James Cameron's lawyer asked Brooke van Velden and David Seymour for help speeding up his citizenship application.
Billionaire film-maker James Cameron sought ministerial intervention - including from Act leader David Seymour - to “expedite” his citizenship application, the Herald can reveal.
The Hollywood heavyweight was granted New Zealand citizenship last month after living on and off in New Zealand since purchasing land in Wairarapa in 2012.
The Herald first reported Cameron attended a citizenship ceremony with his wife Suzy Amis Cameron at Te Papa on August 13.
Documents released by Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden this week show despite Cameron meeting all the requirements for citizenship, a lawyer acting for the Avatar filmmaker tried to get his application sped up, but van Velden refused.
In a late April email, a partner at law firm Bell Gully, whose name has been withheld citing privacy, emailed van Velden and Act leader David Seymour asking the ministers to help.
“Jim (we act for him and his family), the producer of the Avatar films, needs no introduction. He satisfied all the requirements for New Zealand citizenship, and we lodged his application in January. We act for a significant number of ultra-high value migrants and we have lodged many citizenship applications. We therefore know the rules and we are confident that Jim meets all requirements. Seemingly, thousands of citizenship applications which were lodged after his have already been processed,” the letter said.
Cameron’s lawyer describes him as “a very proud Kiwi” who “has tirelessly promoted New Zealand here, and abroad”.
“Being able to call himself a Kiwi would strongly resonate with him and would do much to help him to continue to promote our interests abroad. As things stand (we have been in correspondence with Internal Affairs), his citizenship is still many months off”.
“Given his very public profile and our having acted for him for many years, we know of no ‘dark corners’ requiring careful Internal Affairs scrutiny explaining processing delays.”
“Anything that you can do to expedite matters and achieve what would undoubtedly be a win-win outcome would be appreciated” it said.
Citizenship matters are the responsibility of van Velden as Minister of Internal Affairs, but Cameron’s lawyer said they included Seymour in the email “as I associate the mantra, ‘the answer is Yes unless there is a good reason to say No’ (which I acknowledge was put forward in the OIO [Overseas Investment Office] context), with you, and I find it particularly refreshing.”
Seymour’s office never responded, a spokesperson confirmed.
One month later, van Velden did reply, saying she would not be able to help.
“With regard to Mr Cameron’s application, I understand the Department received the application in January 2025. The Department is currently assessing applications received in October 2024, and will assess Mr Cameron’s application in due course,” van Velden wrote.
“While there is no formal ”urgent” process for citizenship applications, certain circumstances, such as humanitarian considerations, may warrant prioritisation, enabling applications to be processed more swiftly.“
“Expedited processing cannot be offered based solely on fees or other non-qualifying factors under the Act”.
She urged Cameron’s lawyer to email the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) if they believed he met the criteria for priority processing.
The DIA’s website also states there is no urgent citizenship service, but the Citizenship Office can make accommodations in rare cases for those who need urgent processing to travel for a medical emergency, to represent New Zealand, for work or deployment, to stand for election, or for humanitarian reasons.
Requests for urgent processing are not approved for financial reasons, such as not wanting to pay for a passport from your home country or a visa from another country, a preference to travel on a New Zealand passport, or any other personal preference.
When the Herald first contacted Minister van Velden’s office about his citizenship, the Minister confirmed she did not exercise ministerial discretion, but congratulated him on the news.
“Like thousands of people from across the world who choose to make New Zealand their home each year, I congratulate Mr Cameron on becoming a Kiwi. I think New Zealand is the best little country in the world, and I’m always happy to hear others think so too and wish to build their lives here,” she said in a statement at the time.
In response to the revelations he sought help, van Velden reiterated her congratulations for Cameron.
“Mr Cameron followed the correct application process like thousands of other new Kiwis each year. Congratulations to all new New Zealanders.”
Representatives for Cameron would not comment on their attempt to speed up his citizenship.
Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.