NZ ‘Great Exporter of Human Capital’, Says Boris Johnson
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says New Zealand is a great exporter of human capital to the UK and he wants to ensure New Zealanders can “come and go” freely. Mr Johnson is in New Zealand for a two-day visit and met Prime Minister Bill English yesterday.
He has suggested Britain could look at introducing some sort of special visa for Commonwealth countries once the process of leaving the EU was complete. And, despite recent “bureaucratic foulups” on visas, the UK wanted to make things as smooth, generous and attractive as possible for New Zealanders.
“I am determined to ensure that New Zealanders are able to come and go with a free and cheerful vaet-vient, if I can use a Continental expression,” he told Morning Report’s Guyon Espiner.
As the former mayor of London, he was aware the city benefited from having dynamic versatile people come in from around the world.
“New Zealand is one of the great exporters of human capital and we massively value it. Obviously we’re going to be looking at doing a deal that is going to make sure that we are going to be able to maintain and maximise those advantages.” But there would be no details until the UK had extricated itself from “the toils of the EU system”. Current arrangements, such as the youth mobility scheme and ancestry visa provisions were not too bad, he said.
Clint Heine, director of support network Kiwis in London, earlier told Morning Report the visa delays, which started when processing was moved from Manila, in Philippines, to Sheffield, had caused frustration for New Zealanders.
People who had paid extra money for urgent visas, supposed to take 10 days to process, found they were waiting 30-40 days.
Some visas were taking seven to eight weeks.
“The Sheffield processing [office] couldn’t keep up with the demand, unfortunately”.
People who were going to the UK on the two-year working holiday visa, and expecting an 8-10 day turnaround, were having to cancel flights and re-arrange their jobs. He backed Mr Johnson’s idea of a visa for citizens of Commonwealth countries when Britain leaves the European Union.