(1) Notwithstanding anything in section 8 or section 9 of this Act, the Minister shall, upon application made to him in the prescribed manner, authorise the grant of New Zealand citizenship to any person who was born before the 1st day of January 1978 if, at the time of that person's birth, his mother was a New Zealand citizen otherwise than by descent.
(2) This section does not apply to a person who has previously been deprived of New Zealand citizenship by order under section 16 or section 17, or renounced his or her citizenship under section 15.
Subsection (2) was inserted, as from 10 December 2001, by section 8 Citizenship Amendment Act (No 2) 2001 (2001 No 95).