No 2, but marooned on the sidelines

Bjorn Seguin has been denied citizenship and is now unable to compete for New Zealand at the Games in New Delhi. Photo / Brett Phibbs

New Zealand's No 2 ranked badminton player will be prevented from representing his country at the Commonwealth Games after having an application for citizenship declined.

Bjorn Seguin, a 20-year-old American-born student, has lived in New Zealand with his French parents for 6 years.

Barbara and Yves Seguin live in Cambridge and work in the equestrian industry on a long-term business visa.

Bjorn, in his third year of management studies at Waikato University, has a student visa.

To compete for New Zealand at international tournaments such as the Commonwealth Games, he must be a New Zealand citizen, but his application has been rejected, six months after it was lodged.

Without residency, the only way to gain citizenship is through "exceptional circumstances", granted only at the discretion of the minister.

On Saturday, Seguin won the North Harbour Open, beating his coach T.J. Weistra in the final 21-18, 9-21, 24-22.

He said that after more than six years here, including his high school years, he considered himself a local.

"If there is one country I want to represent on the world stage, this is it."

He realised his Commonwealth Games dream was over when he had not heard back from Internal Affairs in time to play in the Oceania Championships, a compulsory tournament for those seeking Games selection.

Now, he will have to forgo many other big tournaments as well as the Commonwealth Games.

"All the major tournaments - the world junior champs, the youth Olympics, the world champs - I miss out on all those," he said.

Seguin can represent New Zealand as an individual at some tournaments, but is not eligible for the team events.

Badminton New Zealand chief executive Mike Kernaghan said his organisation had provided supporting documents for Seguin's application and sympathised with the player who now found his career in limbo.

"I had a chat with [national coach] T.J. Weistra and he said Bjorn was clearly the No 2 singles player in the country and not far from No 1. In a team event we would need our two best singles players."

Internal Affairs spokesman Allen Whaley said the department could not divulge details of individual cases but said ultimately each decision on citizenship was decided by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Nathan Guy.

"It is up to him to approve or decline," Mr Whaley said.

"The most important requirements that are looked at is whether the person applying is a permanent resident of New Zealand."

Mr Whaley said Seguin could go through the exceptional circumstances process again, but without residency the same factors would likely be considered again.

The process has been frustrating for the family, which had an initial bid for residency turned down because, after being given poor advice, they applied under the skilled migrant, rather than business, category.

As minor shareholders in the company they work for, they were not eligible as skilled migrants.

At one stage the family was asked for a certificate from the US police and FBI to prove Bjorn had a no criminal record in the US.

"He was 2 years old when we left," Mrs Seguin said.