How can I get (any) citizenship for my daughter?

Panama => 30,000USD

just Google Panamanian passport. However, the “legal” way to obtain it according to Panamanian law requires her to be present at a Panamanian Immigrations Department office for fingerprinting, so since she has no passport at all she can’t travel there either….bummer.

She must be citizen somewhere, so your best bet is to try to get a passport at the consulate of the country she was born at.

Sorry, no better answer. Panama is/was the safest bet for a second passport. Stay away from all the shady internet offers promising a passport by mail or something. At best you’ll receive a stolen/rejected template that has been flagged as fraudulent ages before you get it.

She didn’t immediately become a citizen of her place of birth upon her birth?

no, because they say she should get an australian one since I’m an australian. I could get around it eventually, but the red tape is several miles long and I’d still have to bribe people just to do their job (which is why I’m not mentioning the country). It would be simpler to just somehow get to Australia (since we want to go there anyway) and then follow the legal process. I was just wondering whether some unpopular and unpopulated country was issuing passports to anyone that asked, just to get citizens (or the application fee or something). You know, something like “The Royal Republic of Central North Pole” or something. And I still have her birth certificate of course, if anyone really asks. In some cases I have been told that a birth certificate is enough for taking young children with you, and I’m sure it would work on most inter-european border controls, but I don’t think they’d let her on a plane with only that.

btw thank for the answers :) I’ll look into the Panama idea.

wow, that all sounds horrible. How old is your daughter, if I may ask?

I have no solutions, but good luck!

She is 4. btw I checked out the Panama idea, and it’s not only a question of physically being there. They also need you to invest $230K (US) to start with, or be a millionaire or something. There is also an option for pensioners wanting to move there, but not in my case. And I don’t really want to move to Panama to be honest. Thanks again.

Can you talk to the Australian embassy in your country about the situation?

I did, at first they said there would be no problem and processed the applications and so on, then after two months one of the officials said “sorry, can’t do it”. The law changed in August as I said, so even though everyone thinks it’s ok, technically it isn’t. I’ve actually gone through the process twice at two different embassies. It’s just not done anymore.

Wait a minute.

Assuming we don’t have a 4-year-old felon on our hands,
being born overseas shouldn’t deter her from getting citizenship.

Though how you became a citizen affects her qualifications.

By descent.—> You must have been an Australian citizen
at the time of her birth. Also, you must have been present
in Australia for periods totaling two years at some time in your life.

By birth or naturalization.—> She should be good to go.

Unless, of course, their website isn’t up to date.
In which case, I haven’t a clue and good luck!

exactly. Even though I have lived in Australia for various periods of time, I cannot prove it. The 2-year rule just came into effect on 31/7/08 and I went to apply on 08/08/08. So the idea was that I’d go there, stay for two years (with her) and then she’d get the citizenship (and eventually the passport). The problem is she cannot even travel to Australia without it.

Of course the above question is now irrelevant because more recent events have made all of this obsolete. I’m working on a completely different solution and don’t plan to go to Australia for now.

Good luck…whichever way the wind blows you.