NZed on Citizenship

Last night my wife and the kids attended the citizenship ceremony. Its their turn this time, I've had mine years ago as I arrived in New Zealand a year ahead of them. You need to attend the citizenship ceremony for the oath taking and to get your citizenship certificate. No excuses. If you can't make it, tough luck. You're going have to wait for the next schedule. And it can be a long wait, possibly months.

There's a a three years waiting period before you can apply for citizenship. We were lucky because as of April 2005, the waiting period has been increased to five years. I guess its in response to those who are using NZ just as a backdoor. Once granted NZ citizenship, they move to Australia or some other countries where there is visa-free entry if you hold a NZ passport.

You might ask, what's the difference between being a permanent residence and being a citizen. One word, "PASSPORT" :) Well, aside from being able to represent the country in an international sporting events for example or if you want to serve in the military, there's not that much. You have basically the same rights as a permanent resident anyhow as with being a citizen. But having the NZ passport is such a huge convenience if you want to travel, say to OZ or US.