Citizenship requirement changes in April — don't miss out if you are eligible
10 March, 2010 A requirement for gaining New Zealand citizenship by grant changes on 21 April 2010. Anyone who received permanent residence or had a successful application accepted by Immigration New Zealand before 21 April 2005 could be eligible for a grant of citizenship after living in New Zealand for three years. Someone who applied for and received permanent residence on or after 21 April 2005 has to be resident in New Zealand for five years before becoming eligible for a grant of citizenship. However, from 21 April 2010, every applicant will have to have been a permanent resident for five years before becoming eligible for a grant of citizenship, no matter when they got permanent residence. If a permanent resident travelled overseas during the relevant residence period when they were resident here, they might still meet the three-year requirement provided New Zealand was their home base and they did not enter into a settled lifestyle overseas. Applications must be received by the Department on or before 20 April 2010 to be considered under the three-year requirement. All applications received from 21 April will have to meet the five-year requirement. This change results from amendments to the Citizenship Act in 2005. No other requirements for citizenship are changing at this time. Quotes attributable to Geoff May, Department of Internal Affairs Citizenship Manager.
"This change means that if a person meets the three-year requirement and doesn't put in an application before 21 April, they will not be eligible until they have lived here for five years, rather than three. "The people most likely to be affected by this change are those who had their applications for permanent residence accepted by Immigration New Zealand before 21 April 2005, but did not receive permanent residence for several months or more after that date. "There might also be people who currently meet the three-year requirement but have been away from New Zealand for long periods of time and won’t meet the five-year requirement. "Anyone who might be affected by this change should send their applications to us before 21 April or they miss out."
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