Thursday, 04 September 2008

The National Party has released an immigration policy it says is designed to stem the exodus of Kiwis and persuade more of them to come home.

Immigration spokesman Lockwood Smith said New Zealand had lost more than 80,000 people overseas permanently during the past 12 months and figures had been steadily worsening.

"Creating the opportunities here in New Zealand to stem that debilitating loss will be a priority for the next National government," he said.

"Those opportunities must also attract back to New Zealand those Kiwis who have been developing their skills abroad, as well as other skilled people."

Dr Smith said creating the right conditions to encourage New Zealanders to come home was paramount.

National would ensure that tax, regulatory and infrastructure policies made returning home an attractive prospect for highly skilled expatriates.

The Immigration Service would initiate a one-stop-shop approach to servicing the needs of returning New Zealanders.

National would also:

- Streamline employer accreditation policies to recruit overseas;

- Reduce bureaucratic barriers to hiring seasonal workers from countries outside the existing scheme;

- Introduce a Silver Fern Visa to enable people with recognised tertiary qualifications to be in New Zealand for a short time to seek permanent employment in highly skilled areas which were of high value to the country; and

- Set realistic investment capital and English language requirements for business immigrants.

"National will establish a world-class immigration service," Dr smith said.

"We all know that confidence in Immigration New Zealand has reached an all-time low.

"Countless scandals have seriously damaged the reputation of the service. This has now become endemic within Immigration New Zealand and the time to address this is long overdue."

Immigration Minister Clayton Cosgrove said the policy was vague, illogical and showed National was out of touch after nine years on the opposition benches.

He said the party was offering "chequebook immigration" which would allow people with enough money to buy residency without the current checks and balances.

"National has been here before with disastrous results. Just ask any doctor that came here and ended up driving a taxi during the 1990s," he said.

"This policy is all over the place. Lockwood Smith has put a series of flip-flops within one policy document."

Mr Cosgrove said the one-stop-shop for returning Kiwis was a bizarre plan, because citizens coming home were not immigrants and were not dealt with by immigration authorities.

The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) said the policy gave priority to filling skills gaps from overseas rather than investing in local people.

"The use of immigrant labour to fill skills gaps has always been seen as a short term measure and not a substitute for developing talent locally," said EPMU national secretary Andrew Little.

"We've already seen employers in some sectors try to import labour rather than pay decent rates and we have been able to use the current procedures to stop it."

Mr Little said loosening the rules around employer accreditation would only hurt immigrant workers and their local workmates.

(Source NZPA)