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Thread: Residence permit holder under 1987 act, Applying for citizenship

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    Scotland > Wanaka, NZ
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    Question Residence permit holder under 1987 act, Applying for citizenship

    Hi folks, its been a long time since I was around here, I hope someone can help me. Time has gotten away from me and Ive now been here 5 years without leaving so I think I qualify for Citizenship. My brother is getting married in October, back in Scotland so I will need to travel out of NZ then. My travel conditions on my RRV have expired as they were only valid for 2 years but my residence permit stamp says I have the right to remain indefinitely.

    So getting to the point...my question is - to be classed as having had the right to reside permanently as per the Citizenship criteria from the DIA:

    Requirements for a Grant of New Zealand Citizenship

    You can get New Zealand citizenship by grant if:
    you already have the right to be in New Zealand indefinitely (you're a permanent resident of New Zealand or Australia, or you’re Australian)
    you’ve lived here for at least the last 5 years and had the right to be in New Zealand indefinitely the whole time
    you intend to keep living here
    you speak English, and
    you're of good character and don’t have any convictions or fines.


    Do I have to apply for a permanent residents visa, THEN citizenship or do I already qualify and can just go straight to it?

    TIA

  2. #2
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    Oct 2014
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    NZ
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    Default

    You already qualify.

    Keep in mind though:
    PR = 1 week max
    citizenship = 4 months.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by swearwolves View Post
    You already qualify.

    Keep in mind though:
    PR = 1 week max
    citizenship = 4 months.
    Thanks, good point! Maybe I could apply for the citizenship and if it doesnt turn up in time then bite the bullet and apply for PR?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    Quote Originally Posted by swearwolves View Post
    You already qualify.

    Keep in mind though:
    PR = 1 week max
    citizenship = 4 months.
    Just what I was going to say.

  5. #5
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    Jan 2008
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    Hi Nikki!!!

    We did our Citizenship about this time last year with similar timescales to you before an overseas trip. The whole process took about 2.5 months from sending the application to attending the ceremony in Queenstown. I would just sort out the form and send it off as soon as possible and I suspect you will find it is OK. Enjoy todays' local activity in the skies!!

  6. #6
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    Jan 2010
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    Scotland > Wanaka, NZ
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    Quote Originally Posted by CatherineP View Post
    Hi Nikki!!!

    We did our Citizenship about this time last year with similar timescales to you before an overseas trip. The whole process took about 2.5 months from sending the application to attending the ceremony in Queenstown. I would just sort out the form and send it off as soon as possible and I suspect you will find it is OK. Enjoy todays' local activity in the skies!!
    Thanks Catherine! I will just do that then. Luckily the kids already have it but I better get the passports sorted out too for them. Did you get to see the balloon? I was naughty and kept Imogen off to go watch, probably not a good look having her sat there in uniform! Was heaving up on Kane Road, so glad it got up before the cloud rolled in, was cool to see

  7. #7
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    Wanaka
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    Hi Nikki

    Sure the citizenship will be fine. It was quicker than we anticipated. Same situation as you with the Kids- it was just us adults that needed to do it!! School were great with passport renewals with previous NE teacher signing all the photos and forms for us. The children came to the ceremony though and sat with us which was really nice. Something we shared with them which was our main reason for doing it in the first place.
    Balloon was amazing. I sat on my garage floor, door open with the live streaming from the airport on the computer so I knew when it was going up and therefore when to look at the skies. Had a great view. Better from nearer the airport I imagine. I think some classes watched it at school for a short time.

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Ah great, thanks for that - I never thought about the teachers being able to do the passport witnessing QLDC seem to have quite a lot of ceremonies which is good, so hopefully I wont have to wait too long. Yes I am the same, I want to have the same citizenships as the kids, though Aaron didnt go for his British citizenship when we were living over there and qualified at the time which was a silly oversight. He maintains there would never be any reason for him to be living back there but you just never know what life will throw at you... Anyhoo, thanks again for letting me know what to expect, I will get onto it in May I think, have a few too many things on the go this next month.

    We watched it from home too on the live stream until they inflated the small launch balloon thingy and it inflated so fast we panicked we were going to miss it going up, so jumped in the car and headed up there, then it was ages till it got up haha. It was pretty wicked to see, I hope we get to see it passing by at some stage again now its fully inflated.
    Last edited by Nikki_d72; 27th March 2015 at 10:20 PM. Reason: typos

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