Applicants for New Zealand citizenship generally need to show they are “of good character”.

• If you have never been in trouble with the law, here or overseas, you don’t need to prove this in any other way. Regulatory offences, such as parking tickets and speeding fines, generally won’t count against you, unless you have a particularly serious record (for example, having over 100 demerit points on your driver licence)
• If you have been convicted of any crime, anywhere, you need to say so on the form. There are also several other questions you need to answer honestly.
• If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the questions on the form, write a letter explaining what happened and attach it when you apply.
• If you have lived overseas while you were a resident in New Zealand, you might need to get a police certificate from the country you were in. This might be necessary if you lived overseas for four months or more in the last three years, or for 12 months or more in the last 12 years.

If it’s not possible to get a police certificate, because, for example, there is no functioning government in the country you spent time in, speak to the Citizenship Office. You will need to make a declaration that you have not been convicted of offences and explain why you are not able to get a police certificate.

You generally need to be able to have a basic conversation in English. This will be checked when you attend a citizenship appointment. If there are reasons that mean meeting this requirement would impose undue hardship (for example, due to your age or level of education), this requirement can be waived. Although te reo Māori and New Zealand Sign Language are official languages of New Zealand, they cannot be used to meet the standard language requirements for citizenship.

This means that, if you are a fluent speaker of te reo Māori, but cannot speak English, you cannot be granted New Zealand citizenship, unless you can demonstrate that learning English would cause undue hardship or the Minister of Internal Affairs exercises discretion to authorise a grant of citizenship outside the normal rules.

When you are applying for citizenship, you will generally need to show that:

• You are entitled to remain in New Zealand indefinitely (in other words, you need to hold a residence class visa).
  • From the day you apply for citizenship, you need to have been physically in New Zealand for most of the time over the last five years on a residence class visa. Time spent living in New Zealand on a temporary visa does not count. To meet this requirement, you must have been in New Zealand on a residence class visa for at least 240 days in each of the last five years, and
  • at least 1,350 days across the last five years.

These requirements can be waived if you are entitled to reside indefinitely in and have been present for equivalent periods of time in the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau.

You can also be treated as having been present in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, or Tokelau during any time in which:

• you have been in “Crown service under the New Zealand Government” (for example, by being a public servant or member of the Defence Force) or in the public service of the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau, or
• you were outside New Zealand because you were accompanying your spouse or partner who was a New Zealand citizen who was “in Crown service under the New Zealand Government” or in the public service of the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau

The Minister may, if satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances, accept a shorter period of residence of at least 450 days in the last 20 months as meeting the residence requirement.

You must intend at the time of an application for citizenship to:

• continue to reside in New Zealand (including the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency and Tokelau) or
• to continue or begin to work “in Crown service under the New Zealand Government”, for an international organisation of which New Zealand is a member, or for a person, society, company or other body that is resident or based in New Zealand.

This must continue to be your intention until the point you are granted citizenship. For most people, that will be when you attend a citizenship ceremony

You can be treated as having an intention to continue to reside in New Zealand, if you intend to accompany your spouse or partner who is a New Zealand citizen and “in Crown service under the New Zealand Government” or in the public service of the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau.

When you apply for citizenship, you will be asked about your travel plans over the next year. If you are planning to travel, you might be asked to prove that New Zealand is your home. It will be helpful to show that you have a job here, or you are studying here, or own or rent property here, or have assets like cars and furniture.

Currently, to fulfil this requirement, you only need to sign the paper citizenship application form or confirm that you understand the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship as part of an online application for citizenship.