11/05/2024
A man from Melbourne was "dumbfounded" to learn that he had lost his Australian citizenship. thirty-three years priorA man from Melbourne was "dumbfounded" to learn that he had lost his Australian citizenship. thirty-three years prior
Glenn Keogh was born in Australia to Australian parents and has never lived overseas.
But two weeks ago, he discovered he had not been an Australian citizen since 1991.
"I don't know how to describe it, except it floored me," he said.
"I was working at the time and I was just dumbfounded."
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month the 55-year-old was informed by Home Affairs that he had no Australian citizenship or visa, due to a law that was repealed more than 20 years ago.
When the father-of-two told his employer about the situation, he was initially stood down from work without pay.
"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.
Applying for Irish citizenship had unintended consequences
Mr Keogh's grandparents were Irish and, proud of his ancestry, he decided to register his heritage with the Irish government when he was 22.
He didn't understand that would automatically be treated as an application for Irish citizenship or, crucially, that he would immediately lose Australian citizenship as a result.
Mr Keogh received Irish citizenship and a passport, which he held alongside Australian identity documents which technically were not valid.
It was never flagged as a problem until he came forward late last year.
When Mr Keogh shared his story on ABC Radio Melbourne on Friday, the office of the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles, said they were looking into Mr Keogh's case.
Three hours later his citizenship was restored.
He said he was "absolutely elated" to have his citizenship restored after going to the media, but the problem was not solved.
