Because you gained residency via your citizen wife, you are allowed to file after three years of becoming a legal resident . If you are 18 years or older, you must also meet the character requirements. If your partner is a New Zealand citizen and the two of you have been living together outside of New Zealand for 5 years or longer, you may be eligible for a permanent resident visa. Application for New Zealand citizenship — Samoan (adult and child) (PDF 471KB) Application for New Zealand citizenship — Samoan (adult and child) — Samoan language (PDF 519KB) Requirements for NZ citizenship. Before you apply, check you meet the requirements to become a New Zealand citizen. if you can meet the requirements. Hello all, It has been a while since posting here but thought I would share our experiences with getting our NZ citizenship. You can apply for citizenship if you are an: Australian permanent resident, or; eligible New Zealand citizen; Before you apply, you should check that you are eligible. One rule is that you are not eligible to become a U.S. citizen under the three year rule if, before filing the application, your marriage ends due to … The online service is not yet available. The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) has a self-check tool to find out if you are eligible for New Zealand citizenship. New Zealand nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds New Zealand nationality. You also must live here for a total of 1350 days in that 5 year period, which is an average of 270 days a year. We hit our 5 year mark here in NZ mid-September this year and then were eligible to apply for citizenship. Check your eligibility for citizenship | Govt.nz Requirements for New Zealand citizenship | Govt.nz. However, the rules do allow you to file your Form N-400 application up to 90 days before the 5-year anniversary of your admission date. Thus, a person who has been a permanent resident since 1/1/2017 would meet this requirement on 10/3/2021. . Your partner will need to be either overseas when you apply, or have been back in New Zealand for less than 3 months. In this section Check you meet the requirements for NZ citizenship. That's 90 days before they reach the 5-year mark. . The forms were very easy to fill out and understand so no issues there. Regulations apply to the entire Realm of New Zealand, which includes the country of New Zealand itself, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and the Ross Dependency.Foreign nationals may be granted citizenship if they are permanently resident and live in any part of the Realm. Citizenship: You must hold a Residence Visa for 5 years and spent at least 240 days a year (about 8 months) in New Zealand for each of the 5 years before you can apply. Given that the maximum validity of New Zealand passports is 10 years for adults and 5 years for under 16 year olds, an endorsement indicating New Zealand citizenship may work out to be an even more economic option if affixed inside or linked electronically to a foreign passport/travel document which has a longer validity (e.g. Use this self-check tool to find out if you meet the requirements for New Zealand citizenship. If you are a citizen of Samoa, you can apply in person or by post using the form below. If you have children under the age of 16, you can include them in your application. 10 years). To see if you are likely to meet the requirements and to check whether you can apply online, visit the Govt.nz website. Hello, I am sightly confused as to whether I need to have been living in NZ three years or five years before applying for a passport and was hoping somebody might know the answer to this?