05/07/10 - Work permits for foreigners 'still possible'

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mmigration New Zealand insists it will still grant temporary work permits where employers can prove there are skill shortages – despite industry claims to the contrary.

In 2009 the branch of the Department of Labour completed three reviews of the job categories for which workers are routinely granted temporary work permits, leading to the first substantial shortening of the skills shortage list since 2000.

Lesley Haines, the acting head of Immigration New Zealand, said the move was in response to a significant weakening in the labour market, leading to a 5 per cent fall in the number of temporary work permits being granted in 2009.

While a large number of job categories on the skills shortage list had been removed, Ms Haines said employers could still get work permits for foreign staff if they could prove they were unable to find a local alternative.

In recent weeks employers have came forward documenting efforts to demonstrate that New Zealanders cannot be found to fill roles done by existing foreign staff.

Despite that, their foreign employees face removal because Immigration New Zealand claims labour market tests have demonstrated there are local workers available.

Ms Haines said there "were probably one or two cases like that" but she was unable to comment without details.

Last month Electron Limited manager Peter Alevizos said Work and Income had told him it was no longer seeking to fill his vacancy for a fitter turner with experience in electric motors because there was none available in the region.

Despite that, his current "model" employee, Fijian national David Samuel, had been told he must leave the country, Mr Alevizos said.

A spokeswoman for Immigration New Zealand said the matter was "a timing issue" because Mr Samuel had since been told that he could reapply.

The Labour Party's labour spokesman, Trevor Mallard, said there appeared to have been a change in administrative approach to the issuing of temporary work permits.

"I don't think anyone can argue that you shouldn't look more carefully at work permits when the jobs are really tight for New Zealanders, but it's almost like what's going on are just very cursory examinations, looking at big occupational groups rather than specifically at the job requirements.

He said the approach appeared "out of time" with economic conditions, making it more difficult to get a work permit when the labour market was already strengthening.

(Source The Press)

03/07/10 - Overstayer sent home despite connections

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A Tongan overstayer has been sent home, despite a last ditch attempt by Rotorua authorities to stop the deportation.

Siegfried Fisiihoi has been in custody since his overstayer status was revealed when he was arrested for breaching a liquor ban.

The 23-year-old has a two-year-old son with the niece of Rotorua's Deputy Mayor Trevor Maxwell.

Mr Maxwell says the family is disappointed about the deportation and his niece is now considering moving to Tonga with her son.

Mr Maxwell thanks local MP Todd McClay in helping the family to try to get the Immigration Minister to review the case.

(Source Newstalk ZB)

30/06/10 - Growing Asian workforce of the future

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New research shows a growing and highly qualified Asian workforce, will make up 15 percent of New Zealand's total labour force by 2026.

"The Asian workforce is emerging as an important part of New Zealand's changing labour market," says Employment Minister Paula Bennett.

New Zealand's Asian population more than doubled between 1996 and 2006.

"This report describes an Asian population that is highly qualified, youthful and entrepreneurial," says Ms Bennett.

According to the report, half of working age Asians are between 15 and 34 years old, likely to be university educated and working professionally.

"It's important for employers to note changes within the workforce like this growing pool of talent within New Zealand," says Ms Bennett.

"The report also tells us degree-qualified Asians are three times more likely to be working as clerks as the national average, suggesting many are actually over qualified for the job they're in," says Ms Bennett.

The 2006 census showed that Asians comprised the fourth largest major group of ethnicities in New Zealand after European, Maori and Other.

"Asian people will certainly form a critical and skilled part of our future workforce, adding to the diversity in our workplaces," says Ms Bennett.

"Employers need to be ready to respond and capitalise on this situation," says Ms Bennett.

(Source Beehive)

28/06/10 - Students' long wait for visas appals minister

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A furious Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman is unhappy with the time it is taking his department to process student permits and is demanding his officials come up with a plan to speed things up.

Immigration New Zealand says about 2500 applications lodged this year have yet to be assigned an officer, and it is taking an average of eight weeks for manual applications to be processed at the Palmerston North branch, which oversees 97 per cent of onshore permits.

Some education providers say they have students who have been waiting up to five months for permits, and still have not heard back from Immigration.

"It is an unacceptable situation, and we have to get it sorted out," Dr Coleman said yesterday.

He had found out about the delays only after speaking to export education providers at a conference in Auckland last week.

"Quite frankly, I am furious with officials that I haven't been alerted to the situation in Palmerston North."

Dr Coleman said he had told Immigration NZ chief Nigel Bickle, who is overseas, that he wanted a meeting to resolve the issue as soon as Mr Bickle returned to the country.

"We have to at least match Australia in processing times or we will be losing students, and that is not acceptable," he said.

"I'll be wanting to sit down with Nigel Bickle and see some real plan that would make a difference ... There has to be some real improvements here."

Dr Coleman said students considering overseas studies often compared New Zealand to Australia, and processing delays could affect the country's reputation as a study destination.

An education agent said he had seven students from South Korea and Japan who had been waiting since March for permits to be approved. They were attending school on visitors' permits.

The students would be returning home for the school holidays next week and were worried they could not return to New Zealand because they did not hold the right permits.

"It is really unnecessary stress. How can we tell parents overseas that we can deliver good education to their children when the country cannot even process immigration permits properly?" the agent asked.

"It is really a challenge for us to market New Zealand as a quality study destination when our Immigration department is like a Mickey Mouse club."

Immigration NZ said the processing delays related mainly to applications that had been lodged manually.

"The current waiting times for manual applications in Palmerston North are unacceptable, and the minister has conveyed this to the department," said acting Immigration NZ head Stephen Dunstan.

The delays had been caused by a surge in student permits - with 21,523 applications lodged in February and March, the start of the academic school yea

r. Mr Dunstan said the department was committing extra resources to the office and transferring applications to other branches to speed up processing.

Palmerston North processed 60,172 applications between last July and May, of which 49,188 were for student permits.

(Source Lincoln Tan, NZ Herald)

24/06/10 - Government focus on jobs, sustainable growth

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Four successive quarters of growth is a welcome sign the economy is continuing to recover, but more work is needed to ensure the rebound in jobs and growth is sustainable, Finance Minister Bill English says.

GDP data issued today shows the economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the March quarter, broadly in line with expectations. In addition, growth in the December quarter was revised upward from 0.8 to 0.9 per cent, taking annual real GDP growth to 1.9 per cent.

Quarterly growth was led by a continued rebound in the manufacturing sector.

"The continuing recovery is good news. A growing economy is the only way to create new jobs and raise New Zealanders' living standards," Mr English says.

"The Government has put in place a range of policies to lift sustainable economic growth and they are having an effect, with 170,000 new jobs forecast over the next four years in Budget 2010.

"But the economy still faces serious challenges. We need to continue tilting the economy towards savings, exports and productive industries and away from the rampant growth in government spending and borrowing for housing and consumer spending seen under Labour.

"Budget 2010 took concrete steps in this direction. This is the only way to ensure sustainable growth - and is vital if we want to raise the competitiveness of our exporters, lift business confidence, increase jobs and incomes and help New Zealanders get ahead.

"While the global outlook has strengthened in the past year, it remains fragile, as we can see from the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

"This reinforces the need for continuing restraint in government spending and curbing the significant increase in New Zealand's debt to the rest of the world.

"We capped new operating spending at $1.1 billion in Budget 2010 and will increase the new spending allowance by just 2 per cent a year in future budgets," Mr English says.

(Source Beehive)

24/06/10 - China warns tourists on Auckland crime

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China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued an advisory on its website, warning its citizens about rising crime and theft in Auckland.

"Many Asian tourists have become victims of burglaries in Auckland, New Zealand," says the advisory, written in Chinese script.

"Some Chinese tourists have had their valuables stolen after leaving them in their cars."

The advisory, posted on Monday, does not appear on the Ministry's English-language website.

It said those who intended to visit New Zealand should take extra safety precautions, look after their valuables and refrain from carrying large amounts of cash.

Last month, police warned Asian families living in Auckland to take down national flags from their homes, keep religious festivals low-key and avoid personalised plates on cars to deter burglars.

A spokeswoman for the People's Republic of China Consulate in Auckland said the advisory had been issued after several Chinese people had their belongings stolen while visiting the region.

China is New Zealand's fourth-largest tourism market. More than 100,000 visitors came from there in the year to April, overtaking South Korea and Japan.

A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said New Zealand was not concerned about the advisory.

"Most New Zealanders would acknowledge that those warnings relate to genuine risks, and we're all aware of them," he said.

The spokesman said Auckland was probably singled out because it had a significant Chinese population and was the international gateway to New Zealand.

(Source Lincoln Tan, NZ Herald)

22/06/10 - Skilled immigrants needed, says Business NZ

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A business group says New Zealand needs to do more to attract skilled immigrants at a time when the economy needs them most.

Statistics New Zealand figures show migration is the lowest it has been since the recession first started to bite in November 2008.

In the last year, 15,200 more people departed permanently for Australia than arrived, Statistics New Zealand figures show.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly says many sectors rely on skilled workers from overseas, but New Zealand is competing with Australia and other countries for skilled migrants and needs to offer better jobs and higher wages.

The architect of website move2nz.com, Mike Bell, says there's no shortage of would-be immigrants, but there is a lack of clarity about where the skill shortages are.

He says, for instance, it's increasingly difficult to get work permits for skilled chefs despite the fact restaurants can't find New Zealanders to apply.

Mr Bell also says Immigration New Zealand has cut the number of applications it accepts by 30% this year, which he presumes is a reaction to unemployment numbers in this country.

(Source Radio New Zealand)

22/06/10 - Net inflow of migrants slows as downward trend continues

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The net inflow of migrants dwindled to a trickle last month, just 250 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

On an unadjusted basis, permanent and long-term departures exceeded arrivals by 1300, compared with an outflow of 700 in May last year. Net outflows are normal in May.

But the net gain of 250 when adjusted for seasonal patterns was down from 730 in April and 2480 in May last year.

The net migration gain has been on a downward trend since October last year, driven more by rising departures than declining arrivals.

Over the year ended May, however, the net gain was 18,000, 50 per cent larger than the average for the past 20 years.

The net loss to Australia over the year was 15,000, half what it had been the year before.

"New Zealanders will continue to move back across the Tasman, as the Australian labour market outperforms our own," ASB economist Jane Turner said. "We expect this trend to continue over 2010."

The largest net inflows were from Britain (7600), India (5500) and China (3600).

Arrivals from Britain and continental Europe had declined steadily during the recession, Turner said.

"To some degree the fall in arrivals from the UK had been offset by a pick-up in arrivals from Australia, as out-of-work Kiwis returned home in difficult times. However, permanent arrivals from Asia, excluding China and India, are now starting to decline as well."

If net migration continued to ease and started to record net outflows, it could potentially destabilise house prices, particularly if it occurred at a time when other fundamentals for housing demand like interest rates were also becoming less supportive, she said.

"We continue to expect the annual flow to stabilise around 10,000 per annum, similar to the Reserve Bank's outlook."

(Source Brian Fallow, NZ Herald)

21/06/10 - Migration shrinks to just 250 in May, more Kiwis cross Tasman

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New Zealand's net migration shrank to an 18-month low last month, suggesting the economic impetus provided by people choosing to live here may be abating.

A net 250 permanent and long-term migrants arrived last month, seasonally adjusted, the lowest since November 2008, according to Statistics New Zealand. Figures for April were revised down to 730 from 770.

Annual immigration slowed to 17,967 in the 12 months ended May 31, the fourth straight month that the annual number has declined, from 19,954 in the 12 months ended April 31.

"Net migration continues to moderate, and arguably at a slightly faster pace than we had expected," said Philip Borkin, economist at Goldman Sachs JBWere. "Visitor arrivals growth is also looking soft relative to our forecasts, with weak arrivals from the UK and Europe, in particular, appearing to be the major drivers."

Departures for Australia rose to 1,693 in May, from 1,241 in the same month last year, for an annual exodus of 15,200 across the Tasman.

Short-term visitors to New Zealand fell 0.4 per cent to 141,300 last month compared to May 2009. Visitors from Australia, the biggest source of tourists, fell 5 per cent, while those from the UK dropped 15 per cent.

Visitors from China, Japan and South Korea rose 45 per cent, which the government statistician said reflected the H1N1 flu pandemic in May 2009, which sapped travel demand.

(Source NZ Herald)

21/06/10 - Chief Censor to head new immigration tribunal

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Chief Censor Bill Hastings has been appointed a District Court judge and will head the new Immigration and Protection Tribunal, Attorney-General Chris Finlayson announced today.

Mr Hastings is handing over his duties as chief censor, an appointment he has held since 1999, and the Department of Internal Affairs is starting a recruitment process for a replacement.

Until a new appointment is made Deputy Chief Censor Nicola McCully will hold all the powers of chief censor.

Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy acknowledged the contribution Mr Hastings had made during 12 years of service heading the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

"Mr Hastings has encouraged debate and raised awareness of censorship law in New Zealand," Mr Guy said.

Mr Finlayson said the new Immigration and Protection Tribunal had to be chaired by a District Court judge.

It will decide all immigration, deportation, refugee and protection appeals and replaces four existing appeal bodies.

Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman said the tribunal had a critical role to play in New Zealand fulfilling its international humanitarian obligations.

"It will maintain and build on the very strong reputation of the existing appeal bodies," he said.

Mr Hastings was born in Canada and holds law degrees.

Before becoming chief censor he was Deputy Dean of Law at Victoria University and a member of the university's governing council.

(Source National Business Review)