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Thousands of New Zealanders who enjoy the right to live and work in Britain through their ancestry could be left out in the cold as the Government in London considers severing ties with Commonwealth citizens.
British officials are proposing abolishing 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 passed into law, it would affect thousands of New Zealanders with British ancestry who go to live and work in the UK every year.
In 2006, about 8490 such visa holders entered the UK. Of these, 1940 were New Zealanders.
The British High Commission said it received about 4000 applications for ancestry visa applications a year from New Zealanders.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said last night that the Government would make a "very strong submission in response".
"Many New Zealanders greatly value their connections with the UK, especially those whose grandparents were born there," she said.
"We believe the ancestry visa should remain, and are surprised the issue has been raised ."
Helen Clark is expected to raise the issue with senior UK Government figures in April when she visits Britain for Sir Edmund Hillary's memorial service.
The plans are contained in a Home Office green paper on charting new pathways to citizenship.
"We need to decide whether a Commonwealth national's ancestral connections to the UK are sufficient to allow them to come here to work without the need to satisfy a resident labour market test," the paper says.
The plan has also come under attack in Britain.
Labour MP Austin Mitchell - who was a university lecturer in New Zealand in the 1960s - wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the proposal showed "a great contempt for the long historic associations between Britain, New Zealand and Australia".
Flight Centre communications manager Melanie Pohl said many travellers would be devastated if the legislation was passed.
"It certainly is a valuable visa to have for the number of people who do have access to them," she said.
British High Commission communications manager Jonathan Kinsella said the proposal was still in its consultation stage and submissions were being accepted until May.
"You have to weigh up whether or not having a visa system based on ancestry has a place in the modern world and that's why we're asking the question," he said.
Asked if this would damage the historic associations New Zealand has with Britain, Mr Kinsella replied: "I wouldn't think so.
"The UK certainly values the economic wealth and skills New Zealanders bring to the UK on their working holidays and there are other routes into the country."
