Citizenship Act 1977

4A: Delegation of powers by Secretary

You could also call this:

"The Secretary can share some of their jobs with other officers in the Department of Internal Affairs."

The Secretary can give some of their powers to other officers in the Department of Internal Affairs. You can think of the Secretary as a person who has a lot of jobs to do, and they can ask others to help them with some of those jobs. The Secretary can choose which officers to give these powers to and can also say how they want these jobs to be done.

When the Secretary gives powers to another officer, that officer can do the job in the same way as the Secretary would. You will assume that the officer is doing the job correctly unless you have evidence that says otherwise. The Secretary can give powers to a specific officer or to a group of officers who have a certain job.

The Secretary can take back the powers they gave to another officer at any time. Just because the Secretary gave powers to another officer, it does not mean the Secretary cannot do the job themselves. If the Secretary who gave the powers leaves their job, the powers they gave to another officer will still be in effect, and the new Secretary will have the same powers as the old one.

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This page was last updated on 29 September 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM443836.

Topics:

Government and voting > Government departments

4: Administration of Act, or

"Who's in charge of making sure the Citizenship Act is followed"

4B: Transitional, savings, and related provisions, or

"Special rules to help with changes to the Citizenship Act 1977"

4ADelegation of powers by Secretary

The Secretary may from time to time, by writing under the Secretary's hand, either generally or particularly, delegate to such officer or officers of the Department of Internal Affairs as the Secretary thinks fit all or any of the powers and functions exercisable by the Secretary under this Act or under any regulations made under this Act, other than the power of delegation conferred by this section.
Subject to any general or special directions given or conditions attached by the Secretary, the officer to whom any powers are delegated under this section may exercise those powers in the same manner and with the same effect as if they had been conferred on the officer directly by this section and not by delegation.
Every person purporting to act pursuant to any delegation under this section shall be presumed to be acting in accordance with its terms in the absence of evidence to the contrary.
Any delegation under this section may be made to a specified officer or to officers of a specified class, or may be made to the holder for the time being of a specified office or class of office.
Any delegation under this section shall be revocable at will, and no such delegation shall prevent the exercise of any power or function by the Secretary.
Any such delegation shall, until revoked, continue in force according to its tenor, notwithstanding the fact that the Secretary by whom it was made may have ceased to hold office, and shall continue to have effect as if made by the successor in office of that Secretary.

Notes

Section 4A: inserted, on 17 December 1985, by section 2 of the Citizenship Amendment Act 1985 (1985 No 169).