18/02/09 - Migrant advisers slow in licensing

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Wednesday Feb 18, 2009

Fewer than 10 per cent of immigration advisers have obtained a licence, and the deadline is looming.

With 10 weeks to go before immigration advisers here will be required by law to be licensed, only 80 of the estimated 1200 advisers have obtained licences.

But the governing Immigration Advisers Authority says it is not concerned about the slow licensing rate, and said the low numbers was an "endorsement of the legislation's purpose and intent".

The authority says 160 immigration advisers have said they will not be applying for a licence as they were unable to meet the competency standards required, and 54 others were being assessed.

Registrar Barry Smedts said: "So far, I am pleased with how things are working out. Raising the standard of immigration advice available to migrants is the primary purpose of the Act and it looks as if we are achieving just that."

Mr Smedts said he expected about 400 to have applied by the May 4 deadline.

"The number is lower than Immigration New Zealand's original estimate, but that figure also included off-shore advisers," he said.

"What we are seeing is the transformation of the industry into a smaller, more professional grouping with a higher standard of overall expertise."

In a survey of 653 overseas advisers conducted by the authority in December, 176 said they will be applying for a licence, 160 will not and others were undecided or did not respond.

Overseas advisers will have until May 4 next year to get a licence. Unlicensed agents face fines of up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment for up to seven years.

(Source NZ Herald, Lincoln Tan)

05/02/09 - Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007

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Thursday, February 05, 2009

Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 or, the licensing of onshore Immigration Advisers will come into effect from 4 May 2009.

Immigration is an important source of skills for New Zealand’s economy. Even in a changing economic climate, certain sectors and employers are going to need skills that are scarce worldwide. To ensure that these businesses and the migrants they are seeking receive the best professional advice and to protect New Zealand’s reputation as a high quality migrant destination, the licensing regime for Immigration Advisers will become operational from 4 May 2009.

The Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 requires anyone onshore providing immigration advice about New Zealand to be licensed by 4 May 2009, unless they are exempt. Immigration New Zealand will not be accepting applications from unlicensed onshore advisers after 4th May 2009. Offshore advisers need to be licensed from 4 May 2010.

This may affect employers, HR managers, advisers, and/or recruitment agents who are involved in providing immigration advice and assistance to new migrant employees. The Immigration Advisers Authority, in consultation with Immigration New Zealand, has produced a guideline setting out the implications of immigration adviser licensing for employers and recruiters of migrants. The guideline is available as a pdf on the Immigration Advisers Authority website.

You can contact the Immigration Advisers Authority for more information, or to order a licence application pack, on 0508 422 422 (freephone onshore) or +64 9 925 3838 (offshore) or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The Authority’s website is www.iaa.govt.nz.

03/02/09 - Look for More Downside in the New Zealand Dollar

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Tuesday, February 3

By: Sean Hyman

Oh, the woes of New Zealand! The way I see it, this country has at least five things going against it right now that I think will continue to weigh on its currency.

First of all, commodity prices have plummeted and this country depends heavily on exporting commodities around the world, predominately dairy and agricultural products.

Two-thirds of New Zealand's exports are commodities. So you can see how serious the fall of commodity prices have already affected them and will continue to. When prices were high, profit margins were fat. However, now that prices have collapsed, their profit margins have declined.

Formerly, these high prices helped to offset the impact of rising interest rates and a rising currency exchange rate. New Zealand has really been hit hard in one of its biggest exports, dairy. Dairy prices are down 50 percent off of their highs and that is putting a world of hurt on the country.

In fact, Fonterra, one of the largest companies in New Zealand, has had to reduce its earnings estimates drastically because of all of this. Therefore it's anticipated that this could take as much as $3 billion out of the New Zealand economy. This is a huge deal to New Zealand and can't be overstated.

Secondly, tourism is slumping in New Zealand. Why is this important? One in 10 jobs is now linked to tourism either directly or indirectly. So when tourism tapers off, it hurts the country dearly.

Many economists estimate that tourism in New Zealand may slump as much as 15 percent this year. With this huge dent in tourism, it is estimated that it could take another $1 billion to $2 billion out of the economy. So with this problem and the slump in commodities, that will already erase about $5 billion dollars.

Thirdly, there has been a collapse in the consumer confidence all over the country. This is causing the locals to shut their wallets much more quickly than before, thus exaggerating the problems that they are already going through.

According to the central bank of New Zealand, 64 percent of businesses in the country expect a further deterioration in the economy. Thirty-nine percent say that they'll be cutting back on expenditures on their plants, machinery, and other equipment.

The chance of an economic recovery any time soon is slim, in the eyes of business owners and retail consumers.

Fourth is the problem that I see arising from a lack of ability to obtain credit. New Zealand obtains about on-third of its credit from abroad. Lately, either businesses can't get credit or the credit that they can get is much more costly, which makes doing business more expensive and squeezes profits all the more.

Most banks are requiring 20 percent down now, which wasn't the case before. So even what capital they do have is getting used and stretched all the more. This will weigh on business and retail consumer expansion for a good while longer.

The fifth problem is that New Zealand has a negative trade balance, and interest rates have fallen to 3.50 percent from 8.25 percent. I think rates will probably make it down to 2 percent before it's all over with.

The New Zealand exchange rate is reflecting these problems.

I think you could easily see the NZD/USD rate come down to the 39 to 40 level in the coming months ahead as a result.

You can tell times are tough when a country's central bank, such as New Zealand has, chops interest rates by 1.5 percent all at once and makes it known that there could be more to follow.

Also, New Zealand's interest rate is under Australia's interest rate. While this may only be temporary, it's one of the reasons why money would flow to New Zealand over Australia.

There are some bright spots emerging for the kiwi dollar (the nickname for New Zealand's currency). For example, mortgage rates have dropped down to 5.5 percent from 10 percent in a matter of months. Keep in mind also, that there is no "overhead supply" of housing there like there is in the United States.

New Zealand also has had a net migration inflow ever since the terrorist attacks of 2001. This this will continue and over time, will help them to recover once again.

Another bright spot is that New Zealanders' credit card debt as a percentage of household debt has been on the decline since 2003.

They also are over their drought, which will help their agricultural sector once again.

Also, the public is not very involved in the New Zealand stock market. So for right now, that's a plus for them.

New Zealand also didn't have the securitization of loans that became prevalent in other countries.

These pluses will eventually kick in and help New Zealand to come out of its slump that was largely brought on by the global slowdown and the high interest rate and exchange rate there.

Now, interest rates in New Zealand have come down and the exchange rate is low and likely going lower. So, once the economy starts to pick up, as well as the global economy, it will be a better day for New Zealand and, therefore, its currency too.

However, that day is not here yet, and so you've got to invest for today and how you hope things will be in the coming months.

The latter part of 2009 may show improvement, but that really could end up happening in 2010.

The institutional investor will continue to play off of these economic woes that we spoke of that continue to plague the New Zealand economy. Until they can see a day when this will begin to turn, they will probably remain short on the kiwi dollar. I'd say that's probably the wisest side of the trade to be on for at least the months ahead. But that could last for another year.

Things could be different in 2010 and 2011 for the kiwi dollar. They could even start to charge in the latter part of 2009. I'll just have to continue to take the pulse of the economy at that time to see how it's faring to know. However, for now, the kiwi will probably still head lower against the dollar and the yen for the months ahead. I don't see this trend changing anytime soon.

© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

27/01/09 - We like Asians even more, survey finds

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Tuesday Jan 27, 2009

New Zealanders' perceptions of Asians are improving.

More New Zealanders say Asian immigrants not only bring in valuable cultural diversity but also improve workplace productivity, a survey has found.

The survey of 1000 New Zealanders, conducted from late September to October, and released yesterday, found that 82 per cent thought Asian immigrants brought valuable cultural diversity to New Zealand, up from 76 per cent in 2007.

Six in 10 said Asian employees improved workplace productivity, a rise of 10 per cent, said Asia New Zealand Foundation.

The report, 2008 Perceptions of Asia, also found 75 per cent of New Zealanders saw the Asian region as being more important to New Zealand's future than Europe (67 per cent) and North America (55 per cent).

New Zealanders are also mixing more with their Asian neighbours and the survey also found that Kiwis felt warmer towards people from China, India and Japan compared with their Australian counterparts.

The report said contact remained a key factor to beliefs and feelings toward Asian people, and New Zealanders who have "hardly any" contact with Asians felt significantly cooler towards them than those who have had at least some contact.

Almost 6 in 10, or 58 per cent, said they had "a lot" or "a fair amount" of personal involvement with people from Asia, up from 48 per cent last year.

Dr Andrew Butcher, the foundation's research director, said the survey "clearly shows that more New Zealanders are interacting with their Asian neighbours, colleagues and classmates".

However, to most New Zealanders, China comes to mind first when they thought of Asia and 27 per cent of respondents said they felt New Zealanders were "less warm" towards Chinese people than a year ago, with only 22 per cent who thought "more warm".

Their main reasons were the contaminated milk scandal, negative media publicity and a concern that people from China will have too much influence on New Zealand society.

But those who felt warmer said the Beijing Olympics and that Asian people have "progressed" and "changed their way of thinking" as their main reasons.

Economically, a majority also thought New Zealand would benefit from a relationship with Asia, with 91 per cent who said Asia was an important export market and 80 per cent thought the region's economic growth would have a positive impact on New Zealand.

Additionally, 73 per cent thought free-trade agreements with Asian countries would reap benefits and 89 per cent indicating Asian tourism would have a positive impact.

Dr Butcher said the results were encouraging as it showed that New Zealanders appreciated the positive aspects that migrants from Asia brought to New Zealand.

(Source Lincoln Tan NZ Herald)

14/01/09 - Property values fell 7.4pc in 2008, says QV

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Thursday Jan 15, 2009

New Zealand property values fell 7.4 per cent during 2008 - the first sustained drop since 1998, says a new report.

QV Valuations has just published its latest Residential Price Movement report, a well respected measure of the change in New Zealand property values.

"Property values held reasonably flat through the first three months of the year, but the decline kicked in through the autumn and winter months, during which time values dropped 6 per cent," said Quotable Value's Mark Dow.

"With the significant drops in interest rates over the past three months, there has been an increase in market activity and values appear to be flattening again."

Property values grew by 120 per cent between 2002 and 2007, said Dow. The last period of sustained growth happened between late 1992 and 1997 - when values went up by 54 per cent.

"After such a period of sustained growth it's inevitable that we will see a correction. The question remains how long this period of falling property values will continue," said Dow.

During 2008, the number of house sales fell dramatically and the proportion of lower value properties selling also significantly decreased.

"This pattern reflects the wider drivers of the property cycle," said Dow. "When the economy is strong; job prospects are good and immigration is increasing, then demand for houses, particularly first homes, pushes prices up.

As the economy weakens and affordability becomes a real issue, first home buyers are usually the first to suffer; sales volumes drop and activity in the market moves back to mid to higher end properties as we saw through 2008," he said.

The 7.4 per cent decline for the year was calculated by QV by comparing the three months ending December 2008 with the same period last year. The Average sale price for December increased slightly to $378, 605.

All the main centres have shown a fall in property values, says QV. In the Auckland area, there was a fall of 8 per cent; Hamilton was down 9.3 per cent, Wellington 6.9 per cent, while Christchurch fell 8 per cent and Dunedin 7.7 per cent.

Across the nation:

• Whangarei: Down 8.6 per cent
• Auckland: Down 8 per cent
• Hamilton: Down 9.3 per cent
• Tauranga: Down 9 per cent
• Wellington: Down 6.9 per cent
• Christchurch: Down 8 per cent
• Dunedin: Down 7.7 per cent
• Invercargill: Down 9.1 per cent

(Source HERALD ONLINE)

14/01/09 - Website gives details of all properties for house-hunters

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Wednesday Jan 14, 2009

A property-searching website to start operating tomorrow aims to become the first stop for house-hunters.

Zoodle will give information on more than 1.5 million homes and 1600 suburbs and communities.

Alistair Helm of realestate.co.nz said yesterday the site had the potential to boost the slumping property market by restoring buyers' confidence.

"It is designed to allow the buying public to really get to the heart of the property market," he said.

Zoodle combines up-to-date market information from realestate.co.nz with land and property data from Terralink International.

This includes the latest property valuations, market trends, legal descriptions and links to listings.

Last year "uncertainty" was the overriding word used to describe the property market, Mr Helm said.

"This year could end up being exactly the same but for the ability to make people more confident."

Most house-hunters now ask their real estate agent to give market and land information.

Zoodle will enable house-hunters to become "armchair experts" in the property market and this may speed up the transaction process.

Mr Helm said he looked forward to the day when people would be talking about "zoodling" properties.

Every residential property with a legal title is on the site.

It uses imagery from Google's recently launched Street View, which has photographed most streets in the country.

This would enable browsers to take a virtual, street-level tour of a neighbourhood.

Mr Helm said property information was previously scattered across websites and authorities.

Zoodle stitches together figures from Statistics New Zealand, Quotable Value, the Real Estate Institute and the Department of Building and Housing.

The site will encourage users to submit their own content such as suburb profiles written by people who live there.

It is closely modelled on property websites in the United States, Britain and Australia.

(Source NZ Herald, by Jacqueline Smith)

04/01/09 - Bill Ralston: 2009 - Glories to Tories

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Sunday Jan 04, 2009

At this time of year, lacking any real news to report or comment on, columnists shoddily resort to lists of the best and worst of last year, silly awards, mock school report cards and tortuous alphabets telling you things like "A is for the Agony Helen Clark felt on election night, B is for the Boredom of covering the House ..."

It is a cheap trick used to fill an otherwise blank page in the paper and keep the editor off the back of columnists who are otherwise desperately trying to get back outside in the sun and rev up the barbie for lunch.

I shall not resort to such a lazy device as looking back at the year that was. No, I will put on my turban, whip out a crystal ball and tell you now what will be hot and what will be not hot in politics this year.

Where are you on the list? Okay, that too is a cheap trick but, hey, at least I'm trying.

HOT in 2009

John Key
Well, he is the Prime Minister; all power and patronage is in his hands; the previous three National Party leaders never won an election and, after a near-decade of idle tedium sitting in opposition, the National caucus will cry "Hosanna!" every time he walks into the House.

Working in the Beehive
New governments mean new jobs for the boys and girls. Plenty of changes to be made mean the place will be buzzing with energy and excitement. Well, for the first six months, anyway.

Government press secretaries
Those who were Opposition press secretaries will find the journos are nicer to them now they have the ear of a minister and access to real secrets. Those who were journalists and now have become press secretaries will discover just how much they never knew and quickly become somewhat contemptuous of their old Gallery colleagues.

Jonathan Coleman
He may not be the highest-ranked Cabinet minister and he's been saddled with the millstone of Broadcasting, and the thankless task of backing up John Key in the flagging tourism industry, but he is Minister of Immigration so he has the power to grant migrants residency status. Every MP in Parliament will come to him for immigration favours for their constituents and he can leverage this to extract all kinds of political favours in return.

Lockwood Smith
As Speaker, Lockwood gets a cool apartment in Parliament; everyone has to kiss his butt because he wields such huge power on the hill; plus he gets to wear a flowing gown and a rather fetching wig.

Lobbyists
The economy may be tanking but the lobbying industry has gone into high gear as sector groups and businesses try to wring concessions and benefits from the new government. Plus the lobbyists' lunch budgets go up as they have to wine and dine a whole new bevy of power brokers.

Consultants
Someone is going to have replace the shrinking public service.

Heavy construction companies
How many billions is National planning to spend on building infrastructure? There's your profits for the next three years.

Taxpayers
Roll on the next wave of tax cuts.

NOT HOT in 2009

Labour MPs
There is nothing lonelier and more dreary than three gloomy years sitting on the Opposition backbenches. Once you had power, now you do not.

New Zealand First ex-MPs
Actually, there is something worse than being in opposition. Being out of Parliament. No perks, no prestige, no free taxis - 2009 will suck.

Public servants
You know the government hates you, is trying to figure out how to fire you and, even if you survive the purge, the minister will slash your budgets.

Policy analysts
Under Labour, your career flourished. National sees you as waste, a non-core service. Think about retraining as a consultant.

Trade unions
Any power over government policy the unions once had has now evaporated for at least three years. They will now have to go back to the much harder job of protecting their members' rights.

Investment bankers
Politicians used to talk to you because you controlled immense wealth. Now you are skint and likely to want a hand-out, you have become a pariah.

Oil companies
Everyone hates you and Gerry Brownlee wants to bust your chops because it will be popular. Besides, he hasn't beaten anyone up for ages.

Beneficiaries
Because you won't get a tax cut and the Government keeps making nasty noises about how you should get a job.

(Source; Bill Ralston, NZ Herald)

01/01/09 - Extension for Pacific Quota applications

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Friday, 19 December 2008

People from Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati and Tuvalu who were successful in this year's ballots under the Samoan Quota Scheme (SQS) and Pacific Access Category (PAC) will have an extra month to apply for residence in New Zealand.

01/01/09 - Fees changes for applications lodged outside New Zealand

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Friday, 19 December 2008

The fees that Immigration New Zealand charges for immigration services will change on 12 January 2009. The changes will only affect payments made outside New Zealand, not payments made in New Zealand dollars.

01/01/09 - Roll out the red carpet for English-language students

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At the last export education conference, guest speaker Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief Michael Barnett spoke of the need for New Zealand to be seen as welcoming to visitors wanting to study. Somewhat provocatively, he found NZ Inc wanting.

Although this came as no surprise to the English language school sector, it was refreshing to hear it from an astute outsider with no direct vested interest.

But it wasn't what the ministers wanted to hear. For the last nine years, the Government's welcome mat has been missing - certainly as far as English language school students have been concerned.

A key pointer to this is the discrimination against English-language students in seeking part-time work. Defying all logic, the immigration policy requires students to pass an external language test before they are allowed to seek part-time work.

Given these students want to travel to gain competency, the reality is they have two choices - try for a working holiday visa which allows them to work full-time for up to 12 months with no English test (but which restricts their length of study) or go to Australia where they can study and work part-time.

Not surprisingly, most choose the latter.

A few weeks ago, the Trade Commissioner's staff in Thailand presented their findings that work-rights for students was the most important thing for success in that market. Backing this up, counsellors from key source countries estimate this regulation alone drives at least 25 per cent of potential New Zealand-destined students to Australia. In smaller niche countries, the figure is much higher.

Our $2.3 billion export education industry should actually be at least $2.6 billion and heading towards $3 billion.

During 2008, the industry lost about $300 million in export income - because of policy settings that favour nobody.

Not only is export education being undermined but the opportunity for job growth is hugely curtailed. On average, every 10 more students creates an additional job - just in the school itself. The flow-on effect to tourism and accommodation is just as significant.

The other damaging effect of the former government's policies is to constrain diversity. Volatility in student demand, as seen in the highs and lows of the Chinese market, has been driven by the performance of those few markets large enough to tolerate the official settings. When those markets find more attractive immigration policies in other countries, as with China, the effect is hugely damaging.

Whenever a major market is lost to the industry, the political catch-cry has been to diversify. Well, every year we invest in marketing in European and South American countries to prepare for market spread and to be ready when the immigration regulations are corrected.
Why are we in this situation? Seemingly the last administration felt English language schools, particularly privately owned ones, were not to be encouraged.

Suggested changes to policy that would benefit the whole industry fell on deaf ears. Any direct rebuttal regarding work rights suggested students who achieved part-time work would displace locals - despite the fact students actually create jobs for locals way in excess of job displacement.

I'm sure the last Government would point to countless reviews and some changes that its officials delivered.

However, the bottom line is the English language sector is regulated to almost suffocation point, is subject to an industry tax (euphemistically called a levy over which it has no governance input) and its reasonable requests for immigration policy change have apparently ended up in a recycling bin.

At this time of economic crisis, New Zealand needs to be driving its export revenue up and creating sustainable new employment so we are looking to the new Government with great hope for change.

As a study-abroad destination, New Zealand is second to none and the quality of our English schools is up with the best in the world. We don't need government funding, we certainly don't need more regulations or codes. All we need is a sincerely placed welcome mat and the chance to compete on an equal footing with our neighbours across the Tasman.

(Source NZ Herald; Rob McKay chairs English New Zealand, the body representing English language schools.)