Immigration change 'money-grab'

By RUTH BERRY political reporter

The Immigration Service has misled aspiring migrants by nearly doubling the points they need to get residency after many had already invested in applications, says National.

At the heart of the problem is the fact that the service filled almost its yearly quota of 27,000 in the first six months of the 2003/04 financial year.

It did so to try to clear a backlog of applications made under the old general skills category, axed overnight last July.

After the operation of a transitional policy, the new skilled migrants category was introduced late last year whereby prospective migrants who believed they had more than 100 points were encouraged to register expressions of interest at a cost of $315.

They go into a pool and, since mid-February, they have been ranked and every two weeks some applicants are selected to apply for residency.

But because only 479 places were left available till the new financial year begins in July, the points required for migrants to be selected have now been pushed up.

For the first three selections, the points were set at 185, 185 and 195 - almost double the amount the service told people they should need to register the expressions.

Immigration Minister Paul Swain admitted this week that the bar was "tough".

He was not commenting yesterday, but is today expected to announce that several hundred more places are now available.

About 3000 expressions of interest have been lodged, however, meaning more than 2000 applicants and their families can expect to miss out.

Expressions of interest expire after three months, but can be resubmitted at further cost.

National immigration spokesman Wayne Mapp and Asian Affairs spokeswoman Pansy Wong say the service should not have encouraged people to lodge expressions of interests when they knew the bar would have to be set well over 100.

Dr Mapp accused it of conducting a "money-grabbing" exercise.

The new system was resulting in many highly skilled and desirable migrants being turned away, he said.

Under the bars now being used, even a 25 year-old with a New Zealand university degree and a job offer would not qualify for residency, he said.

Under the changes, work experience is only recognised from countries which have a "comparable labour market" to New Zealand. Few Asian countries were considered to fit into this category.

Between 42 and 48 per cent of all people selected so far came from Great Britain.

Mrs Wong said she had no doubt the new system had been the Government's reaction to New Zealand First leader Winston Peters' attacks on Asian migration.