Employment requirements for new DEWR employees

Privacy

Your privacy is important to us, which is why all collection, handling, use and disclosure of your personal information will be managed in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act 1988.

Identity and citizenship check

As part of your onboarding, we’ll verify your:

• Proof of identity, including any name changes or aliases
• Australian citizenship
• National police records

To support this, you will be asked to:

• Provide identity documents as outlined in this guide
• Provide your full 5-year residential address history, including any periods you have lived overseas
• Explain any gaps in your residential history, via your return email.
• Provide your address history in chronological order and in day/month/year format.

If you have lived overseas within the past 5 years

You will be asked to provide:

• Your overseas address history
• A statutory declaration confirming your overseas address history and that you had no involvement with law enforcement while overseas.

Statutory declarations can be accessed online via Digital Commonwealth statutory declarations (Attorney-General's Department) or download the form and have it signed by an authorised person.

Required documents

To help confirm your identity and your eligibility for employment, you will be asked to provide several documents.

Unless otherwise stated, copies (scanned or photographed) of documents are acceptable. Original documents are only required where explicitly noted.

The information below offers a general guide, with more detailed instructions to be provided along with your onboarding paperwork and letter of offer. This includes guidance if you experience any difficulty obtaining your identity documents.

Proof of your identity and citizenship

You are required to provide 3 forms of identification plus one additional element of identification:

• One ‘commencement of identity’ document to confirm your birth in Australia or arrival in Australia (e.g. birth certificate or passport)
• One ‘primary use in the community’ document to show the use of your identity in the community (e.g. drivers licence)
• One ‘secondary use in the community’ document (e.g. Medicare card)
• Additional – ID ‘Selfie’: one clear photograph of yourself holding one of your provided Photo IDs (e.g. Passport or Driver’s licence).

‘Commencement of identity’ documents

You must provide a copy of one of the following:

• Your full Australian birth certificate issued by the state or territory Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (we cannot accept birth certificate extracts or birth card)
• Immigration record or document, including:
  1. Your Australian citizenship certificate (including both the front and back of the certificate)
  2. An Australian visa (supported by a foreign passport, which is needed for verification)
  3. An ImmiCard issued by the Department of Home Affairs to assist visa holders to provide evidence of their Commencement of Identity in Australia.
• Your Australian passport (not expired, however, if the Digital Verification System (DVS) is used to verify the passport, it may be up to 3 years expired).

‘Primary use in the community’ documents

You must provide a copy of one of the following:

• Your current Australian passport (not expired, however, if the DVS is used to verify the passport, it may be up to 3 years expired)
• Your Australian-issued driver’s licence (and the back of the licence if it includes address details)
• Foreign passport issued by a country other than Australia with a valid visa or valid entry stamp or equivalent
• A proof of age or photo identity card issued by an Australian government agency which shows the name, date of birth, photo and signature of the individual
• For persons aged under 18 years with no other primary use in community documents, a student identity document issued by an Australian secondary school, TAFE, university, registered training organisation or State government agency only.

‘Secondary use in the community’ documents

You must provide a copy of one of the following:

• Your Medicare card
• Your Australian-issued driver’s licence (and the back of the licence if it includes address details)
• Proof of electoral enrolment with the Australian Electoral Commission
• Commonwealth or state/territory government photo identity card (this may take the form of a working with children or vulnerable people card or a government issued occupational licence)
• A credit card or bank card

Please note that additional identification options will become available within the form once your onboarding has commenced.

Additional proof of citizenship (if applicable)

If you use your Australian birth certificate as proof of Australian citizenship AND you were born on or after 20 August 1986, you must provide additional documents confirming your parent’s citizenship status at the time of your birth.

These include a copy of one of the following:

• your parent's full birth certificate that shows your parent was born in Australia before 20 August 1986, or
• your parent's Australian passport, if it was issued on or after 20 August 1986, issued before you were born and valid for at least 2 years when it was issued, or
• your parent's Australian citizenship certificate that shows they acquired citizenship before you were born.

If your parent was born in Australia on or after 20 August 1986, then to prove citizenship by birth you’ll need to provide your own full Australian birth certificate AND your parent’s full Australian birth certificate AND:

• the full Australian birth certificate of a grandparent who was born in Australia before 20 August 1986, or
• the Australian passport of a grandparent issued on or after 20 August 1986 that was valid for at least 2 years and issued before your parent was born, or
• the Australian citizenship certificate of a grandparent that shows they acquired citizenship before your parent was born.

Important: We can only accept copies of full, original Australian birth certificates issued by an Australian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages that include the names of your parent or grandparent.

If the link between you and your parent or between your parent and your grandparent is not clear from their birth certificates because one or both of them changed their names, then you’ll also need to provide official name change documents that prove these links.

If you cannot give us any of these, you must apply to the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) for a certificate of evidence of Australian citizenship.

Please note: If you have sent us your current passport as a commencement document, you do not need to send us your birth certificate unless you want us to use your passport as your primary document.

Change of name documentation

If any identity document shows a previous name, you’ll be asked to provide evidence supporting each name change.

Acceptable documents include:

• Australian marriage certificate issued by a state or territory registry
• Divorce decree (nisi or absolute)
• Re issued birth certificate reflecting the name change
• Official Change of Name Certificate

Ceremony issued marriage certificates cannot be accepted.

Challenges with confirming identity

If you’re unable to access the identity documents listed above, there are alternative processes that may help. The Department of Home Affairs provides the 1195 Identity Declaration Form (PDF), which can assist in confirming your identity. You can find more information or complete the form on their website. You may also wish to contact your state or territory Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages for help obtaining replacement documents.

Security clearance

To access DEWR’s protected IT network, employees are required to hold a Baseline Security Clearance issued by the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA).

DEWR will sponsor your security clearance application, and once the request is submitted, AGSVA will send you instructions via the myClearance portal.

To help avoid delays in your onboarding and clearance processing, it is important to complete and submit your AGSVA application — including all required documentation — as soon as possible. While AGSVA allows up to 20 business days, we recommend completing it within 5 business days of receiving your access.

AGSVA will begin assessing your application once DEWR confirms:

• Your Australian citizenship
• Your checkable background (including your Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check)

Support materials, including the Security Clearance Applicant Guide Book (PDF), are available on the AGSVA website.

If you have any questions about the process, please reach out to AGSVA directly or you can visit their website by clicking the link.

Timeframe

To help keep your onboarding on track:

• You will have 5 business days to complete and return your onboarding paperwork after receiving your offer.
• The DEWR Recruitment team will review your documents within 5 business days of receiving them.
• DEWR Protective Security will then initiate your security clearance request.
• You have 5 business days to complete your security clearance application once it has been initiated.

Your security clearance must be completed before your employment commencement date.

Delays in providing information to AGSVA will impact your start date, so submitting documents promptly is strongly encouraged.

Please note: While your recruitment processing has been finalised, you are still required to complete the security clearance process before commencing on the start date specified in your offer of employment.