More than 15,000 New Zealanders have applied for Australian citizenship since the government opened a new route to citizenship last month, a rate of about 375 a day.
Of this group, about 500 have already passed a citizenship test and will become Australian citizens at ceremonies around the country soon.
The changes that took effect on 1 July allow special category visa holders to apply directly for Australian citizenship without becoming permanent residents first. They must meet a four-year residence rule and other eligibility requirements.
The immigration minister, Andrew Giles, welcomed the strong early interest in the new scheme as he released the figures on Sunday.
“Australia and New Zealand share a common bond,” he said.
“Fifteen thousand of our closest friends have applied to become Aussies in only 40 days since the Albanese government’s change to create a fairer pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders in our community.”
According to the new figures, New Zealanders account for about half of all the citizenship by conferral applications the government has received since 1 July.
About 35% of the applications were in Queensland, followed by Victoria (30%) and New South Wales (20%).
Before 2001, New Zealanders who came to Australia were automatically granted permanent residency, but under changes by the Howard government new arrivals were placed on a special category visa.
This allowed New Zealanders to live and work in Australia indefinitely, but placed limits on their access to Medicare and welfare and required them to apply for permanent residency before seeking citizenship.
There are currently 670,000 New Zealanders in Australia on special category visas, including about 380,000 who arrived after 2001, who are eligible for citizenship.
Giles said the 1 July changes were designed to help “so many who have been living and working in Australia for years and contributing to our local communities”.
“I look forward to celebrating with some of our newest Australians at a ceremony soon,” he said.
Aisha, a full-time tertiary student who migrated to Australia with family in 2011, said in a statement issued by the government: “I’ve wished to pledge my loyalty to the country I’ve lived in for over a decade and be able to proudly call myself a citizen of Australia.”
Aisha, who lives in NSW, described how some Australian government programs were “an exhausting game of back and forth to obtain”.
“These major setbacks negatively impacted my education and caused me a great deal of stress during the first half of 2023, so I’m greatly relieved that I won’t need to bear these burdens any longer once I make the pledge and finally become an Australian citizen.”
The New Zealand prime minister, Chris Hipkins, has previously welcomed the changes as “the biggest in a generation”, saying they would “make an enormous difference to the lives of so many people making Australia home”.
After meeting with Anthony Albanese in Brisbane in April, Hipkins said many New Zealanders in Australia faced a “challenging” situation.
New Zealand, he said, had “long sought a fair go for them and arrangements that are reciprocal to what is offered to Australians living in New Zealand”.
