Below the brand new guidelines beginning July 1, New Zealanders can apply immediately for citizenship in the event that they arrived in Australia after 2001 and have lived there for at the least 4 years.
(Reuters Archive)
Australia has introduced a direct pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders residing within the nation, reversing controversial visa guidelines a day earlier than a go to by New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
Hipkins, set to go to Queensland state’s capital Brisbane on Sunday, hailed the the announcement on Saturday as “the most important enchancment within the rights of New Zealanders residing in Australia in a technology”.
Below the brand new guidelines beginning July 1, New Zealanders can apply immediately for citizenship in the event that they arrived in Australia after 2001 and have lived there for at the least 4 years — affecting some 380,000 individuals in accordance with native media.
“We all know that many New Zealanders are right here on a Particular Class Visa whereas elevating households, working and constructing their lives in Australia. So I’m proud to supply the advantages that citizenship offers,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned in an announcement.
New Zealand has lengthy campaigned for modifications since visa guidelines have been altered in 2001, making it harder for Kiwis in Australia to get citizenship.
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Australia and New Zealand are greater than associates.
We’re whānau – household.
And from July 1, there shall be a direct pathway for eligible New Zealand residents to Australian Citizenship. pic.twitter.com/eBLZE2rsxC
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) April 22, 2023
‘Robust friendship’
The reform would deliver New Zealanders’ rights extra into line with these of Australian expats residing in New Zealand, Australia’s Labor authorities mentioned.
“Kiwis taking on Australian citizenship will nonetheless retain their New Zealand citizenship. These twin residents are usually not misplaced to New Zealand – however draw us nearer collectively,” Hipkins mentioned in an announcement.
The modifications additionally meant kids born in Australia since July to an Australia-based New Zealand father or mother could be mechanically entitled to Australian citizenship, he mentioned.
“This may make crucial providers out there to them,” he mentioned, including the modifications delivered on an Albanese promise that no New Zealander be left “completely non permanent” in Australia.
Round 670,000 New Zealand residents dwell in Australia, whereas there are round 70,000 Australians in New Zealand, in accordance with Australia’s Division of International Affairs and Commerce.
Australia’s House Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil dominated out the modifications being prolonged to different migrant teams, saying it was a “particular association with New Zealand”.
The reform was about guaranteeing the “sturdy friendship we’ve got is mirrored correctly in regulation”, she informed ABC tv.
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