Citizenship processing times

[jamesthecarman]

Was just chatting to a neighbour who's been in NZ for 5 years, and he mentioned he's applied for citizenship.

Unfortunately it's taken 8 months already, which is quite a bit longer than I was hoping (I'm still 2 years off from being able to apply).

He went on holiday to visit home (UK) last year, and they (DIA) asked him about each and every town he visited. Seems a bit much, even if they want to see if you are going to be a 'dedicated Kiwi for the rest of your life'.

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Department of Internal Affairs (0800 22 51 51 or +64 4 474 8123) are who handles citizenship applications, not immigration. After being a permanent resident for 5 years you can apply to be a citizen.

To be eligible you have to be in the country for 9 of 12 months each year, the anniversary date of your PR is the beginning/end of each of your 'years'.

[MotherBear]

Originally Posted by jamesthecarman

He went on holiday to visit home (UK) last year, and they (DIA) asked him about each and every town he visited. Seems a bit much, even if they want to see if you are going to be a 'dedicated Kiwi for the rest of your life'.

Very odd. How would they know if you lied or not? It's almost like they're tracking him but to what end? I could imagine it maybe if he came from a dodgy country but not the UK.

[Cliff]

Sounds like something possibly doesn't look look right. The citizenship ceremony is held locally where he lives. They may not hold a ceremony very often if he lives in a small place.

[selchie]

So they've upped it to five years, then? I'd heard of the discussions, but not the conclusion.