Dear Ministry of Defence,

I am a PhD candidate researching military recruitment policies in democracies.

I am requesting information regarding the government’s policies pertaining to the enlistment of non-citizens in the defence forces. At times, these policies are also referred to as military “lateral recruitment” programs – that is, programs and policies that enable foreign military servicemen and veterans to transfer and serve in New Zealand’s Defence Forces.

My questions are as follows:

1. Between 2010 and 2018, how many non-citizens of New Zealand (hereafter, “such personnel”) have served in the Defence Forces - whether through a lateral recruitment scheme or other policy?
2. Between 2010 and 2018, how many such personnel have enlisted or served each year in the Defence Forces?
3. Are such personnel eligible to complete a path to receiving citizenship?
4. Are such of personnel under any restrictions in their ability to serve New Zealand’s Defence Forces (for instance, exclusion from overseas deployments, exclusion from certain jobs and military, etc.)?
5. What laws were defence policies enable such personnel to serve? When and why were they enacted?

For your reference and to assist in your processing of this request, I am including a link to a recent press article on the issue: Kurt Bayer, “Australia offers NZ soldiers $250k to swap armies”, The New Zealand Herald, 12 June 2012, accessible at: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news... ).

I am prepared to cover costs associated with this request; please advise if this is necessary.

Thank you for your assistance and very sincerest regards,
Yours faithfully,
E. Grasmeder