Is Covid really to blame for our immigration problems?

OPINION: It begins with name-calling. During a lockdown, migrants are hailed as ‘essential workers’. But when we are not in a lockdown I often hear them described as ‘low skilled’ workers.

Though they risk their lives by going to work in supermarkets or as caregivers – while most of us isolate – still they get no resolution of their visa woes from our ‘be kind’ government.

Instead, the government has used Covid as an excuse for its own abysmal handling of visa applications, and of immigration problems more generally. In March this year, for instance, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) blamed visa processing delays on Auckland lockdowns.

But is Covid really the culprit for our immigration problems? Let’s review the evidence.

Post-study work visa holders, and others, left in limbo

About 5000 post-study work visa (PSWV) holders have been stuck offshore for 17 months already. Many partners and children of New Zealand–based student and work visa holders are also stranded overseas, waiting for borders to reopen.

PSWV holders have been voicing their concerns for several months now. They are in limbo, many with study debt that they can’t repay. They have asked the government to commit to extending their work visas for the length of time they have been locked out of New Zealand, but their pleas have been met with silence.

I believe the government needs to honour the promise it made when it issued visas to these people. They are locked out due to circumstances beyond their control, and a kind government would at least communicate with them so they can plan their lives.

In July 2021 the government confirmed it had cancelled up to 50,000 offshore temporary visa applications. This number includes people who are married to New Zealanders. A High Court case is currently seeking to overturn the government’s decision to cancel these applications on the grounds that it was discriminatory.

Entry for privileged few

Meanwhile, in July the Wallabies were allowed into New Zealand – bypassing MIQ – because the Bledisloe match was ‘important economically’, according to Sports Minister Grant Robertson.

This adds to a long list of inexcusable government decisions over who to admit and who to shut out. People who have little connection to New Zealand – such as Lion King performers and America’s Cup spectators – can come in, but the partners and children of many temporary visa holders currently in New Zealand cannot.

Covid has closed our borders for a good reason, and it is government policy to make exceptions only for deserving cases. So can someone in government please explain why visiting entertainers are considered more deserving than offshore partners and children who haven’t seen their family members for more than 500 days?

I doubt that many in this ‘be kind’ government have been separated from their immediate family members for this long. So they don’t feel the same pain as temporary visa holders whose partners and children are still not allowed entry to New Zealand.

Covid blamed

The Labour government has adopted Covid as an excuse to do next to nothing, and now the backlog of cases is staggering.

More than 11,000 applications for residence under the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) have been queued since the end of 2019 and are still unprocessed.

Another 11,000 expressions of interest under SMC after March 2020 are still awaiting the government’s attention (they have not been selected or invited to apply).

There was already a backlog of 33,000 SMC applications on hand before Covid struck – the government can’t blame Covid for that.

Adding to applicants’ woes is the inexcusably high error rate in the processing of residence visa applications.

The Labour Party campaigned four years ago on reducing immigration, and that’s what it has done since – although it hasn’t bothered with a residence target since 2019, leaving it up to INZ to make the call. INZ seems to have decided on ‘not many’.

It looks likely that the government will make SMC criteria even tougher, in order to reduce residence numbers overall in line with Labour’s long-standing policy. Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi keeps talking about reopening the SMC ‘soon’, but he has been saying that since earlier this year.

Moreover, he appears to make no effort to connect with the relevant stakeholders – migrants, employers, immigration advisers and lawyers.

Blame is instead placed on Covid, which takes us back to square one.

DISCLAIMER: This article does not constitute immigration advice. Individuals need to seek personal advice from a New Zealand licensed immigration adviser or lawyer to assess their unique situation. Ankur can be contacted at info@visamatters.co.nz.

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