Thursday Nov 26, 2009

About 4000 would-be migrants applying under the family category are being told they must wait for up to two years after paying their application fees to Immigration New Zealand before they can be allocated to a case officer.

Many are elderly parents wanting to live with their New Zealand citizen or resident children, and even after being assigned a case manager, have to wait another year or two before their applications are processed.

Licensed immigration adviser Tika Ram, who has five clients in the queue waiting for officer allocation, says the agency's practice is "outrageous and unfair".

"Some may not get to live long enough to see their applications approved," he said.

"Immigration New Zealand gets $700 for every application and 4000 applicants means it has received $2.8 million in advance payment for doing absolutely nothing and that's a breach of trust," said Mr Ram.

"If this was the case, the agency shouldn't be taking the fees up front, and it should at least make the effort of telling clients that they will be facing a two-year wait before the money goes in the bank."

A family member of a 74-year-old applicant who has been told that she has to return to Fiji to wait for a case manager to be assigned, says it has resulted in "extreme stress" for the grandmother.

"Two years is a long time for a woman her age, and she is extremely worried about who is going to care for her during that time because she has no one to return to in Fiji," said the woman, who did not want to be named for fear of jeopardising the woman's application.

Immigration New Zealand says although between 4950 and 5500 places are allocated annually within the family-capped stream, it is not regarded as a priority.

"The Government's annual residence programme gives priority to skilled and business migrants and the partners of returning New Zealanders," said Lesley Haines, acting head of Immigration New Zealand.

"Demand in the family-capped stream considerably exceeds annual supply of spaces, so applications are queued until places became available."

She said applications under the category take around 18 and 24 months to be allocated a case officer, and then processing time will vary depending on individual circumstances.

Allan Hughes, head of the watchdog group Kiwi Immigration Watch, said a two-year wait for a case officer was totally absurd.

"It just shows that nothing has changed with Immigration New Zealand under National, and that Coleman is truly struggling to get a grip on the agency," said Mr Hughes, a former Immigration NZ compliance officer.

But a spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman said the minister did not find the waiting time unreasonable.

"There is no point allocating an application until places become available," she said.

"In Australia, waiting times are between 18 months and 10 years on parent application, and for Canada, the processing time is almost three years."

New Zealand accepted between 45,000 and 50,000 permanent residents annually.

About 60 per cent were skilled and business migrants, 30 per cent were re-uniting with families, and 10 per cent were admitted for international or humanitarian reasons.

(Source NZ Herald, Lincoln Tan)