Green MP Teanau Tuiono’s bill to restore citizenship rights for individuals from Western Samoa born between 1924 and 1949 is on track to becoming law.
The Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Act 2023 passed the Committee of the Whole House stage in Parliament on Wednesday with one amendment.
The amendment, from NZ First MP Andy Foster, who’s also on the Governance & Administration Committee, proposed to refund applicants who were successful in their application.
This means, if you are eligible under the Bill to apply for citizenship and you are successful, you will have your application fee refunded.
Teanau also put up two amendments forward:
- To extend the eligibility of the Citizenship to the descendants as well as those who were born before 1 January 1962; and
- To allow for the application to be free of charge.
With only the support from Labour and Te Pati Maori, he was unsuccessful in getting his amendments agreed to by the majority of the whole House.
While no date has been confirmed for the Third reading, it is expected this will take place in Parliament in the coming weeks.
If the bill is passed, it is expected that more than three and a half thousand Samoans aged between 74 and 100 who are eligible, whose New Zealand citizenship was stripped away by the 1982 Act, will be eligible for citizenship as of right, instead of having to go through the standard residency and citizenship application processes.
