Thread: Licence Surrender pending renewal?

I wish to surrender my licence before it expires so I can renew it when back home.I read in here someone who managed that. I have Emailed the Police,FSA and Christchurch Police who issued it ,all claim that its impossible and I have to surrender it out right.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Can't help you but when.mine came up in aussie years ago the nz copper managed to make contact with me. I rang him and he talked me through it and did exactly what you are talking about. Remotely. I was at work at a mine not far from Wollongong.
Wee while ago. Surely the firearms SAFETY authority would be able to help there. Sarcasm font enabled

If you've got friends with FAL's, use their address as your contact address, renew license. It will incur a secure storage inspection but that shouldn't be an issue.

Contact Grant Fletcher and get him to sort it out - he may advise to continue as you are planning to or may have an alternative option for you. Will cost a bit, but it'll save you tons of hassle. My experience is that everything is impossible with the arms office and your only option is always the worst one, then the whiff of a lawyer suddenly means they can do the impossible.

Well, there used to be some info on surrendering a license on the old site with Police. But you appear to be quite right in that it is not listed anywhere now and a search of the FSA website turned up nothing. It seems that whichever way you go (surrender or let it expire) the application to renew is treated as a first-time licence and good for five years. Might be easiest to ring the FSA and discuss it, although I realise that will be awkward and expensive...

Originally Posted by norsk

I wish to surrender my licence before it expires so I can renew it when back home.I read in here someone who managed that. I have Emailed the Police,FSA and Christchurch Police who issued it ,all claim that its impossible and I have to surrender it out right.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Do you have the link to the person that managed that?

I do not know, but it would seem that Surrender and Expiry are two different classes and because one is done it would not cancel the other out. So if you surrender you licence that would not put the expiry on hold. Or am I misinterpreting your question?

Originally Posted by inglishill

Do you have the link to the person that managed that?

I do not know, but it would seem that Surrender and Expiry are two different classes and because one is done it would not cancel the other out. So if you surrender you licence that would not put the expiry on hold. Or am I misinterpreting your question?

I wish I had that link. Its on here somewhere but I cant find it.

the Guy from mental hunts talked about being able to surrender you licence and then being able to get it back once treatment was signed off by a doctor. benefit was that you were not having it taken off you so it did not have a 5 or 10 year withholding time. (guessing a bit here)
This dose not sound that great a difference. But either way you will have to find someone to store your firearms etc.

Yeah, I mean it is not like putting a car registration on hold......... There is no 'temporary surrender' within the Act that I can see.

Originally Posted by ZQLewis

the Guy from mental hunts talked about being able to surrender you licence and then being able to get it back once treatment was signed off by a doctor. benefit was that you were not having it taken off you so it did not have a 5 or 10 year withholding time. (guessing a bit here)
This dose not sound that great a difference. But either way you will have to find someone to store your firearms etc.

I had a friend who applied for a license some years ago now. She was told that because her ex partner was still around, and that he was unsuitable for any application, that hers would be denied because they thought it was him gaining access by using her as an applicant. She was "advised" that if she withdrew her application then she could reapply later if her situation changed (no longer associated with the twit) and her withdrawn application would not affect her next application...BUT if she continued and it was denied then this would affect it if she applied in the future.

I spoke to the vetting officer at a later date when I was a referee for someone else as I knew he had been the one who discussed this with her. When we finished chatting he said if he had known what I knew at the time then it would have been a different outcome as he would have known she was applying on her own behalf...I was a referee for her but they had decided before it got to that stage...

Long story short...if an application is declined, expired or license removed, the ramification is different to if it is surrendered voluntarily. Re application is the same in all cases, but the former will have a negative impact on the application where the later will likely not.

Mind you this may have changed since then as it was prior to 2020

Reading your first post I BELIEVE what you have struck is a crossed wire. They are of course correct.if you surrender it,you do have to reapply.you can't put it on hold and AUTOMATICALLY get it back,you need to either keep it valid or hand it back then reapply.

Thinking about this some more - I've been a reference for someone and done it via video call, in the last three years. Can you not have your storage listed at a mates place and do the interview online? I can see them being leery of doing the interview for the license applicant by video call, but surely living on the exact opposite side of the planet is a good justification for it. I guess or fly home for a visit and do it at the same time.

Caveat that this may have changed, as this was 5 years ago now since I reapplied, but despite trying pretty hard - even from here while I was back on holiday - it wasn't possible for me to renew my license while living overseas because:
1. They weren't able to view my storage (didn't live in/have a valid address in NZ, and wouldn't accept my parent's address or a friend's address - noting I didn't actually have a rifle at this point)
2. There was an issue around not being able to have an in-person interview (sounds like that has changed if people have done video interviews, although note this was for a referee).

Contrary to what timattalon was advised, I was told letting my FAL expire due to being overseas would not have a negative impact/consideration for future applications. Declining or removal certainly, but not expiry.

Anyway, my FAL expired, and I just reapplied for a "new" license when I got home. Effectively no difference apart from having to do the firearm safety course and paying $250-ish for a new application instead of $150-ish for a renewal. The referee interviews and storage check still needed to happen for a renewal, so wasn't much of a difference... albeit, the process took 18mo back then, but seems to be down to 3-6 months now.

Seems to me just letting it expire and reapply when you get here would achieve the same outcome as surrendering and reapplying, just with less admin? Either way, ask Police/FSA on which option is possible (likely both), which is preferred, and if there are any future impacts associated with either option. I'd most certainly keep a record of the advice you receive from Police/FSA for future ref.

As noted above, worth checking whether surrendering pauses the expiry date, as this seems unlikely?

Also, advise getting a police report from the local police force before you leave to say you weren't naughty while you were over there. I had to request this from British Police from here. Not impossible, but annoying.

Hope that's helpful. Good luck!

This would t be a problem if you were a dairy farmer.

Crazy. They would ask why you wanted to surrender it. Dont do it.