, you have to have been a Permanent Resident of Australia (like having a Green Card in the U.S.) for *two years* before you can apply for citizenship.
There is no marriage requirement for citizenship; but there may be one for Permanent Residence--that was the case for me. If we'd gone to the U.S., a possibility which we considered, Jenny would have had to go through a very similar process. Australia is just more attractive for us. For lots of Australians marrying Americans, the U.S. option is more attractive. Here's a website where these issues are discussed amongst immigrants going both directions:
In other words, being married is a way to stay together legally, which people who actually want to live with each other and who come from differing regions in amongst the States of the world, have available to them to keep the immigration police off their backs.
Happily married and living in Perth, Mike B)
"Would you have freedom from wage-slavery.." Joe Hill "http://iamawobbly.multiply.com/
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