Is it time for a new amnesty for overstayers? - Visa Matters

Is it time for a new amnesty for overstayers?

OPINION: There’s been a lot of talk lately about an amnesty for overstayers.

Do we really want to reward people with a new visa who didn’t follow their last visa’s conditions?

I don’t. Amnesties just encourage more people to become unlawful, and to hang around breaking immigration law until the next amnesty comes along.

I support the government showing flexibility in granting temporary visas to genuine cases with special circumstances. But the priority must always be legal visa holders.

As an immigration adviser, I passionately believe that before devoting major resources to helping illegal immigrants, we should sort out the plight of people who hold lawful visas but are stuck in immigration limbo here in New Zealand.

And worse yet, those who hold valid visas but are stranded outside the country, often separated from their spouses and families.

The government is not being fair to legal migrants

Right now, thousands of legal visa holders are stuck in limbo with no certainty.

Many of them are forced to keep applying for work visas while they wait for Immigration New Zealand (INZ) to process their Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) residence applications.

The current processing time is around two years.

Another 9000 are stuck on temporary visas until the Minister of Immigration decides what to do with their expressions of interest (EOIs) under SMC. Will he invite them to apply? Won’t he? No one seems to know, least of all the Minister himself.

The most deserving cases don’t require amnesty

The Minister’s top priority should be reuniting families torn apart by Covid-19 measures. A lot of people have been stuck outside the country, separated from their spouses and children, for over a year now.

If Hon Kris Faafoi won’t act on this, the Prime Minister should make him act, or find a new Minister of Immigration.

Second priority should be other people outside New Zealand who hold valid visas, or who held valid visas when the borders closed in March 2020. Of course, we can’t let them all back at once, but we can at least give them a timetable to re-enter, based on available spaces in MIQ.

The Minister can and should automatically extend their visas for the duration they’ve been outside the country, at no cost to them.

Students and holders of Post-Study work visas who are stuck offshore should be allowed back once places are available in MIQ.

Many international students have continued their New Zealand studies online from overseas. They should qualify for Post-Study work visas once they graduate if they meet all the requirements other than physically studying here.

Let’s just get on with it

Please, INZ, get on with processing residence applications which have been queueing up for nearly two years. And make up your mind, Hon Kris Faafoi, on whether you’ll be inviting those 9000 people who have submitted EOIs to apply for residence or not? They deserve to know.

The Government can’t just expect people to sit tight indefinitely, waiting for them to decide what to do. It’s becoming mentally unhealthy for people to wait and wait to find out whether they have a future in New Zealand.

An announcement on May 17 contained nothing new, other than that work rights for some partners will be reviewed.

The Government needs to understand that migrants, employers and immigration professionals are frustrated with this approach. There appears to be no progress and nothing is being solved.

What’s really shocking is that migrants who were considered essential workers during the lockdown are now being classified as low-skilled labour, somehow less worthy than their higher skilled co-workers.

Some of these people risked their lives for New Zealand, and now the Government is targeting them, which looks very much like a ‘use and discard’ strategy.

My message to government: God’s own country should get on with it, for God’s sake.

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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