Crackdown on student loan exiles

By LIBBY MIDDLEBROOK and FRANCESCA MOLD

Young New Zealanders are being asked to give details of their student loans to the British High Commission before it approves working holiday visas.

Former students must now provide a statement from Inland Revenue outlining their repayment obligations when they apply for a UK two-year working holiday visa.

The check was introduced to deter former students from travelling to Britain to get regular jobs and using the strong British pound to repay their loans - an abuse of the visa, which is meant for working holidays.

The news comes as the number of skilled New Zealanders leaving the country has reached a record high.

National's immigration spokeswoman, Marie Hasler, yesterday issued Statistics New Zealand figures which show that 16,849 "skilled" workers left New Zealand last year and only 11,900 entered the country - a net loss of 4949.

The skilled category includes managers, administrators, teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers and architects. Last year's loss was 81 per cent higher than in 1999.

The number of people moving overseas is also rising. The net outflow of permanent and long-term migrants last year was 11,310, up from 9030 the previous year and 6250 in 1998.

The net loss of New Zealanders last year included 27,670 to Australia, 1500 to Britain and 940 to the US.

That was partly offset by net inflows from China (5250), South Africa (2150) and India (2240).

Last month, it was revealed that almost 12,000 former students have fled overseas, leaving behind $175 million in unpaid tertiary loans.

British High Commission spokesman Bryan Nicolson said the new requirement on visa applicants was introduced after stories of "people fleeing overseas to service their loans from afar."

Two-year working visas are granted for applicants aged under 28 to spend the majority of their time holidaying, although 12 months of casual work is allowed.

The commission would not turn down applications based on the size of the loan, but someone who required fulltime work in Britain to meet repayments would not qualify.

IRD national adviser Stephen Crump said the high commission's initiative had helped IRD to keep track of students travelling overseas.

The Government has approached Australian and British authorities about a system to track down former students failing to repay their debts.

National yesterday used the new migration figures to attack the Government, saying it had denied the existence of a "brain drain" and failed to address the problem.

She cited Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton's election night call for New Zealanders to come home as an example of that failure. Mr Anderton declined to comment, but Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel said: "Thanks to nine years of failed National policies, migration has been a problem for a few years."

Act immigration spokeswoman Penny Webster said the country could not afford to keep losing skilled staff. "It can't continue if we are going to turn this country into a place people want to live."