The government is “very open” to reconsidering the heavy scrutiny it applies to India visa applicants to ensure the country is able to draw the overseas talent it needs, says Christopher Luxon.
The prime minister returned home Saturday after a five-day trip to India, during which the two countries agreed to begin negotiations for a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
In an interview with 1News political editor Maiki Sherman, aired on Sunday, the prime minister was asked if New Zealand is too scrutinous on visa applicants, especially Indians?
“Yeah, look, immigration's always one of those things you've got a lot of risk around,” he said. “But I agree with you…”
Luxon was responding to a broader question on whether India will be keen to talk about visas as the two countries begin trade negotiations.
Immigration New Zealand rejected 45,482 of the 156,734 visitor visa applications it received in 2023 - a rejection rate of 29 per cent.
The rejection rate has since improved slightly, dropping to 21 per cent in 2024 and 19 per cent in the first two months of 2025.
Luxon indicated his government is keen on making sure border restrictions are not so tight they put New Zealand out of the market for overseas talent.
“As I've said before, we're open to fixing what's not working. That's important…We want to make sure that we're making it as easy and as frictionless as possible to make sure that those connections now can continue to go forward. And so, as you've seen, I'm very open to us revisiting that.”
The prime minister added, “I think we're very open, and we've signalled that to Immigration New Zealand as, 'Look, let's balance the risk that we're trying to manage, but let's not be any less competitive than, say, Australia or the UK, or any other countries’...
“Because what we now want to do is make sure that we can facilitate those people-to-people connections. So whether it is students coming here, or businesspeople coming here, or connections between our community sectors, we want to be able to make that easier.”
The prime minister also indicated multiple-entry visas for businesspeople could also be on the cards as the two countries negotiate a trade deal.
“There's things like multiple-entry visas that I think would be really helpful for businesspeople — you know, to be able to come in and out of this country as they do business here, rather than having to do it each and every single time. So there's all those things that we're very up for looking at as we go forward.”
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