New Zealand claims to be a modern democracy, yet we maintain one of the most illogical voting rules in the developed world.
Any New Zealand citizen who has lived here for at least one continuous year at some point in their life can continue voting in our general elections — even if they have permanently moved overseas for 10, 20, or 30 years — as long as they visit New Zealand at least once every three years.
This is not about Kiwis temporarily working or studying abroad. This is about people who have made their permanent home in Australia, the UK, Spain, Thailand, or elsewhere. They pay taxes overseas, their children go to foreign schools, they vote (or can vote) in their new country, and they no longer experience the daily consequences of New Zealand laws. Yet they still get an equal say in who governs the 5 million people who actually live here.
This policy is not progressive or inclusive. It is fundamentally unfair.
The Core Problem: Representation Without Residence
Democracy rests on a simple principle: those who are governed should choose their government.
If you have permanently left New Zealand, you are no longer meaningfully governed by our Parliament. You don’t pay our taxes, use our hospitals, send your children to our schools, or deal with our housing crisis, crime rates, or cost of living. Your daily life is shaped by another country.
Yet under current rules, you can still cast a vote that affects the taxes, laws, and future of those who remain. This is representation without residence — and it violates the basic logic of democratic accountability.
Worse still, the system creates a bizarre and deeply unfair two-tier reality:
- A New Zealand citizen who left the country 25 years ago and only returns for occasional holidays can keep voting indefinitely (as long as they visit New Zealand at least once every three years).
- A migrant on a temporary visa who has lived, worked, paid taxes, and raised a family in New Zealand for 15 years cannot vote at all — even though they are contributing to society every day. They only become eligible to vote once they obtain permanent resident status (or full citizenship).
Even then, the contrast is stark: the long-departed citizen retains voting rights with only minimal connection to New Zealand, while many long-term migrants must wait years — often on successive temporary visas — before they gain the same right, despite being fully embedded in the country’s economy and community.
This is not democratic fairness. It is an illogical distinction that rewards absence while penalising presence and long-term contribution.
It Also Delays Democracy
Every election night, we get a near-complete picture from the millions of votes cast inside New Zealand. Then we wait — sometimes for days — while overseas ballots trickle in. In close elections, those late overseas votes can literally decide who forms the government.
The people who actually live here are left in limbo while non-residents finalise the result. This is not how a serious democracy should function.
A Simple, Fair Solution
Change the rule to this: To vote in a New Zealand general election, a citizen must have actually resided (lived) in New Zealand for at least six months during the 12 months before election day (with a narrow, sensible exception for defence force personnel and diplomats serving overseas).
A short holiday visit would no longer qualify. The voter must have lived here for a substantial period — paying taxes, contributing to the community, and experiencing daily life under New Zealand’s laws.
This single reform would:
- Restore the principle that those who live under our laws should choose them
- Speed up final election results by several days
- Remove the unfair influence of people who no longer bear the consequences of their vote
New Zealanders who have genuinely moved overseas should participate in the democracy of the country where they now live and pay taxes. Those of us who remain here — who pay the taxes, obey the laws, and raise our families under New Zealand’s government — should be the ones who decide its future.
It’s time to end this outdated and illogical privilege. Permanent residents of other countries should not get to decide the future of New Zealand.
What do you think? Should long-term ex-pats keep the right to vote here, or is it finally time to put New Zealanders who actually live in New Zealand first?
As usual Del boy is bang on in his assessment.
No id no vote.
and that includes anyone oversea’s.
In the years that i lived overseas i never thought that i should be voting back in nz as i wasn’t living here , but im not a socialist so my attitude towards this topic is normal and rational.
At least they can’t sign up on election day anymore. Labour and the Greens hate that.
People who don’t have to live with the consequences of their vote can afford to back parties with wanky, fluffy concerns about Co Governance, renewable energy, water quality & wrap around welfare.
They love the Greens & they back them in droves. For us who have to pay for the shit it’s a kick in the face from afar.
The massive amount of support for the Green Party from kiwis living in the UK is a perfect embodiment of what you are saying Nasska. Greens in power will screw everything up badly so their voters should be made to suffer their idiocy.
Very pleased to have it confirmed that my Hillary loving leftie daughter is now no longer eligible. Never forwarded the last electoral envelope to her anyway.
Permanent residence should not allow a person the right to vote. I’m okay with Australians and UK citizens voting if they meet time spent here criteria. Australians because we have the right to live there as long as we’re well behaved, and the UK allows us to vote so long as we meet the residency criteria too.
Disagree. If you work and pay taxes you should be able to vote.