• South Africans have overtaken Filipinos as the third-largest group of overseas-born citizens in New Zealand. 
• Almost 40,000 people became citizens last year, with a 67% increase in Pacific Islanders. 
• India remains the top source country, followed by Britain, with Tonga rejoining the top 10. 

South Africans have overtaken Filipinos to become the third-largest group of overseas-born citizens. 

Almost 40,000 people became New Zealanders last year, Department of Internal Affairs figures show, and the number of Pacific Islanders becoming New Zealanders grew by 67%. 

Among them, Tonga rejoined the list of top 10 countries providing New Zealand’s new citizens, while Australians have slipped off the list. 

More than 700 Germans have joined the ranks of New Zealanders, taking advantage of a change last June to their home country’s rules on dual citizenship. 

Chinese people in New Zealand still have to renounce their citizenship to become nationals here, which accounts for lower numbers in proportion to residents. 

India remains the top source country for the second year in a row, followed by Britain. 

The peopling of New Zealand 

Demographer professor Paul Spoonley said the number of new citizens represented a significant spike, especially compared to recent years. 

“The interesting thing is that migration to New Zealand does not involve a requirement to become a citizen in order to access services or to do things such as vote. This dates from the 1960s, and Permanent Residence provides nearly all of the things that a New Zealand citizen can expect or access. 

“I think citizenship is both an act of loyalty to a new homeland, but I also suspect that for quite a few people, it’s getting that passport, which allows you to move around the world. So it’s got a sort of utilitarian value.” 

It was likely people from both South Africa and the Philippines would continue to arrive in high numbers and keep those countries on the list of those contributing the largest numbers to New Zealand’s population for the next few years – as Filipinos had migrated here in large numbers in the past decade, but political instability was continuing in South Africa. 

“The migration from South Africa to New Zealand is always interesting, and there’s always those push factors which tends to be what’s happening politically and issues such as crime. And then of course the pull factors ... there’s already a large South African population in New Zealand, quite a few of them have got family members here. 

“One of the things that we noticed in our research was that there was always a thought that the South Africans, if things improved in South Africa, would go home. I think what you’re seeing in the citizenship figures is the long-term commitment to New Zealand. They’ve now accepted the fact that they are resident in New Zealand, want to stay in New Zealand and going back to South Africa is no longer a possibility.” 

Figures from 1949 to 2014 show Britain accounted for more than a quarter of overseas-born new citizens, followed by China and Samoa. 

But by 2023, India had taken the second spot overall. 

Taiwan, with a population of only 23 million, was the 10th most common country for new citizens in the 65-year period, after a surge in migration in the 1990s. 

- Gill Bonnett, RNZ