Citizenship timeline in 2023

[HansNZ]

Wow seriously! How do you come to know that your photo had a problem? I am struggling to understand why there could be a problem on photo when the online photo checker didn't flagged any!

I was asked to provide another photo because the original one didn't meet the requirements. There was another issue being my child's passport was almost 5 years (not expired), it was concerned our child might have been too different from the photo in the passport, so an Identity letter was sent to us to get confirmation from school or GP (two options)
I gut told me it was the photo, and it was true.

Our application has been approved though.

[fastkiwi]

Hi,
Regarding your present and requirements for NZ citizenship you just need to be present in New Zealand 240 Days each 365 days, and 1350 days in total. It means you can travel up to 90 days every year. and it could be a long trip up to 239 days in 730 days as long as you are present in NZ 1350 days in total. So base on your travel history, you just had a few days travel on 2019 and 2022. SO, Don't wory. You are eligible to apply on 20 Jun 2024.
Good luck

Hi

Could you please put my mind at ease here, I have spoken to an Immigration Attorney and according to them they said that because I was granted residence 23rd Oct 2019 I will only be eligible 23rd Oct 2024?
From what I understood is you only have to do the 4years and 240 days which works out to 20 June 2024 if we add in those travel dates

Thanks

Resident Visa Approved: 23rd October 2019
Travelled Abroad to South Africa: Departed NZ -12th December 2019, arrived back in NZ - 1st January 2020
Permanent Resident Visa Approved: 26th November 2021
Travelled Abroad: Departed NZ - 25th December 2022, arrived back in NZ - 30th December 2022

[fastkiwi]

DIA says the below so from what I understand the 19th of June 2024 is correct but we might need to add those extra days for travel which pushes it out to July 2024. But I don't think what the immigration attorney is saying about the eligibility date of 23rd Oct 2024 is correct?

Legislation
Section 8(2)(b)

Summary
Applicants are required to be present in New Zealand with the right to remain indefinitely for:
• a minimum of 1,350 days in the 5 years preceding the citizenship application, and
• at least 240 days in each of those 5 years.


Calculated backwards from application date

23rd Oct 2024 - 23rd Oct 2023 - Year 1
Theoretical Application date: 19th June 2024 - 23rd Oct 2023 (240days met) (19th June 2024 minus 1350days = 8th Oct 2020 - 1350days in preceding 5 years has been met)
23rd Oct 2023 - 23rd Oct 2022 - Year 2 (240days met)
23rd Oct 2022 - 23rd Oct 2021 - Year 3 (240days met)
23rd Oct 2021 - 23rd Oct 2020 - Year 4 (240days met)
23rd Oct 2020 - 23rd Oct 2019 - Year 5 (240days met)

[JandM]

From the experience of many on this forum, I don't think the immigration attorney is right, either.

[fastkiwi]

Agree, that's exactly what I thought. There are alot of fairly knowledgeable people on here, so I trust the advice from here rather than the attorney

[bluegray]

Hi fellow members

I have been waiting for 11 months, applied Apr 2023. Untill now the application is still waiting for a case officer to be allocated!

I have no clue why my application didn't went through automated processing. No name change, sufficient years in country to meet presence requirement, no offenses.

To me it seems, the system might be considering amount of people per ethnicity and if you are either Indian or Chinese you are put on slow burner haha..because there are too many of these ethnicities applying.. other than that I am unable to think of any other weird reason.. haha.

Are there anyone who are or were on same boat to wait that long? Part of me thinks the system is not doing fair job to make a lot of people wait for as long as an year while some could get through in 2-6 weeks of time!

You're not alone. I've been waiting for almost one year and still haven't heard anything from DIA yet. I am like you, have no name change, stayed enough time in NZ and of course I have no offense. No idea why my application cannot pass automated processing.

[Eaglekiwi]

I applied for my citizenship ending of January 2024 and still waiting for allocation. My friend applied and got approved in 6 weeks this same year. He's traveled out of NZ a few times and I haven't in 7 yrs. No record or any offense.

We both sole trader and we both oweing the covid small business loan to IRD which we both paying back. However in his application. When asked about money owed to ird, he ticked "No" as the money is owed under his business entity.

On the other hand, I misunderstood the question and tick "yes". I believe it shouldn't be a problem as it's being paid back on a monthlybasis as requested. But I didn't specify its a business loan because the business name is still my legal name.

I believe this has played a role in why I probably didn't go through the auto check. Is anybody here in similar situation or got approve through the fast check after ticking "Yes" to money owed.

Thanks