Migration could be cut ‘ overnight’
The Labour- led Government could slash immigration numbers “overnight” once it takes power, says former Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere.
With net migration at 71,000 in the year to September, Prime Ministerelect Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday she expected those numbers to be cut by 20,000 or 30,000 a year. Labour’s coalition partner, NZ First, has a lower target of 10,000 people a year, according to its website.
Delamere, who now runs an immigration consultancy, told the Weekend Herald these drastic changes could be made without changing the law.
“The minister decides on the new instructions for visas. They could change things overnight,” he said.
“The law doesn’t need to be changed, what they need to change is the policy. That goes through Cabinet, they approve the new immigration instructions and that will set the criteria for visas.”
It was still not clear how the Government planned to achieve its reductions but the logical targets would be low- skilled worker and student visas, Delamere said.
“Now it really comes down to . . . [ Ardern] needs to explain, what do you mean by reducing immigration? Are you going to stop all the investors and the entrepreneurs who invest large amounts in New Zealand? I don’t think so. You have 20 types of visas out there so which ones are you going to make more difficult or cut?
“But there are a lot of people who shouldn’t really be here like students who don’t really study — they . . . go straight to work on the orchards.”
He said it would be equally simple for the Government to increase the points system for residency.
“The new minister could do that the same day they’re sworn in.”
A Labour spokesman referred the Weekend Herald to the party’s website page on immigration, which outlines how it plans to achieve the reduction. It would limit student visas and the ability to work for “low value courses”, which it says would bring a fall of 6000 to 10,000 a year. It would remove work visas without a job offer for less- qualified graduates, causing a fall of 9000 to 12,000. It would also “regionalise” the work visa occupation list and “ensure employers hire Kiwis first”, leading to a fall of about 5000 to 8000 new migrants.
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said the nation would be “in trouble” if immigration was severely cut without having education policies aligned to make sure businesses had the skills they needed. “That will stymie economic growth.”
Additional reporting BusinessDesk