[Lupin]

I wonder if anyone on here can solve this for me. My dh has citizenship by descent, as did his mother.

Now my children are living in NZ with their NZ citizen parent will they be eligible for citizenship befor ethe 5 yr rule? I've had a discussion with someone convinced they would get it by a process of naturalization or something similar.

Thanks all :)

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

Here is a website you may like to look at and it may answer your question for you.

http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Citizenship-New-Zealand-Citizenship-by-Descent?OpenDocument

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Suzanne.

[Lupin]

Just been on the phone to the citizenship office and because our kids are under 16, living and intending to stay in NZ with their NZ citizen parent, they CAN be granted citizenship.

Really thrilled for them :raebanana

[jubjub]

Thats great for them, gives them choices in the future.

[dharder]

I wonder if anyone on here can solve this for me. My dh has citizenship by descent, as did his mother.

Does your dh have to do anything to change it from 'by descent' to a 'full' citizenship? I'm just wondering because we are in the process of getting citizenship for our children (OH is the kiwi), but since they were born here in the UK, theirs will be citizenship by descent.

Since we will move over there in December, I was wondering if it changed automatically at some stage (doubtless involving paying some fee, though...). Is your dh doing anyting about it, and does it make a difference which one you have (other then passing it on to your children) for living over there?

Just wondering :)

Daniela

[Oregonkiwi]

Daniela - my son was born in the US so has NZ citizenship by descent (through me) which I applied for a couple of years ago, from the US.

The only difference between the two types of citizenship is that, with citizenship by descent, if he ends up having kids overseas, he can't pass his NZ citizenship on to them. So sometime I'll get around to applying for his citizenship by grant.

My understanding is that he'll need to go through the whole citizenship-by-grant application process. There's no automatic change-over. No big rush though, he's only 3 so the citizenship status of my future grandchildren is pretty hypothetical right now. :)

[constablechuck]

Oregonkiwi is correct, I am a citizen by descent and I have all the same rights as any other NZ citizen, the only difference is I can only pass on NZ citizenship to my children if they're born in NZ, it's not an issue for me as I can still pass on U.S. citizenship to my children regardless of where they're born, since I have no children and plan to stay in NZ there's no reason for me to apply for a grant.

It's my understanding that if you have citizenship by descent and wish to bring your children born outside NZ to live in NZ then you have to apply for them to obtain permanent residency from immigration, as a NZ citizen you can sponsor them for PR under the parent / child catagory.

[dharder]

My understanding is that he'll need to go through the whole citizenship-by-grant application process. There's no automatic change-over. No big rush though, he's only 3 so the citizenship status of my future grandchildren is pretty hypothetical right now. :)

Thanks for the quick reply :) Yes, somehow didn't think anything automatic would be possible...

Ours are 7 and 3, so hoping that grandchildren will be at least 20 years away, so I don't think I'll be doing anything in a hurry, either.

Thanks again,

Daniela

[CjChris]

I really haven't looked into the benefits of citizenship....focusing on PR for now...can anyone offer a summary of benefits of NZ citizenship as opposed to just having irrv status?

sorry to be ignorant to this....:o

[Croft]

I really haven't looked into the benefits of citizenship....focusing on PR for now...can anyone offer a summary of benefits of NZ citizenship as opposed to just having irrv status?

sorry to be ignorant to this....:o

A relative of ours, though you would think through and through Kiwi having come over on the Assisted Passage Scheme when he was a youngster in the 1950s, has never got citizenship. He sees no point now and just travels on his British Passport.

The key difference I think is if you work in Government. For instance if you want to work for the NZ Security Intelligence Service (http://www.nzsis.govt.nz/) you have to be a New Zealand citizen. The Royal New Zealand Air Force (http://www.airforce.mil.nz/careers/faq/default.htm#join) requires that you gain NZ citizenship with your initial 5 year, 8 month contract. Neither the RNZN or NZ Army appear to have this stipulation; it isn't on their websites anyway!

Remember though, that some countries can be very prickly about dual citizenship and if you return home it can bar you from certain Government related jobs.

[eternalkiwi]

Another potential benefit of NZ Citizenship is less restrictive access to Australia.

Shawn

[dharder]

Another potential benefit of NZ Citizenship is less restrictive access to Australia.

That is the first thing I like to point out to people why I thought getting citizenship for the kids makes sense, and for some strange reason, all kiwis, including my oh, seem to be feel rather insulted by that... :)

Personally, I have no intention of going for NZ citizenship (if I ever got to be eligible to apply), and don't currently see any difference between PR and citizenship for me.

Daniela

[Lupin]

I'd love to have a spell in Australia *one* day and I'm fairly sure feeling that way makes me more Kiwi, not less. I could imagine when/if my kids go to uni it being really cool for them to have the choice of Oz, Kiwi or UK unis :)

[dharder]

I could imagine when/if my kids go to uni it being really cool for them to have the choice of Oz, Kiwi or UK unis :)

Absolutely. My children will have three passports/nationalities, and even though two of them are European so do not really mean different rights in Europe, I still think it's nice to have options.

I tried to suggest Australia as an option to my Kiwi partner mainly because of the weather, to no avail. The mere hint at the fact that places other than NZ (and Australia in particular) might have something going for them is usually met with utter disbelief :) (kidding, of course)

Daniela

[Croft]

Another potential benefit of NZ Citizenship is less restrictive access to Australia.

Shawn

Very good point - I'd forgotten about that one.