Government shuts door on migrants

By HELEN TUNNAH, deputy political editor

Sweeping changes to immigration rules will shut the door to tens of thousands of people already in the queue to come to New Zealand.

The overhaul of immigration policy announced yesterday is also expected to mean some people already living here, but still seeking residency, will be forced to leave.

The scheme will reward potential migrants with "bonus" points if they have an offer for a skilled job anywhere outside Auckland.

The policy outlined by Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel scraps the general skills category for migrants, under which people who get enough points according to set criteria must automatically be granted residency.

The new rules mean most migration will now be "invitation only". The Immigration Service will prioritise applicants, and its decisions cannot be appealed against.

There will be a strong requirement that migrants not only have jobs, but also prove they will be able to settle and contribute to society.

Ms Dalziel said the new scheme was the most significant overhaul in immigration policy in a decade.

It was designed to avoid the problem of highly qualified people ending up in New Zealand in low-skilled jobs because they could not find suitable work.

She did not think it would leave New Zealand with a migrant shortage.

"New Zealanders do not want to see skilled migrants driving taxis, cleaning offices and cooking hamburgers."

Ms Dalziel conceded yesterday that some problems rested with the unwillingness of New Zealand employers to hire workers from a different ethnic or cultural background.

She rejected any suggestion the changes were "anti-Asian".

About 24,000 people come into New Zealand each year under the general skills category criteria.

At the moment there is a backlog of 20,000 applications involving 46,000 people.

Ms Dalziel said about half of those applications, each of which could involve a person and their dependants, would fail to meet the new entry criteria.

About 3800 applications involved people already in New Zealand. Though these applicants would be given priority, some may have to leave.

Ms Dalziel said the policy change meant New Zealand would be able to select people who had the most to offer the country.

"People are still coming to New Zealand with inflated expectations of their prospects here."

She said people wanting to come to New Zealand would first have to register their interest, but would have to meet health, character and English language requirements.

People likely to be offered residency quickly were those with job offers, who had shown they could settle here, or had studied or worked here in the past.

Others might be given up to two years to show they could live here and get relevant jobs.

Applicants would get bonus points if they had sought-after skills, or a skilled job offer outside Auckland.

The policy changes begin to take effect immediately. Only people with current job offers will be able to apply under an interim general skills category.

That will be replaced by the new skilled migrant category, expected to come into force late this year or early next year.

National immigration spokesman Murray McCully said policy should be transparent and fair, and these sudden changes were not.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the changes would do nothing to slow the "flood" of migrants here.

New rules


* System for assessing skilled migrants' applications for permanent residency to go.

* Present points system allows any applicant who reaches the passmark to be approved. Passmarks were adjusted to change numbers qualifying.

* New system allows more discretion and is invitation not application-based.

* Prospective migrants, subject to current language, character and health tests and a fixed points threshold, to be assessed, ranked.

* If no invitation to apply for residency has been made after three months, applications lapse.

* People with relevant job offers may be fast-tracked for residency.

* Others may be invited to apply for residency under a two-year work to residency scheme.

In transition

* Applications made before November 20 last year and undecided yesterday lapse unless the principal applicant had points for a relevant job offer; claimed 28 points or more; had been invited to apply for a permit or job search visa; met Immigration Service requirements for approval.

* From today and until the new system takes effect, general skills applicants for residency must have a full-time job offer.