US Applications for New Zealand Citizenship Jump 70% After Election

By Staff Reporter
Posted on 03/14/17 | News Source: BBC

The number of Americans who applied for citizenship in New Zealand has jumped 70% in the three months since President Donald Trump was elected.

There were 170 US applications during the first 12 weeks, compared with 100 a year earlier, say the Associated Press.

So the total figure remains relatively low.

But the deep divisions left by a bruising US election appear to make New Zealand - famous for its scenery - look more attractive than ever.

In the two days after Mr Trump's upset, New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs said the number of Americans visiting its website to learn about citizenship increased to 4,146 from 305 on the same two weekdays a month earlier.

Alanna Irving, a 33-year-old technology start-up entrepreneur from San Francisco moved to New Zealand six years ago.

"It's an extremely liveable place and you can see and palpably feel the difference in how society is organised, and what people prioritise," she said.

"New Zealand is a place that cares about equality, I think more. It's less individualistic, more community-minded." 


The South Pacific island nation boasts more sheep than its population of 4.8 million people by about six to one.

Its sweeping vistas and majestic coastlines are located more than 6,000 miles (10,000km) away from the mainland US.

Citizenship is a privilege reserved for people born in New Zealand, have parents who were born there or have lived in the country for five years.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionMr Thiel, a co-founder of Paypal and early investor in Facebook, is one of the many US migrants that have taken an interest in New Zealand

Among Americans with a New Zealand parent, citizenship applications after 8 November rose to 203 from 183 a year earlier, according to the AP.

More recently, New Zealand attracted international attention after the New Yorker magazine ran a piece titled Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich.

It detailed a growing number of tech billionaires who are securing a foothold in New Zealand in an increasingly volatile world.

Peter Thiel, a tech billionaire who advises President Trump, is among those wealthy investors who have become a citizen.