Britain plans clampdown on Kiwis' OE

By CLAIRE TREVETT

Prime Minister Helen Clark has indicated she would be content with a return to a more restricted system of working holidays in Britain, which wants a clampdown on the present scheme.

The British Home Office started reviewing the working holidays scheme used by about 7000 New Zealanders each year for their OE just a year after it was changed to include all Commonwealth countries.

Until last year only the "old Commonwealth" countries, such as Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, benefited from the scheme for under 28-year-olds.

Britain now allows holiday makers under 31 years old to work casually there to fund their travels for up to two years. Many could switch to work permits after one year to extend their stay.

A spokesman for the British High Commission in Wellington said the Home Office began its review about six months ago after an influx of applications from countries such as Bangladesh, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ghana, India and Pakistan.

He said the scheme was widened because it applied to only a few countries and could have been seen as racist. However, the size of the response was not expected.

"In solving one problem, they have created another. So the Home Office is looking at ways of solving a problem that they didn't have before."

The commission did not yet have any details of any changes the Home Office was proposing.

In India, Prime Minister Helen Clark said she expected Britain would reinstate a version of the old scheme.

"The message from the New Zealand Government and me to Tony Blair has been that we had no problems with it before it was changed so that is not an issue with us. I think it will go back to something closer to the old scheme, although it may still have some better features than that."

In June this year, leaked documents from Downing St revealed the British Government was considering a quota system which would effectively restrict applications from Asian and African countries.

The old scheme had more restrictions on work holidaymakers could do, restricting them to mainly fruit picking, or restaurant and bar work.

The leaked document also considered restricting the scheme to countries with return arrangements (about 9000 UK citizens use the New Zealand working holidays scheme each year), and preventing any switches to work visas.