Welcome home: some of Waipā’s new New Zealanders.
Waipā welcomes more than 130 new New Zealand citizens during 2020 – but most missed the formal ceremony because of Covid restrictions.
Citizens from 25 countries including England, India, Fiji, South Africa, India, Cambodia, Australia and the United States were naturalised. America.
The sole citizenship ceremony was held in February before ceremonies were suspended by the Department of Internal Affairs when New Zealand moved to Alert Level 4.
“2020 was a turbulent year and although we weren’t able to welcome our new citizens the way we normally would, we are very pleased to have them here as part of our Waipā family,” district mayor Jim Mylchreest said.
A welcome to Waipā function was held in November for those people who had become citizens in March-September 2020.
“It was fantastic to be able to officially welcome them and celebrate their move to our district.”
Citizenship ceremonies are scheduled to resume next month.
“An invite to the first ceremony will be extended to all those people who became new citizens from October 2020 onwards. It is a momentous occasion for new citizens, and we want to ensure all have the opportunity to have their citizenship celebrated,” the Mayor said.
Britons, South Africans and Fijians were the top three nationalities to settle in Waipā in 2020 with 52, 27 and seven new citizens from each country respectively.
Waipā also became home to citizens from Tuvalu, Jordan and Pakistan.
Around 2,774 new citizens have now been welcomed to the district since 2002.
For more details go to www.waipadc.govt.nz/our-services/citizenship.
