New Zealanders with the right to live and work in the United Kingdom can breathe a sigh of relief - the British Government will not abolish the prized ancestry visas.
British officials had proposed getting rid of the visa, which allows people whose grandparents were born in the
UK to live there for four years and eventually apply for residency.
They had also considered stripping New Zealanders of the right to travel to Britain without a visa for up to six months.
While both proposals have since been dropped, the news initially came as a huge shock to travellers and people with British heritage alike when it was announced in a Home Office green paper earlier this year.
About 4000 New Zealanders apply for the visas through the British High Commission each year.
The plan also came under attack in Britain where Labour MP Austin Mitchell wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the proposal showed "a great contempt for the long historic associations between Britain, New Zealand and Australia".
But yesterday's announcement from the British Home Office that ancestry visa access was still open was greeted enthusiastically by a delighted Helen Clark.
"This is a fantastic decision by the British Government and something I have personally laboured hard for and the New Zealand High Commission have put in detailed submissions on," she said.
The Prime Minister said the decision reflected the goodwill towards New Zealand in Britain.
She said Britons were still the largest migrant group in this country.
"Their children and grandchildren are going to want these rights as well," she said.
Flight Centre communications manager, Melanie Pohl, said the UK remained "far and away" the biggest drawcard for New Zealanders on their OE and ancestry visas were "like gold".
