Being able to vote, travel with a Kiwi passport and play top-level sports for this country appear not to be the drawcards for would-be New Zealanders that they once were.
Tougher residency requirements obliging applicants to spend longer in their adopted country resulted in citizenship numbers plummeting from 31,000 in 2007 to 20,739 in 2009, the lowest since 2003.
Changes introduced on April 21, 2005, include requiring applicants to have been permanent residents for five years, rather than three years as previously, and the removal of preferential treatment for spouses of New Zealand citizens.
Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy said he was "not especially concerned" by the decrease because citizenship numbers had fluctuated between 20,000 and 30,000 over the past decade.
A drop in numbers had been expected as a result of the 2005 changes, and the recession may also have had an impact with citizenship applications costing $460, he said.
Mr Guy said he planned to introduce some changes to the Citizenship Act this year, but they would not be major.
The move to a five-year requirement has resulted in fewer approvals, but applications have increased since April, as more people met citizenship requirements.
All major migrant markets, including England (3079 in 2008; 2710 in 2009), India (3429 to 2303), South Africa (2458 to 1850) and Fiji (1931 to 1581) had declined.
People granted citizenship in the Southern region fell to the lowest level in 10 years, with 469 approvals in 2009, compared with 683 in 2008.
Since 2000, the Queenstown Lakes district proved a drawcard for 354 former England residents, followed by the United States (61) and South Africa (54).
During the same period, Dunedin attracted 593 former England residents, 319 people from China and 297 South Africans.
Central Otago attracted 48 former England residents, 13 former South Africans and 11 people from the Philippines.
Waitaki District had 46 former England residents, followed by South Africa (20) and Scotland (12).
The Clutha District had 34 England applicants, followed by South Africa (23) and the United States (9).
A Department of Internal Affairs spokesman said the longer residency requirements meant the department was better able to assess an applicant's character and suitability for citizenship, a spokesman said.
It was then up to the minister, not the department, to approve each application following recommendations from Internal Affairs, and to review submissions for more complex cases.
Citizenship brought both responsibilities and privileges, including registering as a voter, paying tax, travelling on a New Zealand passport, being able to own rural land, having full access to education and being able to represent New Zealand at sport.
Despite Australia adopting a citizenship test which requires would-be Australians to pass at least 15 out of 20 questions, there were no plans to introduce a similar test for New Zealand, the spokesman said.
