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Thread: Citizenship delayed due to hearsay?

  1. #1
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    Default Citizenship delayed due to hearsay?

    Hi all. Are there any nurses here who had their citizenship application delayed or worst, denied because DIA received anonymous info that said nurse have stated an intention to work in Australia in the future? I am not due to apply next year but I have a friend who is a nurse that is currently having issues with their application as DIA have received info that she have stated intentions to possibly work in Australia and that this came from an unidentified source (or a source that they won't disclose)?? Isn't this pure hearsay in this case??? How can this be legally challenged?

  2. #2
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    It is a legal requirement that those granted New Zealand citizenship intend to reside in New Zealand (despite some misguided individuals on this forum claiming otherwise); see Section 8(2)(f).

    Per the Citizenship Guidance Document, the Department of Internal Affairs takes the following into account when assessing whether this requirement is met:

    • whether the applicant is currently residing in New Zealand
    • whether the applicant has indicated on the application form that they intend to continue to reside in New Zealand, and
    • whether the Department has received any information that would suggest that the applicant may not intend to continue to reside in New Zealand.


    The onus rests on the person making the application to prove intention to reside where the Department of Internal Affairs believes that there is no intention to reside.

    If an application is declined, be aware that the Citizenship Office will only review a decision if the applicant can prove that the Minister of Internal Affairs was given the wrong advice or not enough information. The applicant has the right to request a copy of the report that was sent to the Minister, and additionally has the right to make a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman. See here for the official advice.

  3. #3
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    Hi Kelerei. Thank you so much for your reply. Is there any ops manual on how the DIA obtain and consider what they will regard as good and unbiased information? I can't find any in their guidelines. I am concerned because if the department is happy to accept any random "information as disclosed by a member of the public", then there is no real unbiased way to authenticate information is there? As I can even just call them and tell "Mr/Ms X has disclosed she will work in Australia" just because I can, how is this even fair at all? So I am hoping that there's an ops manual on how information is properly gathered and assessed for bias.

  4. #4
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    Nothing that I'm aware of apart from the Citizenship Guidance Document, which I gave you the link for above.

  5. #5
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    This pretty much never happens. I know person who had his passport processed quicker for him to be able to go and work over in Australia, which was required by the company he worked for from time to time, being a large international organization.
    Once your citizenship is granted you can do anything that is also legally allowed to any New Zealand citizen.

    Tell your friend it's just a long process atm. It took me 11 months but finally I'm a citizen here.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aron View Post
    This pretty much never happens.
    This is not in line with the intention to reside requirement contained within the Citizenship Act.

    Applicants for the grant of New Zealand citizenship are required to demonstrate an intention to reside in New Zealand per Section 8(2)(f) of the Citizenship Act. This is mentioned in no uncertain terms on the website of the Department of Internal Affairs, and on the paper applications forms (and, though I haven't checked this, almost certainly the online application as well).

    Section 8(2)(f)(ii) contains three exceptions to this: the applicant must be a) in Crown service under the New Zealand Government, b) in the service of an international organisation that the New Zealand Government is a member of (e.g. the UN), or c) employed by a person or organisation based in New Zealand. Reading between the lines, it would be more likely than not that your acquaintance fell within the third of these exceptions.

    Additionally, the Minister of Internal Affairs has extremely limited power to waive the intention to reside requirement. The only legal basis for doing so is granting citizenship under Section 9, and this can only be applied to a) persons under the age of 16, b) persons that have a parent that is a New Zealand citizen by descent, c) where exceptional circumstances would make the grant of New Zealand citizenship in the public interest, or d) if the person would otherwise be stateless. Before anyone gets any fanciful ideas around the "exceptional circumstances" clause, this is a very difficult requirement to meet as the Department of Internal Affairs sets the bar very high (per the Citizenship Guidance Document, linked a few posts above).

    It appears you have incorrectly assumed that the majority of people who do not intend to reside fall into these exceptional cases: this assumption goes against the very definition of the word "exceptional". It is never safe to assume that someone's exceptional case can apply to someone else: each person's circumstances are unique. What may have applied to Aron's acquaintance may well not apply to raleigh119's acquaintance.

    I will repeat my warning that I have posted previously: it is an offence to provide false information (including stating an intention to reside where there is no such intention to reside) for the purposes of obtaining New Zealand citizenship by grant. The person providing the false information can be prosecuted under Section 27 of the Citizenship Act. Additionally, if the false information resulted in a grant of New Zealand citizenship, such citizenship may be deprived under Section 17 of the Citizenship Act. Again, this is mentioned in no uncertain terms in the Citizenship Guidance Document, and on the paper application form (and again, almost certainly on the online form). If one is not intending to reside in New Zealand, one should be honest about this to the Department of Internal Affairs: the worst that can happen then is simply a declined application.

    I realize that a lot of this sounds like doom and gloom, but these are the legal requirements that must be met. It is always better to tell people what they need to know rather than what they would like to hear.

    Finally, to put some people's minds at ease over this: Section 8(9) clarifies that the intention to reside must be a continuing intention from the date the application was made until the date that the applicant becomes a citizen under Section 12. If a person's circumstances change after the grant of citizenship resulting in them no longer residing in New Zealand, there is therefore no problem whatsoever.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kelerei View Post
    This is not in line with the intention to reside requirement contained within the Citizenship Act.
    Indeed you are correct. However, I think Aron's point is it'd be very difficult to actually prove you do not intend to keep living in NZ, especially if it's one persons word against another.

    Maybe this'll help them -


    You will be asked about your travel plans for the next 12 months. If you plan to travel, you may be asked to prove that New Zealand is your home because you:
    have a job here
    are studying here
    own or rent property here, or
    have assets here, like cars or furniture.

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