Hi all,

I am planning my future in NZ and just wanted to get some input about how the calculations for citizenship works. I understand I need to meet the following criteria to be eligible:

- Be in NZ for at least 240 days in each year prior to the citizenship application, and
- 1350 days across the 5 years prior to the application as a resident

I got my residency on 12/10/2015. Here are my questions:

1. I intend to travel for 6 straight months sometime next year. I am planning to split this between two 'application years' so I don't void the 240 day restriction by travelling 3 months in each 'year'. Is this something anybody has had a problem with in the past?

2. Is it correct that I can apply for my citizenship on 08/06/2020 as I would have completed 4 years and 240 days as a resident? I've seen a bunch of posts about this but I don't understand how this would work considering a condition is that "I should have been living as a New Zealand resident for at least the last 5 years".

If that is correct, how would calculations for the previous 5 applications years work? Would my application anniversary be 08/06 of each year from 2015 onwards? Does that mean I need to plan my 6 month travels based on that anniversary date as I plan to apply as soon as I am eligible?

It'll be great to have some clarity.

Thanks in advance for your help, everyone.