NZ may get 60,000 more migrants than forecast under visa scheme, says National

Wednesday, 6 April 2022

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announces thousands of migrants on temporary work visas would be fast-tracked for residency after a major immigration policy shift. (First published on September 30.)

Thousands more migrants than expected look set to gain residency under a Government scheme that “fast-tracks” visas for people who were already in New Zealand on temporary work visas last year.

A total of 165,000 residents visas were expected to be granted under the scheme which was announced by Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi in September, comprising 110,000 migrant workers and about 55,000 dependent family members.

But the number of dependent family members who have applied for visas under the scheme appears to have significantly exceeded government forecasts.

Carolyn Tremain, chief executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), told a select committee on Wednesday that just under 87,000 applications covering a total of more than 170,000 prospective residents had been received to date.

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Immigration NZ said forecast 165,000 people would be approved for residency under fast-track scheme was always an estimate.

National Party immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford estimated that the number of people likely to be granted residency under the one-off initiative could exceed MBIE’s forecast by about 60,000.

Immigration NZ labour policy manager Ruth Isaac said the 165,000 figure had always been an estimate, that was based on previous experience, and the department had been clear about that when it gave advice to ministers.

“Some of the factors that would influence the final numbers were not knowable by us at that point,” she said.

MBIE chief executive Carolyn Tremain says the 87,000 applications received so far under the special “fast track” residency scheme cover more than 170,000 workers and family members.

Isaac told Parliament’s Education and Workforce select committee that the department was watching the numbers but had not produced a revised estimate for Faafoi.

“We've had a big peak, but I understand that is tailing off so we have probably seen the bulk of applications,” she said.

The original estimate did not include some critical workers who would qualify for visas or family members who might qualify but were living overseas “so we would have expected it to potentially be higher and we did alert ministers to that fact”, she said.

Tremain said 30,000 people had had visas approved and become residents under the scheme so far.

Isaac said new critieria for allowing in skilled migrants would probably not be known until after applications for the one-off simplified residency scheme closes at the end of July.

Isaac said Immigration NZ was undertaking further work on how the skilled migrant category might be updated or changed and would be giving Faafoi advice “in the next few months”.

“The intention is that it will reopen not too long after the special resident visas are closed at the end of July, but that is a decision for which there will be further advice and decisions to come.

“When it opens, it will either be with the existing policy settings or with new ones,” she said.

ACT Party MP James McDowall said that since 2017, the Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) had overturned almost 1000 immigration decisions on residency applications because it had found rules had been interpreted incorrectly.

Immigration NZ deputy secretary Alison McDonald did not attempt to defend that record, saying she shared McDowall’s concerns.

“There's nothing I can say about past performance, other than that I'm trying to improve things regularly as we go forward,” she said.

“It's really important to us that we learn from the IPT decisions.”