Border date forecast to be earlier, residency later
The Government is expected to unveil a new border reopening date today and future residents are being warned they may face a longer wait to settle permanently.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will address a Business NZ lunch in Auckland at which she is expected to bring forward the October border date allowing tourists, families and students from countries needing visas to travel here.
Minister of Immigration Kris Faafoi and Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins will attend the event.
National party immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford predicted Faafoi would step back from his commitment to process
80 per cent of one-off residence visas (R21) within a year. Immigration New Zealand was only processing half the R21s required to meet the target it promised in September 2021, she said.
An answer to a parliamentary written question showed Faafoi received advice at the start of March to extend the timeline to process most applications from 12 months to 18 months, in order to allocate more resources for reconnecting New Zealand with the world.
“Six months have passed, and INZ is averaging just 892 per week, roughly half of the 1692 required to meet their 80 per cent promise. Based on those numbers, INZ won't even hit their target until October 2023 even though R21 visas have been the agency's primary focus,” she said. “Confronted with a clear failure, the immigration minister is set to backtrack on this 12-month target.”
The Government failed to get enough staff to process residence visas and reopen the border simultaneously, she said.
“Kris Faafoi will be pulling resources out of the resident 2021 team to put on to SMC [skilled migrant category] and on to work visas and visitor visas, meaning that those people who have been waiting patiently for many, many years for their residence are now going to be waiting a lot longer.”
Changes are also expected from the Government on what skilled migrants and investors will have to do to gain residence, she added.
“We're also expecting some announcements around changing of the investor category settings, trying to get much higher net worth people and in much higher risk areas, which the Australians have tried and failed.”
Faafoi's office has been approached for comment.