didik

I hope that somebody could help me with this question. Currently, i (the father) we are planning to move to Canada. Both my wife and daughter will come with me. I am wondering if before we go, we could apply NZ citizenship for her. Here are the circumstances.

**Mother will get her NZ citizenship in the end of June 2006. Father is not a NZ citizen.
**Mother has been living in New Zealand for almost 4 years. Husband has been living in Australia for 5 years.
**The child has been living in New Zealand for almost a year by now. She will go to Canada with her parents sometime in September 2006.

A) I want to know if she is eligible for citizenship if she apply now (or July).
B) Will her long absence out from New Zealand during the application process affect the citizenship application? The application process at the moment takes about 8 months.

Cheers,
ddk

newkiwi

i think to get a grant of citezenship you need to show commitment to staying in nz.

check out the dept of internal affairs website on what they say about it.

were in the proces of applying now, so know all about the long waiting

uk+kiwi

I think it sounds unlikely that citizenship would be granted on the basis that as far as I am aware, children must satisfy the same requirements as adults and one year would not qualify. However, it's worth a call to the experts whom should be able to answer your question pretty quickly.

Not sure if the mothers citizenship helps at all, since this won't be citizenship by birth which is the only type to fall down to the next line, ie children - citizenship via descent. My children have this as hubbie is a kiwi, but they can't pass it further without having their children NZ born or living there long enough to upgrade their citizenship and thus passing it down once again. Very confusing all this stuff. But good luck.

JAJ

Children under 16 do not normally need to meet residence requirements, as far as I know. Better to check http://www.citizenship.govt.nz , people who phone up public enquiry lines often get wrong advice.

uk+kiwi

Great news for the OP. Thanks.

JAJ

Not necessarily, as they may still want to see that the child is living in New Zealand when the application is decided.

I asked on another thread : "why the rush to move to Canada?"

didik

Thanks all for the replies.
We will consider to stay on NZ until the citizenship is granted to my daughter. We are also considering to lodge the citizen application now. I have verified with one DIA officer that my daughter is eligible to apply now.

ddk

JAJ

Bear in mind that one of the requirements for NZ citizenship is that there should be an intention to continue living in NZ. If the NZ authorities see immigrant visas for Canada in your passport, they may well ask you why and what your plans really are.

No-one on an online forum can help you with this, the problem is that usually it's better to become a citizen in the first country before you think about moving somewhere else.