[Croft]

Now most will know that the requirement for citizenship increased from 3 to 5 years in 2005, together with additional residency requirements. However, the actual wording is:

"If you received permanent residence before 21 April 2005, or made an application for permanent residence before 21 April 2005 that was approved after 21 April 2005..."

(I'm sure most of you knew this anyway!)

This would indicate that those who were in the process of applying for residency during this period may be eligible for citizenship after 3 years instead of 5. This is of interest to us as our EOI was selected in March 2005, but we did not submit the Residence Application until September 2005 (taking the full permitted 6 months).

I sent a note to the Department of Internal Affairs asking how they defined "an application for permanent residence", and whether this included the EOI portion of the process. They stated was "To determine if an applicant falls under the three or five year ordinary residence requirements, we use the date that the applicant paid for and applied for their permanent residency."

This indicates to me that it's the Residency Application that is key, not the EOI (although this incurs a fee of NZ$300), unless anyone knows to the contrary. So, for you guys that had you Residency Application in before 21 April 2005 you fall in the 3 year rule.

[bumpffslam]

Actually I didn't know this! Dumb old me thought it was from the date you arrived in NZ (Oct 05). So you've just made my day as my permit is dated Mar 05. Many thanks for alerting me to this.

[bozandhelen]

Pretty ambiguous still..

It would be interesting to find out if this for the date of the EOI or the submitting of the actual residency application itself..

If anyone clarifies this let us know..

[Milliemoo]

Hi,

I think they've changed the wording. I'm sure it used to be if you submitted your ITA before the 21st April and they take the date of when they offically recieved your ITA as the date to go by.

I'll do some digging.

Milliemoo

[Milliemoo]

yup, I'd definately say it's when you submitted your ITA because that's when you're actually making an "application for permanent residency", rather than just expressing an interest.

So I'd say it's the date the NZIS recieved your ITA.

Milliemoo

[granger]

Pretty ambiguous still..

It would be interesting to find out if this for the date of the EOI or the submitting of the actual residency application itself..

If anyone clarifies this let us know..

Milliemoo and Croft are right. The EOI doesn't count. It's your formal application for permanent residence (after you've been invited to apply for it) that counts.