Getting and maintaining a national security clearance

If you’re a candidate for a national security clearance, this section gives you an overview of the vetting process 

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The vetting process helps your organisation decide whether to grant you a clearance. They need to know they can trust you with access to information, assets, and work locations that could affect New Zealand’s security.

If you’re eligible for vetting, you’ll be vetted by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS). They vet all candidates for clearances.

Your organisation will give you a vetting contact — a person in your organisation who can help you with the vetting process. The vetting process has six stages and can take several months.

There are four security clearance levels:

  • CONFIDENTIAL
  • SECRET
  • TOP SECRET
  • TOP SECRET SPECIAL.

Your organisation will decide which clearance level you need based on the highest classification of the information, assets and work location you need access to. A clearance level is not based on your rank, seniority, or status.

The time it takes from your application to the final decision on your clearance depends on:

  • how quickly you and your character referees provide information
  • how much checking the NZSIS needs to do on your background
  • how many other applications are being processed.

The vetting process

In stage 1, your organisation works out if you’re eligible for vetting and likely to gain a clearance. If you are eligible and suitable, your organisation will apply to the NZSIS to start your vetting. You can’t apply for a clearance yourself.

Your organisation might also do some of their own security checks at this stage if they need to. For example, they might do reference or qualification checks.

To check your eligibility, your organisation will need answers to the following questions.

Do you have citizenship or the right visa status?

Normally you must be a New Zealand citizen or hold a Resident class visa. Your citizenship is an indicator of your loyalty to New Zealand.

Your organisation may have other, tighter rules about who they can grant clearances to.

Use our self-check tool to check your eligibility.

Can the NZSIS check enough of your background?

The NZSIS must be able to check the details you give about your background. In most cases, backgrounds must be checkable for the required period.

Clearance level Background checking
CONFIDENTIAL 5 years
SECRET 10 years
TOP SECRET 10 years
TOP SECRET SPECIAL 15 years

If you’ve spent time living overseas

The NZSIS can check your background when you have spent time living in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, or the USA. If you have spent much of your adult life outside of those countries, talk to your organisation’s vetting contact to make sure you meet the checkable background criteria.

You can use our eligibility self-check tool to find out if your background is likely to be checkable.

Check your eligibility for a national security clearance.

For more information about this stage of the vetting process, see part 1 of our printable guide: Getting a national security clearance. You’ll find it at the end of this page in the Supporting Documents section.

In stage 2, you register online and consent to the NZSIS doing background checks.

For more information about registering, see part 2 of our printable guide: Getting a national security clearance. You’ll find it at the end of this page in the Supporting Documents section.

In stage 3, you complete and submit an online vetting questionnaire.

The information you give in the questionnaire is only used for vetting purposes.

The sooner you complete the questionnaire, the sooner the NZSIS can start the vetting process.

Information you need to gather for the vetting questionnaire

For detailed guidance to help you gather the right information for the vetting questionnaire, read one of the following guides:

For more information about the vetting questionnaire stage, see part 3 of our printable guide: Getting a national security clearance [PDF, 897 KB].

In this stage, the NZSIS assesses the information you’ve given in the questionnaire and checks your background.

They’ll only check your background if they have your consent. The higher the clearance level, the more in depth their checks are.

The NZSIS may contact people and organisations to confirm details you give in the questionnaire. They may also invite you or your referees to take part in interviews if necessary.

For more information about interviews, see part 4 of our printable guide: Getting a national security clearance. You’ll find it at the end of this page in the Supporting Documents section.

During stage 4, the NZSIS will be looking for answers to the following questions.

Are you trustworthy and responsible?

The NZSIS looks for evidence that you:

  • are loyal, honest, and trustworthy
  • respect your responsibility to keep classified information safe
  • will use good judgement in your decisions about classified information, free from any inappropriate influence.

Do you pose any risks?

The NZSIS assesses whether there is a risk you may decide (or be convinced) to use your access inappropriately. They look at the following areas of your life:

  • organisations or people you are loyal to, who may have influence over you, or who you are associated with
  • personal relationships and conduct
  • financial situation
  • alcohol and drug use
  • criminal history and conduct
  • security attitudes and violations
  • mental health situation.

For more details, see: Security assessment criteria and the adjudicative guidelines.

In the fifth stage, the NZSIS makes a recommendation to your organisation about whether you are suitable for holding a clearance.

If the NZSIS has any concerns, they will discuss them with you first.

The last stage is when your organisation decides whether to grant you a clearance and if so, at what level.

You will be notified when your organisation has made their decisions.

Eligibility self-check tool

Use this to find out if you or someone else might be eligible to apply for a national security clearance.

Your responsibilities as a vetting candidate

As a candidate, you have the following responsibilities.

Give full and honest details

You must cooperate in the vetting process by giving information fully and honestly when you:

complete the forms you’re asked to fill out

answer questions in an interview (if you’re asked to have one)

provide personal documents and other evidence to help verify your details

respond to any questions that come up during the process.

If you’re not completely honest, your organisation might doubt your trustworthiness and that could affect their decision whether to grant you a clearance or not.

If you forget to include any information, get in touch with your vetting contact straight away.

Disclose all criminal convictions and diversions

If you have any criminal convictions and diversions, you must declare all of them to the NZSIS, including historic convictions and traffic offences normally exempted by the Clean Slate Act 2004.

Because your clearance is important to national security, the NZSIS has the legal right to ask for your full criminal record under the following Acts:

Your rights as a vetting candidate

As a candidate, you have the following rights.

 

Your rights under the Human Rights Act

When a job involves New Zealand’s national security, Section 25 of the Human Rights Act 1993 lets the NZSIS consider some factors that could otherwise be considered discriminatory. The NZSIS will only consider these factors if they are connected to a security concern.

Factors the NZSIS can consider

  • Religious or ethical beliefs
  • Political opinion
  • Mental health
  • Particular partners or relatives
  • National origin

Factors the NZSIS cannot consider

  • Gender
  • Sexual orientation
  • Ethnicity
  • Physical disability
  • Marital status
  • Age (unless you are under 20)

 

Your right to procedural fairness

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This section explains procedural fairness for security vetting candidates - your right to a fair process.

When you’re a candidate for a security clearance, you have the right to be treated fairly. To make sure the vetting process is fair, the NZSIS will:

  • be thorough and objective when they gather and assess information about you
  • tell you if they find information that is concerning and give you a chance to respond
  • be clear and objective when they give their final recommendation to your sponsoring agency.

You can expect the NZSIS to be thorough and objective 

To achieve a fair outcome and protect your organisation’s assets, the NZSIS must be thorough and objective when they vet you. 

What being thorough means

To be thorough, the NZSIS must take all reasonable steps to get information that is relevant to your application, if it’s available.  
If they don’t have enough information or they’re concerned about anything they find, they must take steps to get more information. Those steps could include asking for:

  • records or statements from your employers
  • an expert opinion to understand an issue better. 

Making sure information is reliable, accurate, and up to date

They need reliable, accurate, and up to date information to assess your application thoroughly.  

When information is missing or not available, they must try and fill the gaps. That might mean asking for a formal statement from an employer or asking you to help piece together information.  

For each bit of information the NZSIS gathers, they need to know if it is reliable and up to date. If they’ve got any doubts or unanswered questions, they must try to get the details they need.  

If they can’t confirm that the information is reliable and accurate, they can’t use it. When they ask for information, they must:

  • request it formally — it must be documented. This might be by email.
  • ask the right people — people who have the authority to provide the information.  

For example, if they need information from an employer, they’ll request it formally. 

What being objective means

Being objective means the NZSIS can’t rely on opinions, impressions, or interpretations — they must seek facts. Their objectivity helps to protect you from discrimination. 

Checking and verifying information

During the vetting process, the NZSIS must check and verify all the information they receive.

For example, if a referee gives a negative opinion, the NZSIS won’t include that opinion in their assessment unless there are facts to back it up. The same rule applies to positive statements. If a referee shares positive impressions, the NZSIS must still verify the information. They also can’t rely on a referee’s status or reputation.  

To be fair to vetting candidates and uphold security, the NZSIS must be unbiased.

Making sure expert views are well-informed, reasoned, and relevant

If an issue comes up during vetting and the NZSIS are not expert in that area, they must get a qualified expert to give their view.

For example, if a complex financial issue came up, the NZSIS would ask a financial expert for their view.  

Expert advice has to be well-informed, reasoned, and relevant to security vetting before it can be included. Experts must:  

  • have access to all the relevant information that the NZSIS has found
  • say which information and criteria they’ve used to form their views
  • explain how their views relate to the NZSIS’s security risk criteria.

Expert views must only be used to assess security risks — not for any other purpose.  

You have the right to respond to any concerns the NZSIS has

If the NZSIS is concerned about any information they find during the vetting process, they must tell you and give you the chance to respond.

You have the right to see information they’re concerned about

You usually have the right to see any information the NZSIS is concerned about and their assessment of the security risks. In rare cases, they can withhold information. For example, if revealing the information or source would threaten national security or someone’s personal safety. Even then, the NZSIS must give you access to as much information as possible. 

You have the right to respond, be represented, and present more information

You must be given enough time to respond to any information that might have a negative effect on your application for a security clearance. Normally you will have 10 working days to respond. You can respond in person, in writing, or through a representative, such as a lawyer.  You have the right to present more information if you think it’s relevant. 

If the NZSIS has used an expert view in their assessment, you have the right to get a different expert to give their view. 

The NZSIS must assess your response thoroughly and fairly

The NZSIS must assess your response carefully and with an open mind. If your response includes new information, they must investigate it.  

If you raise legal objections or new points from an expert, the NZSIS must seek legal or expert help to consider your response properly.  

If any expert information you provide is not complete or doesn’t address security criteria, the NZSIS must let you know and give you the chance to fill those gaps.  

If two experts reach different views, the NZSIS assesses each view, considering: 

  • the level of expertise each expert has
  • the thoroughness of each expert assessment
  • the connection between each expert view and any security risk.  

The NZSIS must also tell you about any conflicting views from experts and give you a chance to respond.  If the NZSIS finds any new information that could have a negative effect on your application, you’ll again have the chance to respond.  

You can expect the NZSIS’s final recommendation to be clear and objective 

The NZSIS assesses all the verified information they get about you against their security criteria. Then they decide whether to recommend you for a security clearance or not.  

Their final recommendation to your sponsoring agency must say:

  • how they’ve assessed the information about you against security criteria
  • what conclusions they reached
  • which facts they’ve based their assessments on.  

They must also note and explain any information that is contradictory or has been ruled out. If you responded to any concerns raised during the vetting process, the final recommendation should explain whether your response has been accepted or rejected, and why.

Right to make a complaint

If you have been adversely affected by any act, omission, practice, policy or procedure of the NZSIS, you have the statutory right to make a complaint.

After the vetting process ends, you can complain to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) if you’re unhappy with:

  • how the NZSIS carried out the vetting process
  • the recommendation the NZSIS made.
  • If you decide to make a complaint, it should be made in writing and sent to the Inspector-General by post or email.

Maintaining your national security clearance

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This section helps you understand your responsibilities as a national security clearance holder, so you can meet them and stay suitable to hold a clearance.

Why remaining suitable to hold a clearance is important

Holding a clearance may be an essential requirement for your role or a condition of your employment. It’s in the best interests of you and your organisation that you remain suitable to hold a clearance.

Your responsibilities

To maintain your clearance, you must meet your responsibilities as a clearance holder.

Make sure you read and understand your responsibilities, or get someone in your agency to help you understand them.

The ‘need-to-know' principle is about only giving access or sharing classified information and resources with people who hold the right level of clearance and need the access to do their work.

If a person asks you for access but doesn’t have the right clearance level, you must say ‘no’. If a person has the right clearance level but doesn’t need access to the information to do their job, you must say ‘no’.

You must report the following changes in circumstances to your agency as soon as they happen:

  • You start or end a close personal relationship
  • You visit a foreign country
  • Any of your close relatives move to a foreign country
  • You plan to change your citizenship or country of residence
  • Your financial circumstances change
  • Your health or medical circumstances change
  • You are involved in criminal activity, accidentally or deliberately
  • You become involved with people or groups that may affect security
  • You are in a disciplinary process
  • You have breached security or caused a security incident
  • You have other changes in personal circumstances that your agency has told you to report.

Your agency can then assess the risks and act to reduce them if it needs to.

Letting your organisation know about concerning behaviours or incidents relating to people you work with lets them put in place ways to support that person and maintain the security culture of the organisation.

Before you book overseas travel, discuss your travel plans with your agency.

You must report any suspicious contacts and requests to access your agency’s information and resources.

You need to be very careful about what you post on social media, including work-related networks such as LinkedIn.

To maintain your clearance, you must understand and comply with:

  • the requirements of Crimes Act 1961(external link)
  • your agency’s security policy
  • the requirements in the 'Maintaining your national security clearance' guide.

The NZSIS will review your suitability to hold a clearance — usually every five years. A review could happen sooner if the NZSIS, or your agency, is concerned about your conduct, or if there are other specific risks.

If the vetting recommendation for your clearance included specific recommendations.

Security clearances for non-government organisations and individuals

Private sector organisations and individuals cannot sponsor or initiate vetting for national security clearances. All national security clearances must be sponsored and initiated by a New Zealand Government organisation, based on role requirements, and are typically valid for the duration of the contract only. If you think you require a national security clearance to fulfil your contracted role with a government organisation, you should discuss that with the organisation’s security team.

Further information can be found in the guide to getting a national security clearance [PDF, 897 KB].