🇳🇿 New Zealand

Publicly-funded healthcare in Aotearoa is restricted to eligible persons defined under the Health and Disability Services Eligibility Direction. The Direction is made under section 32 of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000. Four routes apply for new arrivals: residence-class visa holders, work-visa holders eligible to be in New Zealand for two years or more, citizens and qualifying residents of Australia and the United Kingdom under reciprocal agreements, and recognised refugees and protected persons.

Inland Revenue (*Te Tari Taake*) issues the IRD number, New Zealand's lifetime personal tax identifier, free of charge. It comes through three routes — a streamlined new-arrival application that uses Immigration New Zealand's passport-and-visa share, a resident application requiring in-person document verification at an AA Driver Licensing Agent, or an offshore IR742 application by email. The first IR3 individual income-tax return is filed in myIR after the 31 March year-end, typically by the 7 July default deadline.

RealMe is the New Zealand government's shared digital-identity service, structured as two distinct components. The lead operator is the Department of Internal Affairs — *Te Tari Taiwhenua*. RealMe Login is an authentication credential accepted by Inland Revenue, Immigration New Zealand, Health New Zealand, the Ministry of Social Development, and around two hundred other services; RealMe Verified Identity is an identity-proofing layer linked to a New Zealand-government-held identity record. Both layers are free for individuals.

Citizenship by grant is the residence-based pathway to New Zealand citizenship for those who do not qualify by birth or by descent. Section 8 of the Citizenship Act 1977 requires a visa entitling indefinite residence, 1,350 days physically present in the 5 years before applying with at least 240 days in each of those 5 years, good character, conversational English, and intention to continue residing. The Minister of Internal Affairs decides; the oath taken at the citizenship ceremony confers citizenship.

Skilled migration to Aotearoa runs across five routes. The routes are the Skilled Migrant Category resident visa, the standard Accredited Employer Work Visa, the sector-agreement AEWV sub-route, and two Green List pathways — Tier 1 Straight to Residence and Tier 2 Work to Residence. Immigration New Zealand (*Te Ratonga Manene*) decides every application; an accredited employer underpins all but the SMC self-points route.