Migrants are not welcome to New Zealand

The Minister of Immigration’s recent mixed messaging has only been causing more stress and uncertainty for the migrants here in New Zealand. His ‘immigration reset’ speech last month sent a clear message to the world that migrants are not welcome in New Zealand. It signalled that the Government only wants wealthy, highly-skilled migrants to come here, and failed to understand the needs of business who don’t have New Zealanders available to fill their labour needs. Right now, the message the Government is sending to people thinking of coming here is that we are closed for business on migration.

At the same time, this Government is encouraging skilled migrants who are already here to leave by not allowing them to reunite with their families. Since claiming the Government wants to attract highly-skilled migrants to New Zealand, 90% of applications made under the highly-skilled split migrant family border exception have been declined. All the while we had 1500 rooms free in MIQ each night. The Government is failing to provide a roadmap to reunification, leaving our skilled-migrants with no choice but to take their talent and skills elsewhere.

On top of this, the Government is leaving our skilled migrants stuck in visa-limbo with processing queues that have reached over 2 years. All this while countries, like Australia and Canada, who understand the value of immigration to their prosperity, are actively encouraging migrants to bring their skills and talents to help with their economic recovery. We are kidding ourselves if we think we can close our doors to the skilled migrants that businesses are desperately crying out for, and yet expect those same businesses to continue contributing to our economy. If we have any chance of paying down the huge debt we have incurred over the past year in our COVID-19 response, New Zealand must attract the best global talent. If we want the best, we need to be the best, and right now - we are far off it.

We can’t afford to lose the highly-skilled migrants who fill gaps in our workforce that we can’t otherwise fill. They are our doctors, our engineers, our tech experts, and our children’s mathematics teachers – we desperately need them in this country. We should be acknowledging the important role they play in contributing to New Zealand’s economy and culture, not pushing them away. National will continue to closely scrutinise the Government’s immigration and border response and will continue to be the party that values and speaks up for our migrants. - Erica Stanford, National MP from East Coast Bays and Immigration spokesperson