A citizenship assessment service by officials visiting Queenstown for the first time was deemed a success.
There were 19 appointments and candidates travelled from as far as Te Anau.
The Department of Internal Affairs offered free assessments of citizenship applications at a ''one-stop shop'' at 57 Shotover St, on September 16.
The service it provides in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland was brought to the resort, saving candidates the cost of travel and missing work.
Department spokesman Michael Mead, of Wellington, said there were 18 booked appointments plus one person who turned up on the day.
Candidates had standard applicant questions to ask about time frames, the next steps in the process and whether they had they right documents to apply, Mr Mead said.
''Staff were able to resolve issues face to face and all applications were lodged.
''We have found that the face-to-face approach makes it much easier for the customer, compared with dealing with the department by mail, as they know whether they are eligible or not and they get to take their documents away with them - we make copies at the office.
''Best of all is that they get to meet the real human being who is looking after their application.''
Applicants told staff the service in Queenstown was much easier than having to travel to Dunedin.
Mr Mead said a lot of feedback on the processes came from those applicants and officials were ''very happy'' with their initial visit.
''We have done a lot of work over the last few years to simplify the forms and make the application process easier for applicants.
"An extension of this is encouraging applicants to make an appointment with a case officer who can work through the finer details of the application and ensure that, where possible, there is no more work for the customer to do beyond the initial assessment.
''English is not the first language for many customers and we are working with them to get it right first time and save them any delay in having their application processed.''
The free citizenship assessment service will return to Queenstown on October 21 and limited appointments are still available.
''We plan to continue to visit every six weeks, as long as the customers are interested in using this service,'' Mr Mead said.
The latest citizenship ceremony was held in the Queenstown Lakes District Council chambers on September 20.
The candidates who swore allegiance to the Queen of New Zealand before Mayor Vanessa van Uden were Sergio Antunes, of Brazil, Krystel Arboleda, of the Philippines, Mark Baker, of the United Kingdom, Federico Callegari, of Argentina, Sue Cheam, of Malaysia, Luke Godfrey, of the UK, Milagros Hartshorne, of the Philippines, Marisol Lolas, of Chile, Shashank Narad, of India, James Pollard, of the UK, Marina Ten, of Russia, Amelia and Richard Prout, both of the UK, and Jennifer Prout, of the UK and United States, and Georgiy Smaga, of the Ukraine.
