Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Questions about New South Wales gun and ammunition laws. NSW Firearms Act 1996.

Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Biscuits » 24 Apr 2026, 9:59 pm

What is the situation with non-citizen, permanent resident visa holders, applying for a NSW firearms licence?

The disaster-area legislation last year said firearms licences for Australian citizens only. However the NSW police licencing website says NSW residents are eligible to apply; it does not say anything about citizenship.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by bigrich » 25 Apr 2026, 3:22 am

Biscuits wrote:What is the situation with non-citizen, permanent resident visa holders, applying for a NSW firearms licence?

The disaster-area legislation last year said firearms licences for Australian citizens only. However the NSW police licencing website says NSW residents are eligible to apply; it does not say anything about citizenship.


i could be wrong, but i think there are exemptions for some countries , i believe new zealand is one of them . bro :)
googling guv'ment websites or calling licensing is probably the best way to go . cheers
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Bugman » 25 Apr 2026, 9:51 am

I have a mate who belongs to a pistol club that has a member who lives here, raises kids here, works here, pays taxes here etc.
but is not an Australian citizen. That person has apparently been here for some time, AND has a cat A,B and H licence and has a good clean record. This bit of legislation was obviously though of by a total f&*kwit, especially in this case.
Does a citizenship document make you a better "aussie"? Me thinks not.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Robin » 25 Apr 2026, 10:09 am

My wife is Chinese Malaysian and has been a permanent resident here for over 20 years. She pays her taxes, has never had any legal trouble, and to even obtain her PR, she had to go through extensive medical checks and police clearances before it was granted.
There are plenty of citizens here who break the law every chance they get, so simply being a citizen doesn’t automatically make someone a better person. Making the licence requirement apply to both permanent residents and citizens would be a much fairer option than limiting it to citizens only.
I can understand if someone is neither a PR nor a citizen, as they may not be staying here long-term, so requiring a licence in that case may not make as much sense.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by fussy » 25 Apr 2026, 10:17 am

Bugman wrote:I have a mate who belongs to a pistol club that has a member who lives here, raises kids here, works here, pays taxes here etc.
but is not an Australian citizen. That person has apparently been here for some time, AND has a cat A,B and H licence and has a good clean record. This bit of legislation was obviously though of by a total f&*kwit, especially in this case.
Does a citizenship document make you a better "aussie"? Me thinks not.


Anyway, we give away citizenship and residency too easily.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Biscuits » 26 Apr 2026, 7:51 pm

fussy wrote:
Bugman wrote:Anyway, we give away citizenship and residency too easily.


I’d say AU is about right with citizenship. Several years of lawful residence and no criminality. Seems reasonable.

But Australia gives away the pathway to citizenship far too easily. Migration used to be a lot less, and few people were bothered by it. We do not need now to import migrants in the 100000s of thousands a year, who are them on a pathway to citizenship.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Biscuits » 26 Apr 2026, 7:53 pm

Back to my question

I’ve reached the 10 gun limit.

My wife is a British citizen and has PR. She has shot a bit in Europe, but isn’t fussed with it so hasn’t got a NSW licence. Can she get a NSW licence so we can have more guns in the family?
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by alexjones » 26 Apr 2026, 9:21 pm

Has the confiscation even started in NSW yet for people with over 10? I don't think it has.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Biscuits » 26 Apr 2026, 11:52 pm

alexjones wrote:Has the confiscation even started in NSW yet for people with over 10? I don't think it has.


No, the legislation has not gained ascent yet, so it is ok to have more than 10 firearms, for now at least.

However, firearms registry will not issue a new PTA if you have 10 or more firearms. They will just keep the money you paid to apply for a PTA and pretend you never applied for a PTA at all.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Fester » 27 Apr 2026, 1:28 am

Minns fully supported the Citizens only knee jerk bit, stated it on the TV.

The cops will put through all the regs that we have heard about.
They can also think up more, and put them up at any time, so we may face even more bad surprises.
They are expecting to do things around September this year, at the earliest.

All we can hope for, is bad feedback keeps them to only the original plans, rather than the extras, thought up by Greens and cops.

Minns still stands by the belt feds being real, and available.
He must be dumber than Albo.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Willie » 27 Apr 2026, 8:33 am

Na. Both are dumb as dogsh*t.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Biscuits » 27 Apr 2026, 9:23 am

Fester wrote:They are expecting to do things around September this year, at the earliest.



Amazing that we needed legislation rushed through parliament in only a few days, with late night sessions, hardly any debate, no time for engagement with any shooting groups, full of unintended consequences (like the police ordered firearms being refused entry though customs, because their import permits got cancelled)...... yet somehow after that big rush, we now have until September for the regulations to be issued.

Almost like there was actually time, only we needed a knee jerk reaction from morons.
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Re: Permanent residents applying for firearm licences in NSW

Post by Fester » 27 Apr 2026, 12:13 pm

Robert Borsak junior has admitted that dealing with anything in parliament is an absolute joke, and they are total retards.

They know full well that to pass legislation, the easiest way is to ram it through late at night or on the last sitting when they want to leave for a break. The Xmas thing was ideal and funny how the opposition just voiced stuff against it, then voted for it.

Actually doing something takes them forever and a day, all being paid ludicrously high $.

It may not happen until well into next year.

With the only gun problem now escalating to numerous shootings every week in Western Sydney by crims with illegal guns, they will have to do something. The greens have started, by a spin campaign that their guns are stolen from us.
Strange that they seem to be using AKs and semi-auto pistols that most of us don't even have to steal.

In times when the country is falling into the worst times we are ever likely to see, these morons have no intention of lessening their enormous waste of the taxpayers' money, like slowing the revolving door or cutting the consultants' $
The main company owns 3 Sydney skyscrapers, and a building next door to the Canberra Parliament House.
Albo recently passed a quiet legislation to increase the size of govt.
Watch them quietly grant themselves the usual pay rises.
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