New Zealand issues its own passports

New Zealand issues its own passports

The right to a passport is a major benefit of citizenship. In 1948 the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act created a separate New Zealand citizenship (though the words ‘British subject’ remained on New Zealand passports until 1977, along with ‘New Zealand citizen’). After the 1948 act had been passed, New Zealand passports were issued by the Department of Internal Affairs. In this 1949 photograph, a departmental officer is dealing with an applicant for one of the first New Zealand passports.