New Zealand Nationality Law - Acquisition of New Zealand Citizenship

Acquisition of New Zealand Citizenship

New Zealand citizenship can be acquired in the following ways:

  1. Automatically on 1 January 1949 to certain British subjects with a connection to New Zealand
  2. lex soli: By birth in New Zealand on or after 1 January 2006 to a parent who is a New Zealand citizen or a New Zealand permanent resident at the time of the birth, or by birth in New Zealand on or before 31 December 2005 (with some exceptions)
  3. lex sanguinis: By descent if born or adopted outside New Zealand and one of the parents (or adopted parent) is a New Zealand citizen otherwise than by descent (for example, by birth or by grant in New Zealand), although there are certain situations where a New Zealand citizen by descent can still pass New Zealand citizenship on to his/her children
  4. By grant: Either by fulfilling the general requirements or by qualifying for a special grant (e.g. as the child of a New Zealand citizen or as a qualifying Samoan citizen).

For the purpose of acquiring citizenship, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency and Tokelau are treated as part of New Zealand - hence, for example, a child born in Tokelau to a Tokelauan permanent resident would qualify for New Zealand citizenship. However, for Samoan citizens applying for a special grant of New Zealand citizenship, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency and Tokelau are not treated as part of New Zealand.

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