Applicants rush in as Immigration passmark given a lift

By AUDREY YOUNG political reporter

The Immigration Service is being swamped with applications for permanent residency, forcing the Government to try to make it harder for applicants to qualify for entry.

But there is no guarantee that the measure - lifting the passmark in a week's time from 28 to 29 in the general skills category - will have the desired effect.

In fact, on recent experience it may have the reverse effect.

Giving potential applicants a week's notice that it will be harder to get approval means the Immigration Service has been swamped even more.

The service warned Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel in post-election briefing papers that raising the passmark in June actually led to an increase in applications.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said that if the minister's own department was complaining about the failure of the system, it must be 10 times worse than it was saying.

In June, Lianne Dalziel raised the passmark from 25 to 28, giving a week's notice.

Before she raised it, the average number of applications a week was 543.

In the week after her move, applications rocketed to 3369.

The aim of the move, according to the service, had been to reduce the backlog to around 12,000 over the next two years.

"Early indications are that this has not had the desired effect."

As at July 19, the backlog stood at 25,205 applications.

"The impact of current flows on New Zealand Immigration Service infrastructure and services is acute, particularly in high-volume markets such as New Delhi, Beijing and Auckland," the briefing papers said.

Applications in the past year are more than double what they were two years ago.

In the last quarter of the last financial year, the Immigration Service received 12,841 applications for permanent residency. In the same period the year before it got 7578, and the year before that 5793.

Announcing the new passmark yesterday, Lianne Dalziel acknowledged the service had been swamped with applications last year.

But she said it "is a strong indicator of New Zealand's international appeal as a migrant destination".

The Government was committed to migrants who were going to settle well.

"Already half of the skilled migrants who come to New Zealand have a relevant job offer when they arrive.

"Increasing the passmark will make this even more likely."

The passmark is set under the points system for the general skills category.

Points are awarded for such factors as qualifications, New Zealand qualifications, work experience, age, and job offers.

Under it, people must be assessed under the passmark operating at the time they apply.

Priority assessment is given to applicants with relevant job offers. Fifty per cent of all applications are processed within four months.

The passmark is now reviewed every month and if a change is deemed necessary, a week's notice is given.

That represents a change.

The first time Lianne Dalziel altered the passmark, last year, one month's notice was given.

But within that month, the Immigration Service was inundated with more than 5000 applications for residency from around the world.

The annual target for approvals is 45,000 (plus or minus 5000).

Last year there were 53,000 approvals.

Mr Peters said last night: "If the officials are telling you the whole thing is a failure, then you can bet because they are civil servants working for her and the Prime Minister that it is 10 times as worse."

He did not believe any system was running because of the dishonesty of applicants.

"The level of fraud and cheating and lying and plain incompetence is so bad that there is no system running at all."

Feature: Immigration