New Zealand represents one example of the way in which a colonially inspired transnationalism linking the country with the UK has been supplemented by new and intensified forms of transnationalism encompassing the Pacific and Asia. Our focus in this paper is on the nature of an emergent Pacific diaspora involving primarily Polynesian communities and the challenges that this transnationalism presents to the state and national identity. The transnationalism of Pacific peoples is reflected in the circulation of people, capital and ideas, the latter increasingly via the Internet, but the nature of transnational linkages is also significantly influenced by changes to ethnic identity and practice, and by the impoverishment of both ‘homeland’ and diasporic communities.