Until today any baby born in New Zealand became a citizen. This is no longer true.

The door has now been closed firmly on “citizenship tourists” who arrived pregnant in New Zealand for the sole purpose of having a baby here - to the annoyance of many people who have struggled to get residence by more conventional means.

The idea behind the scheme was that the authorities would not deport the baby because it was a New Zealand citizen and would not deport the parents either - obviously they were needed to look after the baby.

Babies will now be granted citizenship only if one or both of the child’s parents are New Zealand citizens, Australian citizens, Cook Islanders, Tokelauns, Niueorans or holders of NZ Permanent Residence Visas. Also, if a baby is born stateless in New Zealand, it will become a New Zealand citizen.

The NZ Government believes the changes will affect 100 to 600 births each years.