NOIM question. I know it says in the Guidelines if a person is in the country for a matter of days you leave the period of residency blank. Is that right? The only time I leave it blank is when they are born here, and I wouldn’t want there to be any confusion with an overseas-born person if I left it blank and BDM thought I’d made a mistake and forgot to fill it in.
You’re absolutely right, the Guidelines recommend leaving the period of residency fields blank on the NOIM.
s4.8, p40, Guidelines on the Marriage Act 1961 for Marriage Celebrants 2018:
The NOIM makes provision for giving both ‘years’ and ‘months’ of residence. Months as well as years need only be given where the party has been resident in Australia for less than two years. Where the party has been resident in Australia for two years or more, the number of completed years only need be given. For example, a period of five years, nine months residence need be stated only as five years. If a party has only been in Australia for a period of days it is unnecessary to record this information. Celebrants should be aware that there is no minimum residency requirement prior to a marriage being solemnised in Australia. The information about the parties’ period of residence is collected for statistical purposes only and is collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
To avoid any confusion and to ensure BDM doesn’t just think you’ve left it blank by accident, just pop a 0 in each of the years and months boxes. All good!
