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Citizenship by Grant — 5-Year Physical Presence and Character Requirement
Document Checklist
Passport, Certificate of Identity, or Refugee Travel Document
Valid or most recent passport
Required: Original current passport. Where a passport cannot be issued, the applicant may use a New Zealand Certificate of Identity or a New Zealand Refugee Travel Document. The travel-document data page is used to verify identity and current nationality.
Cost: Already issued
Where a current passport is unavailable, contact the Citizenship Office before applying — substitute identity documents typically need to be discussed in advance, and identity-clarification is the most common cause of file delay.
New Zealand or overseas birth certificate
Birth certificate or birth record
Required: A New Zealand birth certificate or, for applicants born overseas, an overseas birth certificate or birth record. Overseas records in a language other than English typically need a certified English translation.
Where to get: Civil registry of the country of birth; translation by a New Zealand-recognised certified translator
Where the applicant cannot obtain an overseas birth certificate (refugee status, country with no functioning registry), the Citizenship Office accepts alternative evidence on a case-by-case basis under the identity-clarification standard in section 8 of the Citizenship Act 1977.
Passport-style photograph less than six months old
Passport-style photograph
Required: One recent passport-style photograph meeting the Citizenship Office formatting requirements. The photograph must be less than six months old at the date of application.
Cost: Modest passport-photographer fee
Specifications are published on the Citizenship Office portal alongside the digital application form. A digital photo upload is accepted in the online flow.
Declaration of debt owed to the New Zealand government
Debt declaration
Required: An honest declaration of any money owed to a New Zealand government agency — including outstanding student loan repayments, court fines, or recovered benefits. Declaration is a self-attestation made in the application form.
Cost: No charge
Outstanding debt is not necessarily a bar to citizenship, but undisclosed debt that surfaces during the character check is treated as a serious adverse-character signal.
Declaration of criminal offences and convictions
Convictions declaration
Required: Declaration of any conviction in any country — unless qualifying under the Clean Slate scheme. Declaration extends to any pending charges, any government investigation, any bankruptcy resulting from fraud, any protection order made against the applicant, and any involvement in terrorism, war crimes, crimes against humanity, or the use of chemical, biological, nuclear, or radiological weapons.
Cost: No charge
If a disqualifying factor is present (a pending charge, a recent conviction, or an undischarged protection order), contact the Citizenship Office before applying. The application fee is not refundable if the application is declined.
Identity referee or witness
Identity referee
Required: A New Zealand citizen who has known the applicant and can confirm identity. The referee signs a declaration covering the period they have known the applicant; specific eligibility (citizenship status, length of acquaintance, professional standing where required) is set out in the application portal.
Cost: No charge
Brief the referee early — they need to be available to sign at the time of submission. The referee cannot be a close family member.
Evidence of English language ability
English-language evidence
Required: Evidence that the applicant can hold a basic conversation in English. The standard is conversational competence, not academic proficiency. Most applicants meet this by being a fluent speaker; supporting evidence (references, schooling in English, work in English) may be requested where English is not obviously the applicant's first language.
Cost: Already issued
A formal English-language test certificate is not required. The Citizenship Office assesses the threshold on the basis of the application as a whole.
Civil-status certificates where applicable
Marriage, divorce, or name-change certificates
Required: Marriage certificate, divorce decree, or name-change certificate where the applicant's name on the application differs from the name on the birth certificate or passport. Overseas certificates in a language other than English typically need a certified English translation.
Where to get: Civil registry of the issuing country; translation by a New Zealand-recognised certified translator
Name-change history matters because the criminal-record and identity checks rely on matching names. Surface every previous legal name on the application.
Police certificates from any qualifying overseas country
Overseas police certificates
Required: Police certificate from any country where the applicant resided for more than 4 months in the last 3 years, or more than 12 months in the last 12 years. Each certificate covers the applicant's residence period in that country.
Where to get: Police authority of the issuing country, or that country's designated criminal-record bureau; some applicants apply through the New Zealand embassy in the country of residence
Cost: Variable per-certificate fee, depending on the issuing country's police authority
Lead time can be substantial — several weeks for routine cases, several months for countries with slow record systems. Start this step early in document gathering, not after submission.
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