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Annual Report
Purpose: To verify a person's eligibility to hold a New Zealand passport from citizenship register information.
Citizenship (DIA) disclosure to Passports (DIA): Possible matches from the Citizenship database are displayed to Passports staff as they process each application. The possible matches may involve one or more records. The details displayed include full name, date of birth, country of birth and the date that citizenship was granted.
Compliance: Compliant.
Technical information
| Information matching provision | Citizenship Act 1977, s.26A |
| Year authorised | 2001 |
| Year commenced | 2003 |
| Match type | Confirming eligibility Detecting illegal behaviour |
| Unique identifiers | Citizenship person ID |
| Online transfers | Yes |
System description
This programme is used to verify the eligibility of people for a New Zealand passport based on citizenship by grant or descent. It mirrors the BDM/DIA(P) Passport Eligibility Programme.
Staff attempt to confirm information provided on the passport application with information from the citizenship register. Confirmation allows processing to continue. If the information cannot be confirmed, the file may be referred to Citizenship staff for resolution.
Notices of adverse action are sent when staff cannot satisfactorily match the information supplied to the appropriate Citizenship record. Almost all of these are resolved by contacting the applicant for clarification.
The difference between the number of applications and the number of passports issued primarily reflects the number of applications being processed when statistics were compiled.
Recent activity
| 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | |
| Passport applications | 729,090 | 736,270 | 751,397 | 537,798 | 158,114 | 276,691 | 519,821 |
| Possible matches to Citizenship records | 357,127 | 365,370 | 369,479 | 278,240 | 126,725 | 198,581 | 442,510 |
| Notice of adverse action (arising from failure to match) | 836 | 792 | 958 | 749 | 486 | 742 | 888 |
| Successful challenges | 819 | 781 | 935 | 731 | 458 | 706 | 874 |
| Passports issued (diplomatic, official and standard) | 721,645 | 724,984 | 736,208 | 540,059 | 151,603 | 226,351 | 507,868 |
The utility of this provision was assessed in a report Passports and Citizenship (July 2014), and subsequently in Department of Internal Affairs, Government Super Fund, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, National Provident Fund and New Zealand Transport Agency information matching (July 2020).
