Treasury doubted migrant move

Finance Minister Bill English in Rotorua earlier this year Photo/Ben Fraser

The Government's lead economic adviser warned a new policy aimed at attracting more migrants to Rotorua would achieve nothing.

According to documents released under the Official Information Act, Treasury told Finance Minister Bill English on July 16 the new government measures aimed at getting migrants to the regions were unlikely to help regional development. The measures went to Cabinet for approval on July 20 and the increased bonus points on residency requests was announced on July 26. Under the revised scheme, skilled workers who take jobs in the regions or set up businesses there will get increased points toward approval of their residency requests.

Pressed on how many migrants might be attracted by the policy change, Prime Minister John Key said: "We can't tell you exactly up front. It will make it certainly more attractive, I don't know the exact numbers. I do know that there is capacity in the regions, that there is demand in the regions, and we've seen migration flows be very successful there."

However, the July Treasury briefing to Mr English had warned the policy changes were unlikely to have a consequential impact for regional development.

Told about the Treasury concerns this week, the head of a Rotorua economic development group has suggested adding a clause to the policy requiring migrants to stay in the regions for several years.

The Treasury briefing said most migrants currently did not go to non-urban areas. Of the Skilled Migrant Category migrants that had jobs or a job offer in 2013-14, 47 per cent were based in Auckland. Of the remainder, 18 per cent were in Canterbury, 11 per cent in Wellington and 5 per cent in Waikato.

The briefing said there was currently no mechanism to ensure migrants stayed in regions, even if they claimed the bonus points.

"Once a migrant has a residence class visa they are free to move around the country as they choose."

The small number of extra bonus points was unlikely to push over the line many migrants who were not currently meeting requirements. Far more points could be claimed for meeting other criteria, such as age, education, employment or capital investment.

"Against that context, we don't think it is likely that many regional migrants who currently don't meet requirements will be granted visas after this change."

Treasury team leader Hayden Fenwick noted the briefing was drafted in relation to an early version of the migration proposals. At that time, the Government proposed increasing points for settling in the regions from 10 to 20 under the Skilled Migrant Category. That had now been increased to 30. It had proposed an increase of 20 to 30 points for the Entrepreneur Work Visa. That had since been increased to 40.

Grow Rotorua chief executive Francis Pauwels suggested the new rules should be tied to a revoke clause if people shift out of the region before three or five years.

"But the main thing is to target the right people in the right places and the sort of talent we need to grow our regional economies."

That required dedicated and focused marketing to go with the policies.

"That's where we could really do with some more assistance and resources."

Rotorua had done some early work through its Famously Rotorua campaign and was looking to extend that.

"What it comes down to is job and investment opportunities and that's where we need to be telling our best stories," said Mr Pauwels.

Mr Pauwels said he had been to job fairs in Australia and met many potential migrants from all sorts of nationalities. They were usually well educated and well qualified. Many wanted to move away from big cities.

"They would give their eye teeth to be able to migrate to somewhere like Rotorua."