Can our 'trashed' immigration reputation still be repaired?

Thursday, 30 September 2021

Noel Ballantyne moved to New Zealand in 2018 when his skills as a truck driver were in high demand. After a fruitless fight to become a resident, he has decided to leave.

Noel Ballantyne remembers when New Zealand was actively wooing people like him.

They held expos overseas and Kiwi politicians begged for skilled tradesmen to help rebuild earthquake-struck Christchurch.

Ten years ago, rebuild representatives predicted an extra 30,000 workers were needed.

Immigrants came in droves to help thanks to a relatively quick and painless visa process.

* Skilled migrants are leaving in droves, frustrated by lengthy residency delays

* Eight years on a work visa: The long 'waiting game' for residence

But over the years, that courting and easing of restrictions shifted.

It all came to a head when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and with Kiwis arriving back home creating fears jobs would dry up, migrant online chat groups were filled with talk of greener pastures elsewhere.

Noel Ballantyne is one of 30 migrant truck drivers with his company, and will soon be the third to leave due to struggles with Immigration New Zealand.

With countries such as Canada earning reputations for more streamlined visa processes and pathways to residency, will this week’s announcement of a one-off fast-tracked residency for about 165,000 migrants in the country before July be enough to compete with that?

Many migrants have already left, and with the pathway changes having a finite eligibility period has the reputational damage already been done?

Ballantyne had decided in the days before the announcement that he would leave New Zealand after three years unable to get clear answers from Immigration New Zealand (INZ).

The 44-year-old said he felt unwelcome so planned to leave when his current visa ran out on November 17.

New Zealand Migrant Workers' Association spokesperson Anu Kaloti talks to Radio Tarana's Sanjesh Narain about Immigration NZ's residency plans for 165,000 migrants.

After a couple of visits to New Zealand to see that there were jobs for him, the Northern Irish truck driver found a country that “ticked all the proper boxes” and migrated to Christchurch in 2018.

His job was on the high priority list, and he expected to have residence within the 30 months promised with the $1800 Work to Residence visa.

That never happened. His residency paperwork was lodged in February, but the backlog meant he was asked to apply for a new visa – including another $600 medical check – to ensure he was legally allowed to stay when his current visa ran out in November.

While waiting, the costs kept mounting and the goalposts kept shifting. He said he knew of two people whose residency came through as soon as they paid to apply again.

This week’s changes would require Ballantyne to reapply and pay more money on top of what he already has.

“For me, it’s not about the money, it’s about the whole charade of the process.”

Immigrants were “keeping the country moving, but it doesn’t really seem to matter”.

Good luck finding migrants to plug the skill gaps in future, he said.

“It just makes me laugh. Should anything happen again after this … the world’s going to look to New Zealand and say, ‘Nah, not coming’.”

Another migrant said he had been in the country for more than seven years.

“Every time I plan to apply for residency the rules change.

“After paying all those heavy taxes, not having any benefits or getting Kiwisaver, and working my ass off, I still cannot say NZ is my home. You never know when they will ask you to pack your bags and leave.”

Kiwis are “super lovely, kind and caring” but INZ did not reflect that.

‘Not enough people to go around’

Temporary migrants have for some time been competing for a steadily declining number of residency places.

A backlog was created in the queue of people showing an expression of interest in residency after the pandemic began and selections were paused.

But backlogs existed before the pandemic and grew from almost 33,000 in February 2020, to almost 37,000 in February 2021. And those qualifying to apply for residency increases daily.

Truck drivers were on the INZ shortage list when Ballantyne came, but not any more despite international shortages.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi says there are moves to make sectors less reliant on low-skilled migrant workers.

Hilton Haulage people and safety general manager Connie Nicholson-Port said every one of its 30 migrant truck drivers came on the basis there would be a pathway to residency.

Some had waited two years for a decision, and at least eight had been asked to resubmit the residency paperwork. “We’re as perplexed as our staff are.”

It was offering money to help cover visa delay costs.

“They came here because New Zealand wanted them to help with the economy, and now they’re sitting here years later not knowing what their futures hold.”

The company did everything to try to attract Kiwi workers for hauling essential goods like milk and food products, and machinery, but “there’s just not enough people to go around”.

“This isn’t a case of not having enough jobs for New Zealanders.”

Faafoi said on Thursday that he acknowledged the “uncertainty and difficulties Covid-19 and our closed borders have caused our migrant community”.

“We have been carefully working through this residence option to offer certainty they need to truly make New Zealand their home.”

More than 5000 health and aged care workers, about 9000 primary industry workers, and more than 800 teachers would be eligible for the new “2021 resident visa”.

A portion of the 15,000 construction and 12,000 manufacturing workers on temporary visas could be eligible, too.

Employers would now have the opportunity to retain migrant staff, he said.

Hilton Haulage had already lost two drivers though, with more like Ballantyne planning to leave, and the changes would only be open for the migrant workers they had been able to retain for more than three years.

More detail would be released on the fees and process by the end of October.

Sanaul Elahi says INZ delays mean he has lost jobs while waiting for visa paperwork to be processed. Pictured with his wife Badhon Akter and two children.

Faafoi reiterated that the Government continued to find ways to “streamline” the visa process. It recently made it easier for people on work visas to stay longer while border restrictions were in place, like the new two-year duration for Essential Skills visas for jobs paying below the median wage.

“I note, [the] latest Stats NZ data indicates a 60 per cent drop in the numbers of non-New Zealand citizens leaving in July this year compared to last year, which may indicate many migrants are choosing to stay here.”

The government was working with some sectors and agencies to reduce reliance on low-skilled work visa holders, he said.

Suffering in silence

Immigrants’ health has been suffering through long-standing delays.

National immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford believes the country’s immigration reputation is “trashed” overseas.

One South African migrant reached out for advice from migrants on a Facebook group and was swamped with stories of others too scared to seek medical help for fear of it hindering their residency.

“Some are admitting they would rather die than have [illnesses] on their record and potentially have their family kicked out of the country.”

Many incorrectly believed immigration staff had access to their health records. INZ said it only had access to the information applicants submitted as part of their medical examination.

Sanaul Elahi lost fulltime jobs waiting since May for INZ to process his job-change paperwork.

He has lived in Aotearoa for seven years, and he and his wife’s two children were born here. He continued to apply for temporary visas after his residency was declined in 2019. But a lack of certainty about his visa situation made gaining meaningful employment difficult.

He secured a store manager job in May, but lost that while waiting for INZ to respond to his application to have it linked to his visa.

Migrant Workers Association president Anu Kaloti says it is not too late to turn its immigration reputation around.

This week’s announcement was long-awaited good news, finally giving him the assurance he needed when applying for work.

‘Trashed reputation’

National Party Immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford said Aotearoa used to be attractive to migrants, because there were good pathways to residency, and it was a beautiful country with welcoming people.

But that reputation had been “trashed” overseas, and it would take some time to rebuild confidence in the system among migrants who had been treated so poorly for so long.

Thursday’s announcement was the first step in repairing the international reputation.

She had already had messages from abroad saying, “Looks like NZ is open for business again”.

But non-residents would have been separated from their families for two-and-a-half years before they would be allowed to safely cross the border in March, she said.

Stanford questioned how well resourced INZ was to process the thousands of applications, and whether hopes would be raised only for migrants to get stuck in another queue.

Migrant Workers Association president Anu Kaloti believed the anti-immigrant feeling had been a legacy building for 10 to 15 years, but the pandemic amplified it.

New Zealand built a good reputation with its handling of the aftermath of the Christchurch mosque attacks, and the pandemic, so being kind to its migrants would only enhance that international image.

The announcement was “wonderful news”and “better late than never”.

But not for Ballantyne.

It was unlikely his residency would be granted before his working visa ran out in November, and he refused to go through the stress and cost of applying for another.

And the lasting impression of Aotearoa he would take with him back to the UK?

“Never have I seen such a circus of an immigration system.”