Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement the previous day, “New Zealand citizens who have lived in Australia for more than four years from July can apply for citizenship immediately even if they do not become permanent residents.””I know that many New Zealanders come to Australia on a special category visa to raise their families, work and live,” he said. “I am proud to be able to give them the benefit of providing citizenship.”Under the measure, if a New Zealander gives birth to a child in Australia, the child born will automatically receive Australian citizenship as well as New Zealand citizenship.Australia and New Zealand are commonwealth countries that have become independent from the UK together, and they are very special in that they are blood allies who participated in World War I and World War II by forming an alliance called “Australia and New Zealand Army” (ANZAC). In particular, Australia launched the Australian Federation and recommended New Zealand to join the Union, and the Australian Constitution still treats New Zealand like its own country by specifying it in the definition of “States.” For this reason, in the past, citizens of the two countries were guaranteed freedom of travel, residence, study, and labor without a separate visa.Even now, when Australians enter New Zealand, they will receive permanent residency in New Zealand immediately, and after a certain period of time, they can apply for citizenship. In addition, if an Australian gives birth to a child in New Zealand, the child born will receive Australian citizenship and New Zealand citizenship.However, when Australia revised its visa system in 2001, it gave New Zealanders a “special category visa” rather than a permanent residency. In this case, you can live and work in Australia indefinitely, but you do not receive various social security benefits such as medical insurance. In order to receive welfare benefits, you must apply for permanent residency separately like other foreigners, and even if you want to obtain citizenship, you must obtain permanent residency first.
In addition, even if a New Zealander gives birth to a child in Australia, the child born only gets New Zealand citizenship and does not get Australian citizenship.As the two countries differed, the New Zealand government demanded a revision of the visa system in accordance with reciprocity, and the Alberta government opened the way for New Zealanders to easily obtain Australian citizenship before New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ visit to Australia.
Australia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade explained that about 380,000 New Zealanders currently reside in Australia on special category visas, and that they will benefit in the future. On the contrary, there are about 70,000 Australians living in New Zealand.”The rights of New Zealanders living in Australia have been greatly improved,” Prime Minister Hipkins said.
KS CHOI
US ASIA JOURNAL
