Migration plan adds a Greymouth every year

By FRANCESCA MOLD political editor

The Government is opening the doors to an extra 10,000 migrants who have special skills or money to invest in businesses.

The change, outlined by Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel, will bring the number of people eligible for entry under this category to 27,000 a year.

The migrant boost will add a community the size of Greymouth to the population each year.

The kind of people affected by the new policy are investors, entrepreneurs, employees with skills which may be rare in New Zealand and immigrants given up to three years to set up a business.

Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett gave the Government "top marks" for making the change so soon after concerns were raised at an October business forum in Auckland.

He said it was now up to the business community to identify ways to bring in the necessary skilled people, focusing on particularly needy areas like technology industries.

"We've got to make sure we get the right people to help us continue economic growth."

Former National Immigration Minister Aussie Malcolm, now an immigration consultant, said more interesting than the increase in numbers was that the Government was also looking at matching immigrants to jobs where there was a lack of skilled workers.

"It reflects a recognition by the Government that in immigration you can't necessarily rely on labour markets to solve everything without some influence and intervention."

He said the matching process would help solve situations where people with high qualifications were forced to earn a living driving taxis.

"The Government is showing a willingness to roll up its sleeves and get its hands dirty in the marketplace. It's very positive and the first signal in 10 years that a Government is prepared to move away from ideology to practicality."

The plan for close liaisons between immigration services and local government, to ensure migrants settled successfully, was also significant, said Mr Malcolm.

Ms Dalziel confirmed that the Government was exploring ways of matching people to jobs and business opportunities in outlying communities suffering shortages of workers.

The minister said options included requiring a lower level of investment in certain regions and giving more points to potential immigrants taking jobs in rural areas.

She said any policy must be in partnership with local government to make sure immigrants found an environment in which they would want to stay.

Ms Dalziel said it was also vital that people were told what the skill shortages were in New Zealand before they considered migrating.

She said there had not been enough publicity about the fact that potential immigrants who needed five or less points for residency could get a six-month work permit to give them time to look for a job in New Zealand.