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The price of becoming a Kiwi has just become a little more expensive. The fee for applying for New Zealand citizenship has increased by 14.4 per cent, Adrian Jarvis from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) confirms.
“Citizenship is an important milestone for many New Zealanders and we are committed to continuing to deliver a high-quality service,” he says.
“This fee adjustment reflects the actual cost of delivering citizenship services and helps ensure those costs are met by the people using the service, rather than by taxpayers.”
Of course, new citizens will, for the most part, become taxpayers too.
The fee increase took effect at 12.01pm today, August 28.
Just as the cost of being a taxpayer has increased, so too has the cost of delivering citizenship services. This is due to inflation, wage growth, rising operating costs and investment in replacing an ageing core technology system, Jarvis says.
“We have worked to minimise the impact on customers by ensuring we carefully balance increases with finding efficiencies in our own system,” he adds.
Despite the increase, New Zealand’s citizenship fees remain comparatively low when measured against some other countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Click here for more information regarding citizenship requirements and fees.
