4 Mar 2020

'I tried to keep NZ citizenship, they didn't allow it'

From Checkpoint, 5:48 pm on 4 March 2020

What happens when you relinquish your citizenship and then want it back?

That is what happened to 74-year-old Vivien Hill. She left New Zealand when she was 55 to live in Norway, which at the time did not allow dual citizenship. But her Norwegian husband died, one of her children is back in New Zealand and she wants to come home.


She has found it is not straightforward to become an immigrant in your home country. Although she regrets her decision to give up her New Zealand citizenship now, she told RNZ reporter Gill Bonnett that at the time it was the right thing to do.

Ms Hill says she would be happy to come back as an immigrant, but cannot see how she qualifies for residence, either.

The Department of Internal Affairs says its minister can exercise discretion to grant citizenship where there are exceptional circumstances and it would be in the public interest to do so.

There is no specific provision for people who renounce their New Zealand citizenship, but it says Ms Hill should speak to a citizenship case officer.

Government figures show 76 people renounced their New Zealand citizenship last year, more than double the number five years ago.