Australia opens the door to the Kiwis

By now, unless you've been living under a rock you would have heard that Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and NZ Prime Minister John Key have struck a deal.

It's a deal that will change the lives of so many New Zealand citizens living in Australia.

Basically here's the deal.  After years of toing and froing, begging and having meetings, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has softened his heart towards the Kiwis.

This means if you arrived in Australia prior to February 19th 2016 and earned at least $53,000 per year over a five year period you can apply for permanent residency and citizenship from July 1 2017.  If you arrived today you have five years to wait, if you arrived tomorrow, sorry, you're out of luck.  You must seek permanent residency or citizenship under another pathway and spend up to $20,000 if you are a family and there is more than yourself to consider.

100,000 NZ citizens are immediately able to get this.  I'm not yet able to myself because although I've been here on and off since 2008 I have only been here consecutively since 24th December 2013.  I suspect many, like me, will have to double check their tax records to see when their qualifying date will be.  It would also be worth checking if superannuation is included in the $53,000 as that could put you under or just over.

Although new arrivals will not benefit from the policy, those already here now have a pathway to legally be Australian.  That means voting rights and that means security.

It's big news.

It will change the lives of many NZ citizens who call Australia home.

I'd hoped that when Malcolm Turnbull overthrew Tony Abbott this would be the outcome but I never imagined it would happen so soon.  I was hoping, but the news today is very welcome.

It's a major step in the right direction.

NZ citizens will need to work out whether or not to apply for citizenship under this pathway or to go through the skilled migration.

Either way, at the end of the day, the Australian Government and the Australian people have opened their hearts to the plight of the Kiwis and that's amazing.

I just hope that fellow NZ citizens do not take it for granted, and that when they, like me, take that citizenship pledge they honour their commitment to Australia. 

It isn't something to be taken for granted.

Thank you Australia.  This NZ citizen is very happy that very soon I'm legally going to be Australian and will be an Australian citizen, not just in spirit but legally.

This is so massive.  You don't realise just how huge citizenship really is until you actually know you can eventually get it.  No doubt there'll be a lot of Immigration Department jobs going, that could be a good field for unemployed Aussies to get into given this move.

Thank you Australia.