US citizens seek to emigrate to New Zealand in record numbers

Applications for citizenship grants rose by 70 percent in 12 weeks following election of President Donald Trump as disaffected liberals seek new life in the Antipodes

Americans fleeing Trump regime to New Zealand’s picturesque South Island (Henning Gloystein/Reuters)

It's one thing to talk about changing allegiance to another country when a new president is elected. It's another thing to go ahead and do it.

But that's exactly what seems to be happening, at least in one distant corner of the world.

In New Zealand, the number of Americans who applied for a grant of citizenship rose by 70 percent in the 12 weeks following the election of President Donald Trump when compared to the same period a year earlier, immigration records obtained by The Associated Press show.

Figures also show the number of Americans who obtained a New Zealand work visa in January was up 18 percent from a year earlier, as was the number of Americans who visited the country.

In New Zealand, a grant of citizenship is the pathway for people without a family connection. Among those Americans with a New Zealand parent, citizenship applications after the election were up 11 percent from a year earlier.

In response to an AP freedom of information request, New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs said that in the two days after the US election in November, the number of Americans who visited its website to find out about citizenship was up more than tenfold from the same two weekdays a month earlier.

To be sure, the total number of Americans applying for New Zealand citizenship remains relatively low. The country is more than 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles) from the mainland US and is perhaps best known for its majestic landscapes. Farming remains central to the economy, with sheep outnumbering the 4.8 million people by about six to one.

Trump made a brief reference to the country during the election campaign when a New Zealand television reporter asked him what the election would mean for the South Pacific country.

“Say hello to Bob Charles. I love Bob Charles,” Trump replied. “Do you know who Bob Charles is? Your greatest golfer.” Charles won the British Open in 1963.

Some Americans living in New Zealand say their friends and family have been asking them about moving there since the election.

Alanna Irving, 33, a technology startup entrepreneur from San Francisco, moved to New Zealand six years ago and has since married a kiwi, as the locals are known.

“It's an extremely livable 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.”

She said that a friend of a friend was so disturbed by the outcome of the election that he immediately jumped on a plane and flew to New Zealand to check it out as a possible place to live. Irving said his visit exceeded his expectations.

“So that was really symbolic to me that there were people in the United States who feel like things are going in a very different direction than they want for their future, or for their children, and they're looking to New Zealand as perhaps an alternative,” she said.

Most Americans who apply for New Zealand citizenship must first live in the country for five years.

Cameron Pritchard, an immigration consultant at Malcolm Pacific Immigration in Wellington, said the increase in citizenship applications could be a result of people wanting to feel more settled in their adopted country, given the uncertain nature of the world.

It's about “getting a bit more security or really making a longer-term decision that New Zealand is the place they want to call home,” he said.

He said his company noticed a big spike in inquiries from the US. during the election.

“It's been more of a flurry of excitement initially than anything that's translated into a huge avalanche of numbers,” he said.

Irving said she plans to apply for New Zealand citizenship this year and doesn't foresee ever returning to live in the US. She said she misses the excitement that some US innovators and companies can offer, although technology allows her to stay connected with that world.

But, she added, there's one thing she misses that can't be replicated online: The great Mexican food that's available in the US.

By the numbers:

Americans applying for New Zealand citizenship by grant:

November 8 2016, to January 31 2017: 170

November 8 2015, to January 31 2016: 100

Americans applying for New Zealand citizenship by descent:

November 8 2016, to January 31 2017: 203

November 8 2015, to January 31 2016: 183

Citizenship-related visits to Department of Internal Affairs website from the US:

November 8 to November 10, 2016: 4,146

October 4 to October 6 2016: 305

Work-visa arrivals from the US:

January 2017: 254

January 2016: 216

Visitor arrivals from the US:

January 2017: 34,240

January 2016: 28,992

AP