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Public Awareness of New Zealand Citizenship - Survey Results

In February 2009, UMR Research Limited conducted, on behalf of the Department of Internal Affairs, a nationwide telephone survey of 1,236 people on their awareness and understanding of citizenship and the reasons why (or why not) migrants apply for citizenship. The findings of the survey will help inform the Department of Internal Affairs’ evidence-based policy analysis and operational decisions about how to better promote the grant of citizenship to migrants.

You can download a summary report of the survey results (pdf 245kb). This report is in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. You need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download a free version from the Adobe site.

Alternatively, the executive summary of the report can be found below.

Public Awareness of New Zealand Citizenship

Summary of the Findings of UMR Research Limited

Executive Summary
It is more than a decade since the Department of Internal Affairs last commissioned a national survey about New Zealand citizenship. In order to obtain up to date information to inform future policy and operational activity, the Department commissioned UMR Research Limited to undertake a survey in early 2009. The purpose of the research was to measure the New Zealand public’s knowledge of and attitudes towards New Zealand citizenship. Topics covered included how people become citizens (including the requirements for the grant of citizenship) and the meaning and value of citizenship. The Department also sought information about the reasons why migrants choose or do not choose to apply for a grant of citizenship, and the actual or perceived benefits of obtaining a grant of citizenship.

Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,236 members of the New Zealand public during February 2009. Survey respondents were classified into five groups: the general public (n=1,000); citizens born in New Zealand (n=734); citizens born overseas (n=261); permanent residents (n=222) and survey respondents born in the United Kingdom (n=153). This latter group is of particular interest because the United Kingdom has always been the prime source of migration to New Zealand and there is anecdotal evidence that immigrants from the United Kingdom are less likely than other migrants to apply for a grant of New Zealand citizenship.

Some of the key findings are:

• Unprompted, only 58 percent of the general public surveyed identified at least one valid way of becoming a New Zealand citizen as did similar percentages of citizens (regardless of where they were born) and permanent residents.

• Of the valid ways to become a New Zealand citizen, the general public most commonly mentioned ‘to be granted citizenship or to have been naturalised or registered as a New Zealander’ (40%) or ‘to be born in New Zealand’ (35%). Other valid ways of gaining New Zealand citizenship were only mentioned by less than five percent of the general public.

• The two most commonly held misconceptions among the general public were that being ‘married to a New Zealand citizen’ (26%) or ‘having lived in New Zealand for a certain period of time’ (15%) were valid ways of gaining New Zealand citizenship.

• Only just over one third (34%) of the general public said they were aware of the requirements for a grant of New Zealand citizenship, with permanent residents (53%) and citizens born overseas (51%) more likely to say they were aware of the requirements than citizens born in New Zealand (27%). Forty three percent of respondents born in the United Kingdom said they were aware of the requirements.

• Just under half (49%) of the general public were aware of the grant requirement to have lived in New Zealand for a certain period of time. About one in five (21%) was aware of the ‘good character’ requirement and about one in six (16%) of the requirement to speak English. Other requirements for a grant of New Zealand citizenship barely rated a mention.

• Permanent residents were more aware (72%) of the requirement to have lived in New Zealand for a certain period of time than either the general public (49%) or citizens, regardless of where they were born (40% of those born in New Zealand and 54% of those born overseas).

• The general public also mistook requirements for a grant of New Zealand citizenship with requirements for skilled migrants seeking New Zealand residency. For example, 30 percent of the general public sub-group mentioned ‘have a job/not on a benefit’ and nine percent ‘comply with points system.’ They also mistook requirements for a grant of New Zealand citizenship with requirements for those wishing to set up business or make a financial investment in New Zealand. For example, nine percent mentioned the need to be a ‘high earner/money.’

• Citizens born in New Zealand and the general public had higher levels of misconceptions about the requirements for a grant of New Zealand citizenship than citizens born overseas (including those born in the United Kingdom) and permanent residents.

• Nearly six in ten (58%) of the general public were unsure of entitlements that New Zealand citizens had that those with only permanent resident status did not. Of the entitlements mentioned, ‘passport’ was mentioned the most by the general public sample, with 12 percent saying this.

• Eighty one percent of the general public rated New Zealand citizenship as very important or important. Citizens born in New Zealand (86%) and citizens born overseas (85%) were slightly more likely and permanent residents (52%) and respondents born in the United Kingdom (63%) less likely than the general public to rate New Zealand citizenship as very important or important.

• The two most frequently mentioned meanings of citizenship among the general public were ‘Proud of New Zealand/to be a New Zealander’ (40%) and ‘a sense of belonging’ (39%). The groups of permanent residents, citizens born overseas, and survey respondents born in the United Kingdom were more than twice as likely to mention ‘a good lifestyle/New Zealand’s lifestyle’ as citizens born in New Zealand (11%, 11%, 10% and 4% respectively).

• 'I feel like I belong here/I feel like a New Zealander’ was the most common reason given across all the groups for wanting to become a New Zealand citizen. Thirty two percent of the general public and 32 percent of citizens born overseas to whom the question was posed responded this way, as did 37 percent of permanent residents and 39 percent of respondents born in the United Kingdom.

• Thirty nine percent of non-New Zealand citizens among the general public had either not considered or decided against applying for New Zealand citizenship. The most common reasons given for not applying for citizenship were that they saw no advantage in becoming a citizen (24%), that the cost of becoming a citizen was too high (18%), that they were not eligible (10%), that they were not interested (8%) and that they did not want to lose the advantages of their current citizenship in their home country (7%). Non-New Zealand citizens born in the United Kingdom were the most likely to reason that the cost of becoming a citizen was too high (35%).

• Non-citizens who were more likely to consider applying for New Zealand citizenship were more likely to agree with the statements ‘I think of myself as a New Zealander,’ ‘I don’t feel that I fit in when I visit my home country,’ and ‘Could easily end up living and settling in another country’ and more likely to disagree with the statements ‘New Zealand has limited career opportunities’ and ‘It is too easy to become a New Zealand citizen’ (and in this order).

• ‘No serious convictions’ was the most frequently mentioned factor that the general public thought the Government should take into account before granting citizenship, with 36 percent saying this. Other factors among their top five were ‘have a job/not on a benefit’ (33%), ‘show they have fitted into New Zealand society/been interviewed to see if they fit in’ (26%), ‘be able to speak English’ (19%) and ‘their financial situation/can contribute’ (12%).

• Ten statements relating to the requirements for eligibility for citizenship were read to survey respondents and they were asked to rate these on a 0-10 scale where 0 meant ‘strongly oppose’ and 10 ‘strongly support.’ There were high levels of support (in the range 7 to 10) from over 70 percent of the general public for the following seven statements:
  • Have not committed any serious criminal offence in the past five years (94%)
  • Be a positive contributor to society (86%)
  • Be able to speak conversational English (79%)
  • Intend to stay in New Zealand (78%)
  • Show they have fitted into New Zealand society (77%)
  • Have lived in New Zealand permanently for five years (74%)
  • Have good character references from New Zealand citizens (73%).

• About three quarters (73%) of the general public agreed that five years was ‘about the right amount of time’ before migrants with permanent resident status should be eligible for New Zealand citizenship.