More find NZ's door closed

The Immigration Service is turning away more foreigners trying to enter New Zealand illegally.

The Labour Department's annual report shows that in the year to June, the number of people refused entry rose 52 per cent.

But the number of passengers arriving in New Zealand without documents dropped to 143 from 260 the year before.

The report says 70 per cent of passengers flying to New Zealand are now screened before boarding flights.

As a result of the screening, 170 passengers were barred from flights.

The service also helped arrange the removal of 2612 illegal residents, up 48 per cent on the previous year.

The Labour Department also includes Employment Relations and Occupational Safety and Health.

It also had the the Community Employment Group, scrapped last month after hitting the headlines for giving Fuarosa Tamati and daughter Saralia $26,000 to travel to New York, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Fiji, Samoa and Paris to study hip-hop music.

The report says that in the year to June, the department gave 944 community enterprise and employment development grants worth $18 million.

Of those 235, worth $4.2 million, were for Maori and Pacific peoples' "capacity building".

- NZPA