Australian Citizenship for New Zealanders.
There have been some changes to the general residence requirement for certain New Zealand citizens that hold a subclass 189 Skilled Independent visa.
The standard residence requirement for most visa holders is that you would need to have held your permanent visa for 12 months before you apply for citizenship.
The changes, for New Zealand citizens who hold a subclass 189 visa are:
For citizenship purposes:
You are eligible to apply for Australian citizenship from 1 January 2023 if you were granted you the permanent visa between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022.
If you were granted this permanent visa on or after 1 January 2023, you are eligible to apply for Australian citizenship from the visa grant date.
The requirement to have held the permanent visa for 12 months before you apply, no longer applies to a New Zealand citizens who hold a subclass 189 visa.
You still need to:
- Have been living in Australia on a valid Australian visa for 4 years immediately before you apply.
- Not been absent from Australia for more than one year in the past 4 years.
- Not been absent from Australia for more than 90 days in the 12 months before you apply.