When you arrive in Australia, you dream of that day: the moment you officially become an Australian citizen. The road isn't short—visas, skills assessment, permanent residency, paperwork, NAATI translations—but when you're finally called for the citizenship ceremony, it all makes sense.

There are procedures that test your patience… and then there's getting your Australian passport. I thought it would be a quick process: photo, form, payment, delivery… done! But no. Australia always has a very peculiar way of reminding you that here, rules are rules, even for a simple photograph.