When to apply for NZ Citizenship?

[JayAotearoa]

Kia Ora everyone!

I am hoping you can help me as I have been to so many places trying to find what should be a relatively simple bit of information. i need to know when is the earliest date I can apply for NZ Citizenship.

1. Granted residency mid-October 2015

2. Granted Permanent Residency mid-November 2017

3. Have only been out of NZ for 4 days in early 2015 BEFORE I applied for Residency.

What is the earliest day I can apply? Do I have to wait 5 years and 240 days? Can I apply in April 2019 or sometime in 2020?

Please let me know as I am confused and no one seems to be able to give me a clear answer.

Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.

JayAotearoa

[TheNewKiwi]

You can apply for citizenship when you have held a resident visa for 5 years and meet all the requirements for citizenship, including presence in NZ during those 5 years. Having extra time in the country beyond 240 days per year does not let you waive the 5 year visa requirement. In April 2019 you would have only had a resident visa for 3 1/2 years, so you would not yet be eligible. The soonest you could apply would be mid-October 2020, the day after your 5 year mark.

[JayAotearoa]

Hi NewKiwi thanks for that I have just read other places where people have said 240 days into the 5th year you can apply so before the 5 year anniversary date as the years are not counted that way? JandM any ideas or insight on this one?

Thanks alot.

[RedVee]

Hi JayAotearoa. You have to have had 240 days in each year since you became resident, and 1350 in total. With just four days out if the country in that period, you will be eligible to apply around the four years, eight months mark (so not as early as April 2019).

To calculate your eligibility, you look backwards from the date you intend to apply to see if you meet the time criteria.

I’d try dates around mid-June 2020. X = the day as in the DD bit of DD/06/2020)

So count the days you had (will have) a residency class visa from x June 19 to x June 20, x June 18 to x June 19, x June 17 to x June 18, x June 16 to x June 17, and x June 15 to x June 16. See if you’ve got 240 days in NZ each year, and 1350 in Nz overall. If not, change the “apply date” forward until you do.

That’s your application date. The Grant of Citizenship in my case only took two weeks, and I waited about six weeks for my Citizenship ceremony. DIA will check your dates for you before you pay your application fee.

Sorry TheNewKiwi but you are wrong, you don’t need to wait until you have held your resident visa a full five years before you can apply. I was actually a citizen before the fifth anniversary of setting foot in the country.

[JayAotearoa]

Hi Redvee,

Thank you so much this is what I thought the case would be. So let's say my date of Residency is 16th October 2015 and I have not left New Zealand at all during that whole timeframe. What would the earliest day I could apply be? Sorry I am horrible at maths....

[RedVee]

It would be roughly the 11 June 2020. But if you leave NZ for any days in between now and then, you would need to add them on. So a week away would mean 18 June, and so on.