Holiday-makers wanting to spend longer than three months in Britain visa-free are likely soon to be out of luck, unless intense lobbying efforts by Prime Minister Helen Clark can stop planned changes to UK visa rules.
This latest move comes after last month's announcement that British officials want
to abolish the ancestry visa, which allows people whose grandparents were born in the United Kingdom to live there for four years and eventually apply for residency.
If the latest changes go ahead, the amount of time a New Zealand citizen can spend in Britain without needing a visa will be cut from six months to three.
The visa cut would also apply to people who go to the UK for business reasons - their six-month visa-free period would be cut to three months.
Film crews and academic visitors who can now enter visa-free for 12 months would join others on a three-month limit.
The British Government has just ended consultation on proposals to significantly change its visa rules in a bid to stem a growing influx of people across its borders - particularly after the expansion of the European Union.
The effect of the changes on New Zealanders has prompted the Government to make a formal submission to its British counterpart.
Helen Clark will raise the issue when she visits Britain next month for a memorial service for Sir Edmund Hillary.
Yesterday, she said it was hard to get solid information on how many people were affected, but the changes could be "quite damaging".
New Zealand lets British people stay for up to six months visa-free.
New Zealand has succeeded in staving off proposed British changes to rules covering working-holiday visas, and Helen Clark is hoping for a similar outcome for holiday-makers and others affected by the latest proposals.
New Zealand will argue that its visitors help the British economy and are of low risk, and its business people, academics and film crews do work of benefit to both countries.
"It's not like New Zealand is being done a favour here," Helen Clark said.
"We're actually adding to the capacity of the British economy."
