The Home office in Britain has announced it will continue to allow New Zealanders with ancestry visas to live and work there for up to five years.
The Home Office says it intends to retain the ancestry visa category, after recent consultation questioned whether it should be scrapped.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark says the decision reflects the huge goodwill towards New Zealand in Britain.
She raised the matter personally with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and says she is delighted by the decision.
Miss Clark says New Zealanders who have grandparents born in the UK will be able to maintain their ancestral links.
