After waiting months in the residency queue, migrants are sceptical of the Government’s sweeping immigration announcement committing to residency within a year
Migrants previously stung?by changing immigration requirements and moving goal posts remain anxious about?the Government’s big immigration announcement granting a one-off fast-track pathway to residence for 165,000 migrants stuck in limbo.?
Jeandre has been in New Zealand with her husband and three children since 2017.
However, due to?multiple changes to residency requirements she only became eligible to apply for residency in January this year.?
※What guarantee can the minister give us that this new queue will be processed within 12 months? I personally?think it’s a PR thing. The pressure cooker was about to explode and the minister had to make an announcement,§ Jeandre said.
※I’m sceptical this is just to get us all on board and happy for the next six months just to be told in June next year that processing times have moved to 15 or 18 or 21 months.?We’re in limbo. We’ve got our families here, we moved our whole lives. We know we’re needed here, even though we’ve felt like we’re not wanted.§
On Thursday morning?Faafoi announced the immigration pathway would fast-track permanent residence for migrants on most work-related visas, including essential skills, work to residence, and post-study work visas and their immediate family members.?
The announcement came after months of pressure from migrants, employers and advocates for the Government to fix residency backlogs that resulted in skilled workers leaving the country.?
He said a simpler process that removed?some requirements such as the points-based system and proof of qualifications would fast-track visas within a year. Applicants would still need to meet health requirements and pass police and security checks.
Faafoi said the application for the 2021 Resident Visa would also be made online, allowing files to be allocated to officers across the country.
Last week Newsroom revealed?all residence applications were on ice during Alert Level 4 and 3 in Auckland because they were paper-based and Immigration NZ (INZ) staff weren’t able to access their offices.
Faafoi did not say how many more INZ case officers would be needed to meet the 12-month timeframe, he said?closed borders freed up staff?as demand for processing temporary visas dropped.
There are about 11,600 expressions of interest (EOI) applications that have been frozen for 18 months. This is in addition to the 11,400 unprocessed skilled migrant residence applications dating back to November 2019.?
Taking the skilled migrant residence applications alone, if INZ were to meet Faafoi’s expectation of 80 percent of visas being processed in a year, case officers will have to process on average 175 applications a week by December 2022.
There was also criticism that the number of applications being processed and allocated was decreasing since June.?
※They make it sound all sunny and quick, but I guarantee you it is more stressful.§
- Franco Cardinali, essential skilled migrant
In May there were close to 200 non-priority cases being allocated every week to officers but after a peak in?June when the highest number of cases were allocated to officers - 271 allocations had been dropping to two digits prior to the August lockdown.
Faafoi said while the fee was yet to be decided, it would be in the range of?$2600 and those applicants who?had already paid EOI fees or resident application fees would not have to pay again. ?
※When we land at a fee for the one-off resident visa, if the fee is lower than what people paid they’ll get a refund, and if it’s higher they’ll be asked to top that up.§
Italian migrant Franco Cardinali, who has been in the residency queue for 18 months, was hoping for more details around prioritisation for the new visa.
Cardinali has also had his fair share of jumping hoops to get residency in New Zealand and he was anxious about abandoning his 18-month wait to join a new queue only to be pushed to the back of the line.?
※It will be a very stressful process, I guarantee you. It’s not going to be a straightforward process at all. They make it sound all sunny and quick, but I guarantee you it is more stressful,§ Cardinali said.
But the announcement was also welcomed by many.
Essential worker Yvette du Plessis-Uys?found herself in tears when she read about the announcement on Thursday morning. Her?application has been stuck in the expression of interest pool for about 18 months.?
※I am very relieved. I feel as if this could have been done sooner, nevertheless it gives certainty to a lot of people.§
Meanwhile, Raman Saini said Thursday was the biggest day of his life.
※I have been here since 2010. I have seen and been through so much over the last decade and I never thought this Covid would actually become a blessing in disguise for me.§
Left out by the one-off visa
Migrant Workers Association president Anu Kaloti welcomed the resident pathway, but was concerned about the migrants on work visas stranded offshore as well as those families split up because of our border restrictions.?
Kaloti said the resident pathway announcement brought hope that these issues would also be resolved by the Government.
But founder of Migrants NZ Facebook community, with?more than 55,000 migrants, Anna Burghardt, was less optimistic because of the ongoing challenges with the MIQ lobby.
※MIQ is a whole different ball game and that’s what has affected migrant families. MIQ is a mess. The work visa-holders who travelled to be with sick relatives, they are left out,§ Burghardt said.
On Thursday morning, Burghardt’s phone had dozens of messages from migrants asking about their eligibility for the new visa.?
Burghardt spent 20 months in the residency queue before she was granted permanent residency this year. She said Faafoi’s announcement felt ※rushed and haphazard§.
※This announcement was the result of rising pressure from left, right and centre. I mean the immigration mess has damaged our country’s reputation,§ Burgardt said. ※What really got to me was that there was no apology from the minister either.§
Another group whose plight was widely highlighted in the media was the?dependent adults unable to work and study because of?their parents’ residency applications.
※Just mixed emotions at the moment but we shall see when December comes.§
- Kayleigh Roffe, migrant
Although those adults would not be able to work or study, their parents’ visas would be eligible to be submitted in the first category opening in December.
Kayleigh Roffe said the announcement felt a lot like leaving one queue to join another.
※My parents paid a ton of money to immigration agents to help us with our residency applications and that money we will never get back. There are 110,000 other people going to be applying at the same time. Won’t that just create another queue?
※Just mixed emotions at the moment but we shall see when December comes.§
The minister said he was considering what other options may be available for these dependents and would announce any additional changes before December.
The big immigration reset
Faafoi said this week’s announcement would give the Government ※breathing space§ to work on its broader immigration residency plans.?
※We’re also doing a review of the settings around the skilled migrant category in terms of points and other settings as well. This gives us a lot of breathing space to be able to do that work and have conversations with a whole lot of sectors that have relied on those residency pathways in the past ＃ about what we’d like to do with the rebalance.§
Faafoi said the Government still intended to ※maximise opportunities for New Zealanders§ over relying on immigrants.
※Our message to industries and employers remains clear: they need to look for ways to build resilient workforces and to attract, train and retain local workers and reduce their reliance on low-skilled migrant labour,§ Faafoi said.