Kerre Woodham: Overstayers and fudged immigration promises

The Government is cracking down on serious immigration breaches. It's announced it will strengthen deportation settings on the same day that Immigration New Zealand revealed there are more than 20,000 people who have overstayed their visa. Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says there are gaps in the current system. For example, under the current rules, someone who commits a serious crime can't be liable for deportation if they've held a residence visa for more than 10 years. Stanford says they're fixing that. Where migrants don't follow the conditions of their visa, she says, I've made it clear to Immigration New Zealand compliance and enforcement actions are a priority.  

Immigration New Zealand said on Thursday that as of July 1, there were around 20,980 people, call it 21,000 people, in New Zealand who have overstayed their visa. This is the first estimate to be carried out using a new methodology, which the agency believes has better accuracy than the previous one used in 2017. From what I understand, Immigration, New Zealand was going through a major overhaul of its computer systems, so there will be new methodology and more accurate numbers. So in terms of nationalities, there are 2,599 individuals from Tonga who are believed to be overstayers. Remember the Tongan under 21 rugby team who were on tour here in 2003? Almost half the team failed to show when the 30 strong squad checked in for their flight home. And I don't think many of them were found. So for 22 years, these young men have grown into middle-aged men and have been living and working in New Zealand. There were 2,577 from China, 2,213 from the US, which was a bit of a head scratcher for most of us.  

The Greens have called for an amnesty for overstayers. They've long called for amnesties – they think there should be one every year just to sort of tidy things up, if you will. And better residency pathways for migrants, and they really want the Government to announce on this time. And do you know what, I think they should. Because if you look back to what a mess immigration New Zealand was, let me take you back to the bad old days. Iain Lees-Galloway was Minister for Immigration and was failing miserably in that job. It was a mess. Labour and New Zealand First had campaigned, saying we're going to restrict the number of migrants coming to New Zealand. It's going to be a New Zealand first, kind of a country, and we're going to cut the number of migrants. But when they came in, they realised just how important overseas labour is, globally and in New Zealand. If you turned off the flow of migrants coming into the country there'd be a big hit to Kiwi businesses, the profit margins of employers, to New Zealand's economic performance overall.  

So once they formed their coalition government, they thought, oh bloody hell no, we can't really make good on that. What are we going to do? So they decided to pull the handbrake on the number of residency applications that could be approved, but they increased the number of people on temporary visas. People on temporary visas can apply to become residents, so there were more and more people joining the residency queue, and it got bigger and bigger and bigger. In 2020, there were 38,787 skilled migrant applications stuck in the residency queue. When Labour took office with New Zealand First, there was just 10,000.  So that you had people coming in who were on temporary visas and then got stuck because they couldn't apply for residency. You had skilled migrants and with people on the low wage all applying, none of them given priority. Then they created two queues, the priority and the non-priority, because they realised that doctors and skilled engineers were leaving the country because it was just taking too long. All politicians do this. You make a promise, you get in and you realise that it's unsustainable, so you just have to try and fudge it.  

So when you have been waiting and waiting and waiting for years and years and years, I can kind of understand where there might be a few overstayers. You've made a life for yourself, you're confident that you'll be accepted if and when Immigration New Zealand gets around to processing your application, and in the meantime, life goes on. And all of a sudden you find that you're an overstayer. I can kind of see how it happens.  

So I'd be for an amnesty and anybody who's kept their nose clean, who has been working, who has been living an exemplary life. Let them stay. Anyone who so much as shoplifted a packet of chewing gum – they can go back from whence they came, but anybody else of these overstayers, I'd say give them a chance. It was Immigration New Zealand from start to finish who was in chaos. Part of that was to do with an incompetent minister, or an incompetent series of ministers, part of that was to do with unsustainable election promises that they then had to fudge. And part of that is

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from News
Talks head B.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
So the government is cracking down on serious immigration breaches.
It's announced it will strengthen deportation settings on the same
day that Immigration New Zealand revealed there are more than
twenty thousand people here who have overstayed their visa. Immigration
Minister Erica Stanford says at the moment there are gaps

(00:32):
in the current system. For example, under the current rules,
someone who commits a serious crime can't be liable for
deportation if they've held a residence visa for more than
ten years. Stanford says they're fixing that where migrants don't
follow the conditions of their visa. She says, I've made
it clear to Immigration New Zealand compliance and enforcement actions

(00:56):
are a priority. Immigration New Zealand said on Thursday that
as of July one, there are around twenty nine hundred
naighty people call it twenty one thousand people and New
Zealand who have overstayed their visa. This is the first
estimate to be carried out using a new methodology, which

(01:17):
the agency believes has a better accuracy than the previous
one used in twenty seventeen. From what I understand and
from memory, immigration, New Zealand was going through a major
overhaul of its computer systems, so there will be new
methodology and more accurate numbers from what I understand. So
in terms of nationalities, there are twenty five hundred and

(01:40):
ninety nine individuals from Tonga who are believed to be overstairs.
Remember the Tongue and Under twenty one rugby teams, some
of you might who were on tour here in two
thousand and three. Almost half the team failed to show
when the thirty thirty strong squad checked in for their
flight home, and I don't think many of them were found.

(02:02):
So for twenty two years these young men have grown
into middle aged men and have been living and working
in New Zealand. There were two five hundred and seventy
seven from China, two two hundred and thirteen from the US,
which was a bit of a head scratcher for most
of us. So the Greens have called for an amnesty

(02:24):
for overstays. They've long called for amnesties. They think there
should be one every year just to sort of, you know,
tidy things up, if you will, and better residency pathways
for migrants and they really want the government to announce
one this time and do you know what, I think
they should because if you look back to what a

(02:47):
mess immigration New Zealand was, let me take you back
to the bad old days and Ian Lee's Galloway was
Minister for Immigration and was failing miserably in that job.
It was a mess labor and New Zealand first had

(03:10):
campaigns saying we're going to restrict the number of migrants
coming to New Zealand. It's going to be a New
Zealand first kind of a country and we're going to
cut the number of migrants. But when they came in,
they realized just how important overseas labor is globally and

(03:33):
in New Zealand. If you turned off the flow of
migrants coming into the country, there'd be a big hit
to businesses, to Kiwi businesses, the profit margins of employers,
to New Zealand's economic performance overall. So once they formed
their coalition government, they thought, oh bloody hell, no, we

(03:55):
can't really make good on that. What are we going
to do? So what they did, and you know it
was it is what all politicians do. They promised that
they'd cut migration, so they decided to pull the handbrake
on the number of residency applications that could be improved,

(04:20):
but they increased the number of people on temporary visas.
Now people on temporary visas can apply to become residents,
so there were more and more people joining the residency
queue and it got bigger and bigger and begger and
twenty twenty there were thirty eighty seven hundred and eighty
seven skilled migrant applications stuck in the residency queue. When

(04:41):
Labour took office with New Zealand, first that was just
ten thousand. When they took power, they said, right, look,
we're going to cut the number of immigrants who are
going to come into New Zealand. So the residency target
before they arrived was around forty five thousand per year.
Labour cut that to thirty seven thousand, but then increased

(05:04):
the number of temporar visas, so that you had people
coming in who were on temporary visas and then got
stuck because they couldn't apply for residency. You had skilled
migrants and with people on the low wage all applying,
none of them given priority. Then they created two ques,

(05:32):
the priority and the non priority because they realized that
doctors and skilled engineers were leaving the country because it
was just taking too long. Remember that lovely doctor and
autucky he was English. He left, He went to Canada
and decided he just couldn't wait any more. He couldn't
have his life in limbo waiting for his residency application

(05:55):
to be processed. So, I mean, all politicians do this,
all political parties do this. You make a promise, you
get in, and you realize that it's unsustainable, so you
just have to try and fudget. So when you have
been waiting and waiting and waiting for years and years
and years, I can kind of understand where there might

(06:19):
be a few overstairs. You've made a life for yourself.
You're confident that you'll be accepted if and when Immigration
to New Zealand gets around to processing your application, and
in the meantime, life goes on and all of a
sudden you find that you're an overstair. I can kind
of see how it happens. So I'd be for an amnesty.

(06:43):
And anybody who's kept their nose clean, who has been working,
who has been living an exemplary life, let them stay.
Anyone who so much has shoplifted a packet of chewing gum.
They can go back from whence they came. But anybody

(07:07):
else of these overstairs, I'd say give them a chance.
It was Immigration New Zealand from start to finish who
was in chaos. Part of that was to do with
an incompetent minister or an incompetent series of ministers. Part
of that was to do with unsustainable election promises that
they then had to fudge. And part of that is

(07:32):
to do I think with the changeover to a new
computing system which caused unconscionable delays for people who were
trying to get residency. You might know more about it
than I if you were one of those who was
desperately waiting for Immigration to process whatever application you might
have had in force. So I would love to hear

(07:54):
from you if you have had experience of dealing with
Immigration New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
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