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                    [0] => This series contains files referring to individuals who were registered as aliens under the Aliens Control Emergency Regulations 1939.
                )

            [id] => 489
            [idSort] => 489
            [name] => Alien Registration files (1939-49 system)
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            [authenticityNote] => 

	Dates of Holdings: 1914-1979 Accession Records: No formal accession records found. Transferred to National Archives Wellington Office in ?1979.
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            [history] => 

	Background to alien registration and naturalisation

	Prior to the coming into force of the Citizenship Act, 1977 (on 1 January 1978), the key statute was the Aliens Act 1866 and its amendments. This established a procedure whereby specific naturalisation ordinances/acts (passed since 1846) were no longer necessary. The Act also established personal and property rights for so-called ''friendly'' aliens.

	Procedure:

	1. Applicant submitted to the Governor a memorial requesting letters of

	    Naturalization be granted stating

	    a. his name, age, birth-place, residence, occupation

	    b. length of residence in New Zealand and his desire to settle

	     permanently.

	After 1914 the form provided for specifying the name of the ship by which the applicant arrived; after 1928 a minimum of 5 years’ residence and competence in English (a short oral and written test) was insisted on.

	 2. The memorial was in the form of a statutory declaration requiring a

	    witness to the applicant’s signature and payment of stamp duty.

	 3. The memorial was to be attached a certificate of the applicant’s good

	    repute signed by a Resident Magistrate or Justice of the Peace.

	    However, by the 1890s such certificates were acceptable to the

	    Colonial Secretary’s office only if from a Magistrate. Increasingly

	    magistrates sought a report from the local police before providing

	    such certificates.

	 4. If naturalization was approved by the Colonial Secretary/Minister of

	    Internal Affairs, the applicant was directed to take the oath of

	    allegiance before a Magistrate or Justice of the Peace.

	 5. Payment of fees.

	 6. Issue of letters (Certificate) and filing of duplicate.

	 7. Notification in New Zealand Gazette.

	Implications:

	   1. The wife of an alien naturalized before 1935 became automatically

	    a British subject; after 1934 this was not automatic but by making a

	    declaration of desire to acquire British nationality.

	   2. After 13 May 1924 a child born before the effective date of his

	    parent’s naturalization could be inserted in the parent’s certificate:

	    before then such a child if living in New Zealand during his minority

	    with a naturalized parent was deemed to be naturalized.

	Restrictions:

	   1. During both World Wars naturalization virtually ceased (expect

	    to permit friendly aliens to serve abroad). For a few years afterwards

	    people born in what was been enemy territory were given low priority.

	   2. Naturalization of Asiatic was increasingly restricted by the 1880s and

	    not significantly eased until after 1945.

	Alien Registration:

	This was Introduced in 1917 and suspended in 1923. It was reintroduced (by emergency regulation) in

	In 1939, confirmed by state in 1948 then repealed by the Citizenship Act 1977.

	DOCUMENTATION:

	a. Naturalisation

	1. The memorials were filed in the Colonial Secretary’s office (later Department of

	  Internal Affairs – even for aliens naturalised in Western Samoa and the Cook 

	  Islands.) The relevant Archives series is IA 1. The copies of the letter (certificate)

	  of naturalisation issued are found in IA 53.

	2. The principal finding aid is the Register of persons naturalised in New Zealand

	  before 1945 and succeeding volumes. (This supersedes the Register of Alien

	  Friends published in 1925). Details given in the Register include both the

	  References to the file containing the memorial, the copy of the letters of

	  naturalisation issued, and the effective date of naturalisation.

	3. Not all applications were approved or completed. These may be traced (before

	  1913) in the general indexes to letters received by the Colonial Secretary under

	  the applicant’s name or (the only way where the applicant did not himself apply)

	  under the headings ‘Naturalisation’.

	4. The Register before 1948 is unreliable for references to Colonial Secretary’s

	  files during the period when naturalisation was by ordinance and stature (up to

	  1866).

	b. Aliens

	1. There are no individual registration files for aliens in the period 1917-23, although

	  fragments appear in the rare instances of re-registration during World War II. For

	  aliens interned there is usually a Defence (Ex 29/series) and local Camp file

	  re-files under a P.O.W. number. These are accessible by card index. A handful

	  of Aliens Enemy Commission files is complemented by Police reports on suspect

	  aliens (to which access is still closed.)

	2. The New Zealand Register of Aliens compiled by the Statistics Department who

	  was responsible for alien registration in World War I.

	3. Alien registration for World War II is documented by

	  a. classification decisions of Aliens Authorities and Aliens Appeal Tribunal

	   (Justice files J.1939/50/….J.1945/50….)

	  b. police reports on individual aliens (closed to public access)

	  c. camp records for those aliens interned (Arm files, D,336/-)

	Alien registration files

	The registration files in this series refer to individuals who were registered as aliens under the Aliens Control Emergency Regulations 1939 and who were not re-registered into the new system set up under the Aliens Act 1948 (see series 504).

	When the new system came into being in 1949, the people recorded in series 489 had either died, been naturalised, left the country, or were otherwise no longer defined as aliens under the new Act. The files of people who were re-registered under the new Act were reclassified into series 504.

	

	As this series is still restricted, there is a card index to the files (see series 959) which has unrestricted access.

	

	The Aliens Tribunal Classification Register (series 495) contains cross-references to this series - these are pencilled in the lefthand margin of the volume.
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            [seriesAccessContacts] => 

	Chief Archivist

	c/- Research Services

	Archives New Zealand Wellington Office

	PO Box 12 050

	Wellington

	Email:  research.archives@dia.govt.nz

	 
            [seriesRestrictionReason] => 

	These files are not available to researchers until 100 years from the date of birth of the person documented in the file or until the death of the person documented in the file. Thus, a file on someone born in 1920 will be open in January 2021.This is to protect the personal privacy of the people concerned.

	In addition, file titles which include a change of name by Deed Poll are restricted from public viewing for 60 years from the registration of the change of name, under the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1951, Section 39.

	To gain access to these records proof confirming a date of birth outside the stated restriction periods, or written permission from the access contact, will be required.  A date of birth could be sourced from the controlling card index (see series 959).

	

	Any person may see his/her own file, on providing satisfactory proof of identity.

	Applications for privileged access within the restricted period should be made to the Chief Archivist, but should be discussed first with the Reference Archivist (Research Services team, Archives New Zealand).
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