News and Publications

Changes in the Immigration Policies

The Auckland Times
December 2010

by: RAJ PARDEEP SINGH, BA (Hons), LLB

Immigration has always been a concern to all the migrants.  
In the last 20 years, there have been a number of significant changes took place in New Zealand. Due to these changes, the Minister of Immigration proposed that a new Act should be introduced to enable NZ to both facilitate the entry of the people NZ needs and effectively protect our border. So the new Act called IMMIGRATION ACT 2009 will come into force on 29th November 2010.
The purpose of the Act is to “manage immigration in a way that balances the national interest, as determined by the Crown, and the rights of individuals”. Key aspects of the Act include the ability to use biometrics, a new refugee and protection system, a single independent appeals tribunal and a universal visa system. The new immigration system will require persons who are not New Zealand citizens to hold a visa to travel to New Zealand, and be granted entry permission to stay in New Zealand. Immigration officers will be able to gather information in relation to visa holders, employers, and education providers to determine compliance with obligations in respect of the system; and prescribe the system for the deportation of people who are not New Zealand citizens and who fail to comply with immigration requirements, commit criminal offenses, or are considered to pose a threat or risk to security. A new specialist tribunal will be established to consider appeals against decisions made under the new Act and to consider humanitarian appeals. The settlement of migrants, refugees, and protected persons will be supported by the new regime.

The key changes includes:-

• Terminology changes i.e. the new Act uses the single term ‘visa’ even for ‘permits’.
• New Sponsorship system where sponsors will be responsible for all aspects of maintenance, accommodation and deportation of the sponsored person.
• Compliance, detention and monitoring of foreign nationals who are considered to be a threat to the integrity of the immigration system or safety of NZ system. The new Act provides immigration officers with powers that could previously only be carried out by Police or Customs officers on behalf of Immigration, for example, to enter and search planes or ships.
• Specific biometric information can be collected, stored and used for example, photographs, fingerprints and iris scans to verify a foreign national’s identity. These information can be shared with other agencies nationally and internationally to manage the safety and security of NZ.
• Employer obligations to check work entitlement more carefully.
• Education providers will be subject to penalties who fails to comply with their immigration obligations.

I will discuss with all the changes in detail separately in every article. Today I will discuss the changes of NEW SPONSORSHIP SYSTEM.
Under the former Act, immigration policies could require a temporary visa/permit applicant to have a sponsor. The sponsor could only be a natural person and not a company or organisation. Having a sponsor ensured that the applicants had the ‘means’ to maintain themselves in NZ.
The difference between the former Act and new Act with regard to sponsorship criteria is as follows:

These changes will get clearer after looking at the scenario:
Ashi fully sponsors her father Singh to visit her for 6 months. Whilst Singh is in NZ, he has a stroke and is hospitalized for 10 days. He recovers and goes back to his home country without paying costs to District Health Board. Under former Act, as Singh has incurred debts they will become Ashi’s responsibility. Ashi is unable to pay then and 3 months later successfully sponsors her sister to visit NZ. Under new Act, Ashi is unable to sponsor her sister as she still owes money to the District Health Board on behalf of father Singh.

Source: Immigration NZ website