Sambellina

Hurray!!! Its taken 17 months from deciding we want to move here to actually getting here and becoming residents - OMG!!! Can't believe its happened!!! But what now? What does it mean exactly? What do we get (other than living in this fab country)?

Don't get me wrong I'm not interested in hand outs etc, but do we get free healthcare or do we need to get health insurance etc? Are there extra perks e.g cheaper mortgages??

Or, is everything the same as if we were on holiday... only we don't need to go home?

Obviously, I know we don't get to vote until we become citizens...

Love to hear from you all!

Jan n Neil

If you have PR you can vote you don't need to wait for citizenship.

Jan

Sambellina

Wow! Are you sure? Never heard of that!! So what's the point of being a citizen?... You can live in Oz?

NakiMan

Basically, as a resident you can do pretty much anything that a citizen can do, including vote, claim benefits, use the health system and pay taxes.

I dont think you could become Prime Minister, but I belive you could become a member of parliament or a local councillor.

Perhaps the only significant thing you cant do, is go and live and work in Australia

In my view, the reason to become a citizen is not for what you can get out of it, but because it demonstrates your commitment to your new country.

And of course, you dont have to give up your british citizenship.

Sambellina

Crikey!! Didn't expect to have voting/healthcare rights as well as get to live here! Ha, that's awesome!!

Sambellina

Forgive my ignorance but how does becoming a NZ citizen demonstrate my commitment to NZ?... Other than being proud to carry the passport?
Don't get me wrong I'm more than happy to give to NZ, but what does NZ get out of me becoming a citizen?

Jan n Neil

Our lawyers advised us to take citizenship in time to come for a number of reasons: yes you can live in Oz if you wish, but it's a really safe passport to travel on, nearly as good as having a Swiss one. I travel a lot for work and that's quite appealing. You can keep UK citizenship and have dual nationality, that's what many of my colleagues have done and we will too.

For having PR you will get cheaper GP fees, and a mortgage more easily though not cheaper, and kids (if you have any) will be able to go to University as domestic students after 2 years of having PR. I can't really think of anything else, excpet you can live in NZ for EVER

Jan

Sambellina

By the way I agree with you... I'm not interested in finding out what we can 'get' from NZ, I'm just curious as to what 'residency' and 'citizenship' mean......

Sambellina

Thanks Jan n Neil that's great news re cheaper GP fees, easier mortgages and living in NZ forever! Love it here even more now!

NakiMan

Just checked. Seems that I was wrong, and only Citizens can become Members of Parliament (both elected or list)

Sambellina

I can live with that, not into politics!

Thanks for all your feedback guys, much appreciated! Off to enjoy the NZ sunshine now! Yipee!

Persephone

You do have to have been a resident for a year before you can register to vote so it's not immediate.

So any of us planning on becoming the next John Key then

Jan n Neil

After we bought our house, electoral roll caught up with us, and we were informed we were required to register by law(?). We then got voting papers for the council elections. We had not had PR for a year at that point.

Persephone

I got the same and it did say somewhere on the form that you had to have been a resident for 12months before you could register. I phoned them up to check and was told to bin the form and contact them when I had lived here long enough. I'm sure it also said that on the Chch ones that arrived earlier this year, though this time I could fill them in of course

Persephone

Just checked on the elections.org.nz website to see what the situation is regarding registering and found the following:
I presume that means actually living overseas rather than just going on holiday?
I'm not sure how they actually got my address when I lived in Palmy as I wasn't on any of the household bills up there, I can only assume that it was through my NZ driving licence or the IRD.