15/8/2024

New Zealand Citizens Living in Australia

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New Zealand Citizens Living in Australia

The AUS-NZ relationship

The relationship between Australia and New Zealand is super strong and at times the migration process may start in New Zealand but end in Australia.

New Zealand citizens are not required to be granted a visa prior to boarding their flight across to Australia. They will be issued with a Special Category Visa (SCV) TY444 visa on arrival – but there is a caveat to this. You must be of good character and health (for what this means - click here). If you have had issues with your character or health, you should apply and be granted a visa before you travel across to Australia. Failure to do this could mean you are denied entry and flown back home.

Special Category TY444 VisA

Most New Zealanders are holding a TY444 visa that allows you to stay indefinitely in Australia with full work rights – but you are not a Permanent Resident. You can only have PR status if you specifically applied for a PR visa and have had it granted to you. A TY444 visa is a Temporary Resident visa only.

With that said though, there is a special date in Australian-New Zealand immigration history that can affect your status in Australia… ~ 26 JAN 2001 ~ This date determines whether you are a Protected/Eligible New Zealand Citizen or not in the eyes of Immigration, Centrelink and possibly other governmental services.

What is a Protected/Eligible NZ citizen?

You are a P/ENZ citizen if you were either:

in Australia on 26 February 2001;
if not in the country on the above date then you must have been in Australia for 12 months in the 2 years immediately before this date;
you have been given a certificate by Centrelink that has assessed you as a protected SCV holder, issued before 26 February 2004.

Basically, if you have this special status, you are meeting the same requirements as an Australian Citizen when it comes to sponsoring someone for a visa; applying for Citizenship and possibly other government services.

But if you do not have this status, your ability to sponsor someone for a visa, obtain Centrelink payments or other government services may be limited or simply not available to you.

An example of this is the Partner visa

My partner is a NZ citizen living in Australia. I’m not a NZ citizen and my visa is coming to an end. I don’t want to go home, I want to stay with my Partner; what options do I have to stay?

If your partner is a P/ENZ

Your NZ partner could sponsor you under the standard partner visa program and you will receive Permanent Residency upon successful grant.

If your partner is not a P/ENZ

Your NZ partner could sponsor you under the NZ Family Relationship visa. This is temporary visa valid for 5 years and provides you with full work rights. You will need to renew this visa to continue staying in Australia. And if your relationship ends, you can still have this visa provided you have not entered into another relationship.

If your NZ partner becomes an AU citizen

You will need to be sponsored under the partner visa as they will no longer hold the status of a NZ citizen in Australia for the purposes of the NZ Relationship Visa. It is best to check your visa expiry date as it could affect your next visa application timeframe. Timing is EVERYTHING!

New Zealander’s becoming Australian Citizen

From 1 July 2023, the Albanese Government legislated that New Zealand Citizens no longer needed to become Permanent Residents first in order to qualify for Australian Citizenship; a huge and costly hurdle taken away and brings them inline with Australian citizens living in New Zealand.

As a TY444 visa holder, you need to meet the same eligibility requirements as a Permanent Resident. Becoming an Australian Citizen will bring you so many more benefits compared to being a Temporary Resident TY444 visa holder that it really is worth obtaining. For more citizenship information – click here.

Children born in Australia to New Zealand parents – are they Australian or New Zealanders?

They could be both!

For a child born to New Zealand parents prior to 1 July 2022, your child will need to be registered with the New Zealand government to obtain their citizenship status and passport. They can then be issued with a TY444 visa.

How can they become an Australian Citizen?

If they have lived in Australia since their birth until 10 years of age, they will automatically obtain Australian Citizenship on their 10th birthday. This can be confirmed through an application of “Evidence of Citizenship” and will be needed for an Australian Passport application.

If they left Australia to live back in NZ or any other country, then upon their return they will need to meet the standard eligibility for citizenship as discussed above.

If they are born on or after 1 July 2022, they automatically become an Australian citizen at birth. Again its a good idea to obtain an "Evidence of Citizenship" certificate, especially to make an application for an Australian Passport. You may look to registering them with the New Zealand government as well to establish their dual citizenship.

FROM THE DESK OF EMILY SURINA
~ REGISTERED migration AGENT ~