20 October 2021
45 Pipitea Street, Wel ington 6011
Phone +64 4 495 7200
dia.govt.nz
P Kelly
fyi-request-16522-
[email address]
Tēnā koe P Kelly
Official Information Act 1982 request 2122-0253 – Citizenship for Māori born outside of New
Zealand
Thank you for your Official Information Act (Act) request received by the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment on 27 August 2021. Your request was partial y transferred to the
Department of Internal Affairs (Department) on 22 September 2021 for response.
You requested –
Does Immigration NZ or the Minister have any documentation on whether a Maori
person who is not a citizen of New Zealand has any special immigration rights or status
as a result of their Maori descent, for example protection from deportation? If so, please
provide it.
In response to your request I can provide you with the fol owing information.
New Zealand Citizenship
It is first important for me to provide some contextual information around New Zealand
citizenship.
New Zealand citizenship is governed by the Citizenship Act 1977 (Act
) (Citizenship Act 1977) and
the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 (WS Act)
(Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982). The
Department of Internal Affairs is responsible for the administration of these Acts.
There are three types of New Zealand citizenship; by birth, by descent and by grant.
•
Citizenship by birth - A person may be a New Zealand citizen by birth if they were born
in New Zealand before 1 January 2006 or if they were born in New Zealand on or after 1
January 2006 and at least one of their parents is a New Zealand citizen or permanent
resident.
•
Citizenship by descent -
A person may be registered as a New Zealand citizen by descent
if they were born overseas and have at least one parent who was a New Zealand citizen
by birth or grant at the time of their birth. New Zealand citizenship by descent is limited
to the first generation born outside New Zealand since the Act came into force on 1
January 1978.
•
Citizenship by grant - A person may be eligible to apply for citizenship by grant under
sections 8, 9, or 10 of the Citizenship Act 1977 or under section 7 of the Citizenship
(Western Samoa) Act.
In considering the relevance of whakapapa, it is useful to make a distinction between types of
citizenship where a person’s parent’s status may determine or be a factor in their eligibility for
citizenship, and types of citizenship where wider whakapapa may be taken into account. This
has been broken down for you further in the table found in Appendix A, attached.
The Citizenship Guidance Document guides day-to-day decision-making. This is a document
which is a guide for applicants, officials who process citizenship applications within the
Department and the Minister of Internal Affairs (Minister) in decision-making on citizenship
applications. This document is published on our website; a link to this document in both Word
and PDF format can be found here
Citizenship Guidance Document (please select November
2020 version).
In addition to the information outlined above, in July 2006 the Identity and General policy team
prepared a paper outlining citizenship issues for Māori born outside New Zealand which looked
at the development of New Zealand citizenship law and the implication for Māori born in
foreign countries. The paper was prepared as a project under the Department’s Effectiveness
for Māori strategic plan 2006-2009 and summarises the policy considerations and legislative
history which lead to the current legislation.
Please refer to Appendix B, attached, for a copy of this document.
Deportation
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is responsible for deportation and has provided the Department
with the fol owing information regarding Māori whakapapa and deportation:
‘A non-New Zealand citizen may become subject to deportation for a variety of reasons
such as not holding a visa to be in New Zealand, being in breach of a visa, obtaining a visa
by fraud or being convicted of criminal offending.
Al individuals subject to deportation have an opportunity to provide INZ with information
about their personal circumstances, which may include family or other settlement factors
in New Zealand.
New Zealand is a signatory to a number of international conventions that provide for
factors to be considered in assessing whether deportation wil proceed’.
If you would like any further information regarding deportation, please contact Immigration
New Zealand directly on 0508 558 855 or visit their website at
www.immigration.govt.nz.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, the Department has
decided to proactively release a copy of this response on the DIA website. Al requestor data
including your name and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released
response will be made available here
: www.dia.govt.nz/Official-Information-Act-Requests-2.
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You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi
Julia Taylor
Manager Operational Policy and Official Correspondence
Service Delivery and Operations
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