Venkat Raman
Auckland, April 2, 2021
The New Zealand government has decided to extend the temporary immigration powers by two years to manage borders and immigration matters.
The government invoked the special powers last year in the wake of Covid-19 which led to the declaration of Health Emergency and the attendant special powers.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi has announced that extending the special powers will enable the government to provide continued flexibility to support migrants, and help industries facing labour shortages.
Rapid decisions made
“Over the past year, we have had to make rapid decisions to vary visa conditions, extend expiry dates, and waive some application requirements across entire visa categories. These decisions have provided more flexibility and certainty to visa holders and employers in New Zealand and made more migrants available for industries facing labour shortages in a time when New Zealand’s Covid-19 health response needed our borders to be closed,” he said.
Mr Faafoi said that the Covid-19 Response Amendment Bill expires in May 2021 and that he had introduced another Bill to Parliament seeking to maintain those powers. The Bill will go through a short Select Committee process and is expected to pass in May 2021 as the Labour government has a majority on its own to ensure its passing.
Benefits of Emergency Powers
Mr Faafoi said that Immigration Ministers have used the special powers 18 times in the past to benefit classes of migrants 18 times including (a) Extending visas for 22,500 workers and families members to give more certainty to them and their employers (b) Providing 5600 offshore resident visa holders more time to come to New Zealand and activate their visas (c) Extending 16,600 visitor visas to give people more time to secure ways to return home, and allowing all visitors the opportunity to study or attend school while here (d) Extending 7800 working holiday visas and easing conditions to allow holders to work in industries like horticulture and (e) Waiving certain application requirements for transit passengers and, more recently, for RSE workers.
Vaccine rollout progress
Mr Faafoi said that New Zealand is making good progress on the vaccines roll out.
“More will be announced next week regarding a travel bubble with Australia. And we continue to prepare for the eventual safe re-opening of our borders. But we know that Covid-19 is still widespread overseas, and it will take time for other countries to get the virus and its variants under control,” he said.
He said that extension of temporary immigration powers until 2023 will ensure that the immigration system can continue to be responsive and flexible.
“The Bill keeps in place existing safeguards. The powers can only be used for Covid-19 related matters and generally must benefit, or at a minimum, not disadvantage, visa holders,” Mr Faafoi said.
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