Mr Guy came to Dunedin specifically to attend the ceremony at the Dunedin Municipal Chambers where 36 people became new citizens.
He also gave a speech to rural firefighters in Timaru.
"I know . . . the tremendous value immigrants place on New Zealand citizenship.
Although these people know about the importance of citizenship, many people born in New Zealand do not," Mr Guy said in Dunedin.
Mr Guy spoke about the celebrations being held this year to mark 60 years of New Zealand citizenship.
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin said it was the first time a minister had attended a citizenship ceremony in the four and a-half years he had been in office.
People who became New Zealand citizens at the ceremony held in Dunedin on Wednesday: Angeline Anak Ussay; Teng, Sze and Sze Ooi; Leok Tan; (Malaysia), Calum Anderson (Ireland), Harjit and Gurvinder Maggo (India), Diomedes Nicolaou (Cyprus), Julian Van Druten (South Africa), Lynn, Paul, Thomas and Emma Bennett; Hilary Hutton; Allon, Carol and Jessica Nash; Lloyd Roffe; Robert West, Clare Greensmith and Edwin Greensmith-West; Robert Aitken; David, June, Kate and Rebecca Tordoff (Britain), Shaoe Cao (China), Tyson Chenier (Canada), Lada Chirnside (Czech Republic) Gregory Leonard (USA), Dilini Nanayakkara-Kahawatta (Sri Lanka), Harumi Shirakawa (Japan), Chyi-Wen Wang (Taiwan), Po Wong (Hong Kong), Lotte Adam (Germany).
