London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025

Australia to fast track citizenship for New Zealanders

Australia to fast track citizenship for New Zealanders

Australia has announced plans to make it easier for hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders living in the country to become Australian citizens.
From July 1, they can apply for citizenship as long as they have lived in Australia for four years or more and arrived after 2001.

They will also no longer need to apply for permanent residency first to be eligible for citizenship. New Zealand has campaigned for reform since visa rules toughened in 2001.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement on Saturday, a day ahead of a visit by his New Zealand counterpart Chris Hipkins.

“We know many New Zealanders are here on a special category visa while raising families, working and building their lives in Australia. So I am proud to offer the benefits that citizenship provides,” Albanese said in a statement.

It is expected to affect up to 350,000 New Zealanders currently residing in Australia.

New Zealand’s Chris Hipkins, who is due to visit Brisbane on Sunday, hailed the changes as “the biggest improvement in the rights of New Zealanders living in Australia in a generation”.

It also “restores the rights Kiwis had in Australia before they were revoked in 2001,” he said in a statement.

New Zealand has long been calling for these changes since visa rules for their nationals living in Australia were toughened more than two decades ago.

In 2001, a special category visa was introduced restricting New Zealanders’ access to certain health and welfare support.

It also required them to apply for permanent residency before seeking citizenship — an often lengthy and costly process.

New Zealander Scott Bowley said he and his Swedish wife, who live in Melbourne with their two children, were happy to hear the news overnight.

The changes mean he and his family would have access to government assistance — such as unemployment benefits — after becoming citizens.

“It takes away a level of uncertainty and if you do fall on hard times, you can lean on the government a bit more,” he told the BBC.

He said his second child, who was born last December, will now also automatically be entitled to Australian citizenship.

Fellow New Zealander Nicole Westrupp, who works at a children’s hospital in Melbourne, said she had given up trying to get permanent residency due to her medical role being considered too niche and the thousands of dollars it cost to apply.

“There was no path for me until now,” she told the BBC. The changes mean she can now get access to extra support if needed, such as housing grants, but it also means she is eligible to vote.

“Up until now I haven’t been able to vote and I feel passionately about voting — I live here and pay taxes but can’t have a say over who runs the country.”

Authorities in Australia say the changes now put the rights of New Zealanders living in Australia on a level playing field with Australians living in New Zealand.

About 670,000 New Zealanders currently live in Australia, with about 70,000 Australians in New Zealand.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
×