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NEWS
A variety of immigration, business and general news articles taken from New Zealand newspapers, websites and other sources (sources are mentioned at the bottom of each article) and selected by Terra Nova Consultancy Ltd. It may assist the reader being more or less up-to-date what is happening in Aotearoa, "the Land of the Long White Cloud". Happy reading, enjoy ... and if you have any questions on these updates - please contact us...
Newest article always on top.
30/01/08 - More flexibility for foreign seasonal labour workers
30 Jan 2008
Changes are to be made to seasonal work policies to enable workers on visitors' permits greater flexibility to move between employers and regions, the Immigration Minister Clayton Cosgrove said today. Mr Cosgrove said the changes would fine-tune the Transitional Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme (TRSE) scheme and the Variation of Conditions (VoC) for seasonal work that was agreed upon with industry in September 2007. As agreed with industry at that time, visitors working under the TRSE or the VoC scheme were tied to a particular employer, to prevent frustrations over workers leaving without notice to work for another grower and not remaining for the season.
However Mr Cosgrove said industry's position on this has now changed.
“Industry feedback following December’s cherry harvest in Central Otago is that restricting workers' mobility may be hindering efforts to recruit visitors for seasonal work, and that growers were finding it difficult to get enough workers to pick this year’s expected bumper harvests," said Mr Cosgrove. "It appears that some visitors are put off applying for VoC or TRSE work permits if they can't follow the harvest trail or get a sustained period of work from one employer."
Mr Cosgrove said both the policies would therefore be changed so workers were not tied to a particular employer. “VoC workers will be able to work for any horticulture or viticulture employer in an area where a seasonal labour shortage has been declared, and TRSE workers will be able to work for any TRSE employer (within their allocated number of workers),” Mr Cosgrove said.
While these changes will go some way towards alleviating labour shortages this season, other issues such as a lack of accommodation and transport options in some parts of the country will also need to be addressed by industry in order to ensure a sustainable solution is reached.
Mr Cosgrove said the government would continue to work with Pacific countries supplying workers to Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE). “The RSE scheme is part of a long-term strategy put in place to bring experienced, reliable overseas workers to New Zealand each year to fill gaps in the seasonal workforce," Mr Cosgrove said. “The Department of Labour will monitor the situation to ensure the right of workers to fair pay and conditions are protected, and border security issues are not compromised."
The revised policies are expected to be in place by 12 February, which will give certainty to industry and workers ahead of the major pipfruit harvest.
(Source Ministers Office)
23/12/07 - Citizenship at stake after jail revelation
Sunday December 23, 2007
A new immigrant implicated in money-lending at New Zealand casinos could have her citizenship revoked after a history of passport and visa fraud in Australia was uncovered.
Ping Hao, 44, of Auckland, is under investigation by the Department of Internal Affairs, which deals with passports and gambling regulation.
While the department will not be specific, the investigation is believed to concern claims Hao made when she applied for New Zealand citizenship.
Applicants are asked if they have been involved in criminal activity and if they are of "good character".
Inquiries by the Herald on Sunday have found Hao spent six months in an Australian prison after admitting buying three black market Australian passports for $150,000.
She is effectively banned from Australia, even though she holds a New Zealand passport.
Hao is currently in China, having left New Zealand after a High Court case was thrown out. She claimed she was owed $240,000 by Jenny Chen, also of Auckland.
Judge John Faire told the court the case was "set against a background of heavy and addictive gambling in the Chinese community where large sums of money are being transacted in cash". Evidence presented showed the pair had met through Auckland's SkyCity casino, and also visited the Christchurch casino.
The court heard Hao lent Chen cash and money was passed back the other way.
While Hao claimed much of it was for business investment, Chen said that, at one stage, her friend asked for "$100,000 in chips for gambling".
A SkyCity spokesman would not comment on the specific case, but said money lending on the premises was unacceptable and staff would "actively discourage" it.
The Herald on Sunday found that in 2005 Hao spent six months in Australia's Emu Plains Correctional Centre for immigration fraud.
After leaving Australia her entry visa was cancelled, meaning she is unlikely to be admitted again.
A visa appeals decision by tribunal deputy-president Professor Geoffrey Walker says Hao "made false and misleading statements in connection with a number of visa applications and has not been truthful in any of her immigration dealings".
Hao entered Australia in 1997 and stayed for four years on a series of visas. As it become more difficult to get visas, she made contact with "Vietnamese mafia" and bought three passports for $50,000 each - one for her and one each for family members.
Hao's passport was taken by suspicious immigration officials when she returned from a trip to China.
She left Australia at the end of 2000, and, within months, had entered New Zealand on an investment visa by depositing $1 million in a Kiwi bank account.
That became a citizenship application, and she became a New Zealander in 2004. In 2005, Hao used her New Zealand passport to travel to Australia and was picked up at immigration, where charges were laid over the false passports.
In rejecting Hao from Australia, Walker commented on her New Zealand citizenship. He stated: "Whether she would have been successful if the New Zealand authorities had been aware of her adventures in passport fraud may be another matter."
People who fail to provide accurate information or omit information during their application process can be referred to the Minister of Internal Affairs. A spokesman from for the Department said the step of removing citizenship was rarely taken.
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(Source NZ Herald - David Fisher)
04/12/07 - Chile Working Holiday Scheme full
03/12/07 - New Funds Transfer Scheme helps Beijing students study in NZ
27/11/07 - NZ forced to join global race for immigrants
Monday November 26, 2007
Singapore wants an increase in population of more than 2 million. Attracting skilled workers has become a global popularity contest with nations slugging it out for the best migrants.
Grant Fleming of NZPA looks at how New Zealand is faring. The kind of aggressive approach to immigration being taken by Singapore may have to be adopted in New Zealand. ingapore's leaders have set a target - to boost the population from 4.4 to 6.5 million by the middle of the century, meaning a need to loosen immigration and make its education system internationally attractive.
Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly said: "The bar is being raised very, very rapidly indeed, because most of the developed economies in the world are facing the same kind of labour market crunch that we are." e is referring to the phenomenon of an ageing population, low unemployment and a persistently strong world economy. And he says New Zealand, with a 3.5 per cent jobless rate, needs to do more to make itself attractive to the workers it wants to drive the economy.
"We are fooling ourselves if we think all these people want to come to New Zealand because it's clean and green and a long, long way away. In fact for many of them the fact that it's a long way away and it's small is a downside because they are ambitious and want to succeed on a world stage."
He says New Zealand has some strong selling points, but it needs to market itself better and make it easier for people to come and settle here permanently.
The New Zealand Association for Investment & Migration (NZAMI) chairman Richard Howard says the Government approved 47,000 new permanent residents last year - about 8000 fewer than it could have. He thinks the Government should let more people stay, but he says it is doing a good job in some areas.As well as permanent residents it has been allowing large numbers of people in on temporary visas - student or working holiday or seasonal work - in the hope that some will choose to stay.
Mr Howard, who runs an immigration consultancy in Hamilton, says the benefit of the strategy is that those who decide to stay have already sampled the country and are likely to stay long-term. About 80 per cent of last year's new residents came from temporary categories. But he says if such a strategy is to work the Government needs to make sure it is pulling people into its feeder streams.
In the case of students, he says, that hasn't been the case - the number of Chinese students has dropped and Indian student numbers have plateaued. He says that is to do with the quality of courses on offer and aggressive marketing and competition overseas."The Government needs to do something that reignites that market.
"Immigration Minister Clayton Cosgrove says the Government has just made it easier for students to stay in New Zealand after they graduate - extending the period of time they can stay on and look for a related job from six months to a year. He says that is one of several things it is doing to ensure the flow of people to New Zealand's shores - for example responding to skill shortages through the use of temporary permits.While resident places are capped, temporary permits are not - as long as employers can show a need that can't be filled locally, then a permit can be issued. Prominent shortages include health professionals and IT specialists.
Mr Cosgrove says the Labour Department's immigration service processed 160,000 applications for such permits in the past year. And it has also participated in a range of migration, recruitment and education exhibitions - in the last two months alone it provided support for 15 such exercises in Britain and Europe and the number is set to grow over the next year.
But Mr Cosgrove says the Government also has to make sure the flow of new residents does not impact negatively on society and the economy - an example would be the impact on house prices which some have attributed at least in part to strong migration in recent years.But Mr O'Reilly says while temporary permits are helpful in the short term they don't necessarily increase the prospect of people staying permanently.
"While they are temporary migrants of course, they struggle to settle down, they don't know how long they are going to live in New Zealand, so they don't invest in properties, they might not put their kids in school, they might not bring their partners out so they are kind of in stasis without having any clear future in the country, meaning we might not get the best out of them and they might go somewhere else".
He says the Government has initiated some good partnership programmes with businesses, making it easier for them to bring in staff, but he says more co-ordination and co-operation is needed both in marketing and determining who gets in.
"New Zealand genuinely does have a lot to offer - it is clean and safe, culturally diverse and tolerant. But we need to get out and sell the message better."(Grant Fleming travelled to Singapore with the assistance of the Asia New Zealand Foundation)
- NZPA
26/11/07 - Changes in Skill Shortages Lists
Friday, November 23, 2007
The Immediate Skill Shortage List (ISSL) and the Long Term Skill Shortage List (LTSSL) have been amended. The changes will take effect on 26 November 2007.
20/11/07 - More immigrants, but flight to Aussie continues apace
09/11/07 - Details of the new Active Investor Migrant Policy
Friday, November 09, 2007
The full details of the new Active Investor Migrant Policy, which opens on 26 November, are now available. Please contact TNC for further information.
09/11/07 - New policies horticulture and viticulture industries
Friday, November 09, 2007
On 26 November 2007, new and amended policies to assist the horticulture and viticulture industries will take effect.
09/11/07 - Changes in Skilled Migrant Category
Friday, November 09, 2007
On 26 November INZ will introduce changes to the Skilled Migrant Category that will primarily affect the way in which they assess whether an applicant's job or job offer is 'skilled employment', and which qualifications they will recognise.
05/11/07 - Czech Working Holiday Scheme full
Monday, November 05, 2007
The 1000 places available under the Czech Working Holiday Scheme for the year to 29 February 2008 have been filled. On 1 March 2008 a further 1000 places will become available.
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