A "misunderstanding" had resulted in the authorities believing Mr Sor had pulled out of this week's citizenship ceremony in Dunedin because he was unavailable, but he turned up at the event anyway, accompanied by friends.
Mr Sor, who is studying computer and information science, came to New Zealand from Cambodia five years ago.
"I think it's a very good country, very good environment, good people and my sister has been here 10 years," he said.
He made the move to become a citizen because New Zealand was "home".
He was one of 36 people, who came from as far afield as South Africa, Denmark and Fiji, to become citizens of New Zealand.
They were: James Binns (Britain), Sapna Boyce (Fiji), Sheilla Curson (Philippines), Karl Romero (Philippines), Gunver Fridell (Denmark), Daniel Goodwin (Britain), Jennifer Goodwin (Britain), Peter Holmes (Britain), Alex Kim (Korea), Hyong Kim (Korea), Stephen Lambert (Australia, Britain), Natalie Lambert (Australia, Britain), Logan Lambert (Australia), Declan Lambert (Australia), Lindsay Lambert (Australia), Ukene Latu (Samoa), Yu-Min Lee (Malaysia), Neville McMaster (South Africa), Maria McMaster (South Africa), Claudette McMaster (South Africa), Brian McMaster (South Africa), Evelina McCorkindale (Philippines), Aimee McMahon (Britain), Octavia Mogil (America), Gabrielle Mogil (America), Maxwell Mogil (America), Fei Ying Peters (Malaysia), Satya Prakash (Fiji), Surya Prakash (Fiji), Ravi Sanyal (India), Chia-Li Shen (Taiwan), Nigel Tiatia (Samoa), John Van Buskirk (America), Benjamin Wallens (Britain), Gordon Weare (Britain).
