27 May 2024
45 Pipitea Street, Wellington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
Matt via FYI
fyi-request-26566-
[email address]
Tēnā koe Matt
OIA request 23/24 0915 Request for Citizenship Online Application Information
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Department of Internal
Affairs (Department) on 29 April 2024.
You requested –
•
Please can you advise if selecting yes to having criminal convictions would automatically
not make you eligible to be granted Citizenship through the automated systems?
In response to your request, I must advise that the information must be withheld pursuant to
section 9(2)(k) of the Act. This is because the withholding of the information is necessary to
prevent the disclosure or use of official information for improper gain or improper advantage.
Applicants for New Zealand citizenship by grant (except those under the Citizenship (Western
Samoa) Act 1982) must be of good character. It is important that applicants provide true,
accurate and full information. It is an offence to provide false information for the purposes of
obtaining New Zealand citizenship by grant.
It may be useful for you to know that external checks are undertaken during the processing of
an application. Regardless of the workstream an application is in, all applications (except those
under the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 or are under 14 years of age) undergo
compulsory manual checks for the good character requirement.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, the Department has
decided to proactively release a copy of this response on the DIA website. All requestor data,
including your name and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released
response will be made available here:
https://www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-
Requests-2.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi
Julia Taylor
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Service Delivery and Operations
Page 2 of 2
