One of the requirements for obtaining New Zealand citizenship by grant will change on 21 April 2010.

Currently, if an applicant received permanent residence, or had a successful residence application accepted by Immigration New Zealand, before 21 April 2005, the applicant could be eligible for a grant of citizenship after living in New Zealand for three years. If they applied for and received permanent residence on or after 21 April 2005, they have to be resident in New Zealand for five years before becoming eligible for a grant of citizenship.

Applications for Citizenship Received On or After the 21st of April 2010.
All applications received at any of the New Zealand Citizenship offices, including those received in the mail, on or after the 21st of April 2010, will be assessed using the five year residency requirement, no matter when they applied for and obtained permanent residence. The requirement is that the applicant must be physically present in New Zealand for a minimum of 1,350 days with permanent residency during the five years immediately preceding the date of their application, and for at least 240 days with permanent residency in each of those five years.

The ability to be assessed against the three year residence requirement will no longer exist for new applications received on or after 21 April 2010.

Therefore, if an applicant received permanent residency or had a successful application accepted by Immigration NZ before 21 April 2005 and they wish to be assessed under the three year residence requirement, their application must be received at any of the New Zealand Citizenship offices before the 21st of April 2010. "

For further information on the grant of citizenship, please phone 0800 22 51 51 or visit the Department website: www.dia.govt.nz

ⓒ 뉴질랜드 코리아포스트(http://www.koreapost.co.nz), 무단전재 및 재배포 금지