Asians to challenge amnesty exclusion

By ALAN PERROTT

Several hundred Asian migrants will protest in Auckland's Aotea Square this morning over their exclusion from the Government's overstayer amnesty.

The amnesty grants permanent residency to "well-settled" overstayers, but excludes anyone who has applied for refugee status.

Asians comprise the largest group of refugee applicants.

Overstayers who have failed to meet the stringent refugee criteria will face immediate deportation when new immigration law comes into effect on October 1.

"We hope the Government will give equal treatment to everybody through their immigration policy," said Sengkak Yeh, a barrister acting for the protesters.

"At the moment it is terribly unfair. Most of those who apply for refugee status are from Asian countries while most of those who will get amnesty will be from the Pacific Islands. There seems to be some kind of treatment based on where you come from."

National Party MP Pansy Wong met a group of worried refugees at her electorate office on Saturday.

"These are desperate people who really want to stay in New Zealand. A lot of them are scared because they were advised to apply for refugee status on the understanding that they would later get residency."

Mrs Wong, who will ask Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel to review the amnesty criteria, cannot attend the protest meeting but hopes several other Auckland MPs turn up.

She said the exclusion would mainly affect Chinese and Indians, who made up 47 per cent of those applying for refugee status between 1990 and June 1999.

Ms Dalziel said she would continue to deal with applications from refugees personally.

"The trouble is, there are some people who have been quite genuine, others who have been tricked [by immigration consultants] and others who have abused the United Nations convention on refugees to enter New Zealand," she said.

"So I have excluded them all."