all individuals permanently resident in the country for at least one year in 1975. Prior to that year, British subject status was required to participate in elections. Political candidates of partial Māori or non-Māori backgrounds were permitted to stand for election in Māori electorates beginning in 1967 and all Māori voters, irrespective of the degree of their ancestry, could participate in either Māori or general electorates from 1975. Transition to national citizenship By the 1970s and 1980s, most colonies of the British Empire had become independent and remaining ties to the United Kingdom had been significantly weakened. New Zealand made further reforms to its nationality law in 1977 that abolished the preferences that were afforded to citizens from other Commonwealth countries and allowed citizenship to be transferrable by descent to children through mothers as well as fathers. Foreign nationals becoming New Zealand citizens are no longer naturalised, but receive "citizenship by grant". Commonwealth and Irish citizens remain technically defined in New Zealand law as non-foreign, but there are no benefits provided to either group. The UK itself updated its nationality law to reflect the more modest boundaries of its remaining territory and possessions with the British Nationality Act 1981, which redefined British subject to no longer also mean Commonwealth citizen. New Zealand citizens continue to be Commonwealth citizens and are still eligible to vote and stand for public office in the UK. Applicants who successfully apply for citizenship are required to take an oath or affirmation of citizenship pledging their loyalty to the New Zealand monarch, who is the same person as the British sovereign. Although there have been formal reviews of the oath and attempts to change it to mention allegiance to the country or people of New Zealand instead of (or in addition to) the monarch, the oath remains unchanged. Following a general trend in other common law jurisdictions, New Zealand ended unrestricted birthright citizenship in 2005. Children born in New Zealand beginning in 2006 are only granted citizenship by birth if at least one parent is a citizen or otherwise have permission to remain in New Zealand indefinitely. Nationality arrangements for former territories Western Samoa became independent in 1962. Legislation in the 1920s had allowed Samoans to become British subjects if they chose to but left the status of those who had not completed the formal naturalisation process unclear. Subsequent New Zealand legislation after Samoan independence caused