Clarification on acquiring NZ citizenship

[sudee1104]

Hi there,

I'm little confused reading the below link.
http://www.dia.govt.nz/Services-Citi...tizenship#five

My query is I'm on resident visa (SMC - indefinite with 2 years of travel conditions) in New Zealand for a year. Inorder to obtain citizenship, does it take five years from the date of arrival or 7 years(2 years resident visa(with travel conditions)+5 years of permanent resident visa with no travel conditions).

Thanks in advance.

[IanW99]

As per the link, it takes 5 years of having residence.

Ian

[marcus,h]

hi my name is marcus
im a kiwi my wife is philipina, she has been living in NZ for 2 years now. she was just granted NZ residency her conditions are to live/work in NZ for the next 5 years (she is aloud to travel / leave NZ for only 4 months each year) if she breaks this condition her NZ residency is void / canceled. hope this helps

[JandM]

Marcus, there are requirements on the amount of time someone must spend in NZ in each of the five years in order to qualify for citizenship.

You are required to have:
Been present in New Zealand; for at least 1,350 days with New Zealand residence during the 5 years immediately before you make your application; and
for at least 240 days with New Zealand residence in each of those 5 years;

http://www.dia.govt.nz/Services-Citi...nd-Citizenship

However, this is not linked to anything that would make her lose her Residence. There are two years' travel conditions with Residence which allow unlimited coming and going from NZ. After two years, she could apply for Permanent Residence, which has different conditions - if she has met those and gets PR, she will still be able to come and go freely. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...quirements.htm

To sum up, requirements for presence in NZ are different for PR, and for citizenship. Not meeting the citizenship requirements will NOT cause anyone's Residence to become void, however - be reassured. And she can apply for citizenship after ANY five-year period when she has met the requirements - it doesn't have to be done immediately after the FIRST five years in NZ as a Resident.