Services › Citizenship › Check if you’re a New Zealand citizen

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You might be a New Zealand citizen if you were born here or in the Cook Islands, Niue or Tokelau, granted citizenship, born overseas to a New Zealand citizen parent, adopted by a citizen, or you’re British and were here in 1948.

Check if you’re a citizen

You’re probably already a New Zealand citizen if you were:

• born before 2006 in:
  • New Zealand
  • the Cook Islands
  • Niue, or
  • Tokelau.
• born after 2005 in:
  • New Zealand
  • the Cook Islands
  • Niue, or
  • Tokelau
  and at least one of your parents was either:
  • a New Zealand citizen, or
  • entitled to be in New Zealand indefinitely (a permanent resident) when you were born
• granted New Zealand citizenship
• born overseas but at least one of your parents is a New Zealand citizen by birth or grant
• a British citizen who lived in New Zealand during all of 1948.

Find out if you’re a citizen

To find out if you’re a New Zealand citizen, complete a request for information about citizenship status. This is free.

Request for information about citizenship status (PDF, 62kb, 1 page)

You can:

• email the form to CITZPrivacyrequests@dia.govt.nz
• fax it to +64 4 382 3561, or
• post it to PO Box 10680, Wellington 6143, New Zealand.