NZ may revoke citizenship by birth

New Zealand should reconsider its current policy of granting the right to automatic citizenship to anybody born there, Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday.

"There has been a tendency in recent years not only in New Zealand but also in other developed countries for people to come under another pretext and then have children in our country... for the purposes of citizenship," she told her weekly press conference.

"We need to consider whether there needs to be a response to that."

Her comments came after speculation that planned legislative change would end the automatic right.

Earlier in the day Internal Affairs Minister George Hawkins said New Zealand will make it harder for migrants to obtain

citizenship under a proposed new law. Hawkins said a bill was being prepared to amend both the Citizenship Act and the Passports Act.

"The bill will increase the standard period of residence in New Zealand that applicants must meet, from three years to five years," he told Radio New Zealand.

In addition, time spent in New Zealand on temporary permits would no longer count as a period of residence for citizenship purposes. He said the birthright citizenship issue was not being dealt with in the changes being planned now.

The United States is dealing with the issue of citizenship at birth and Ireland recently held a referendum which overwhelmingly supported revoking automatic citizenship.

AFP