Kiwis overseas after passports on rise

WELLINGTON: While the number of New Zealand passports issued this year has dropped, requests from New Zealanders overseas and applying for their first passport have increased sharply.

Overall, there was a 79% reduction in the number of passports issued this year, in line with changes to the border and overseas travel in the wake of Covid.

But there has been a sharp increase in the number of requests from overseas and 48% were issued to people abroad, up from 22% the previous year.

Registrargeneral of births, deaths and marriages Jeff Montgomery said that was because people wanted the certainty of being able to return to New Zealand.

‘‘A number of those will have returned home over recent times and others are applying for it just in case they need to come home in the future.’’

The Department of Internal Affairs couriered 35% more adult firsttime passports to citizens outside New Zealand than in 2019.

The United States led this in doubling the normal numbers of firsttime applications.

Mr Montgomery said the applicants usually travelled on another nationality — an an EU passport, for example — but were New Zealand citizens and wanted the security of a New Zealand passport so they had the option of returning home.

Others were New Zealanders born overseas and securing a New Zealand passport for the first time.

This year the DIA issued New Zealand passports to people in 150 countries, which is consistent with past years.

The department was worried about the growing number of people with expired New Zealand passports.

Mr Montgomery said over the past year, more than 300,000 New Zealanders had let their passport expire.

That corresponded with an 80% drop in the number of passports issued this year.

Mr Montgomery said in the past these people would have renewed straight away, but failed to renew them because they were not planning to travel in the immediate future.

This year no New Zealand passports were issued to people who considered themselves, ‘‘at sea’’.

Mr Montgomery said the category applied to people working on cruise ships or living on other pleasure craft.