National’s coalition partner ACT is calling for a “balanced” immigration policy in the wake of visa delays pushing migrants out of the country and “new uncertainties” for businesses.
ACT’s immigration spokesperson Parmjeet Parmar says she has received a lot of feedback on the new rules Immigration Minister Erica Stanford announced earlier this year.
“These changes have introduced new uncertainties for migrants and challenges for businesses,” Parmar wrote in a column on a news website a few days back.
On April 7, 2024, Erica Stanford announced a slew of changes to immigration settings to curtail what she described as unsustainably high migration levels.
Most of the changes aimed to reduce the number of migrants arriving for low-skilled jobs–Level 4 and 5 occupations. The new rules included additional English language requirements, something Parmar has drawn attention to.
“English language tests are in high demand, with wait times meaning some migrants cannot secure their visa in time and have chosen to leave the country,” she wrote.
In her column, the ACT List MP from Pakuranga doesn’t seem to explicitly disagree with any of the recent immigration changes, but rather highlights the concerns they have caused.
She pointed to the sorry state of certain migrants caught up in the employer accreditation logjam.
“When an employer loses their accreditation, migrant workers are left in a difficult position as they must apply to be matched with a new accredited employer,” Parmar wrote.
She later told The Indian Weekender of concerns about a new rule that requires most low-skilled overseas employees to leave the country after two years of work and wait a year to reapply for a visa.
“Some businesses are concerned that the 12-month stand down period requirement for low-skilled overseas employees without a pathway to residence will result in them losing their staff.
“The policy objective is to give preference to locals but there are sectors that need low-skilled migrant workers on an ongoing basis who are trained at work by businesses to suit their specific needs,” she noted.
“It will be important to evaluate the impacts of these changes to see if any sector-specific changes will be required.”
The parliamentarian added that by continuing the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme introduced by the previous Labour leadership, “the government is trying to strike a balance”.
The Indian Weekender asked Parmar what she was doing–as a key coalition partner in the government–to reduce this misery for migrants she has talked about.
She said she will make sure any “sub-optimal settings” are reviewed, but she did not outline which of the current settings she feels are suboptimal–or when she will take it up with the immigration minister.
We didn’t get a clear response when we asked her if she had spoken to Erica Stanford about these concerns she has highlighted.
“I correspond with the immigration minister and associate immigration minister as and when required and it is great working together as coalition parties,” she said.
Parmar says the government's challenge is to respond to the experiences of migrants and employers “in a considered, balanced way.”
“I believe that, with monitoring and responsive policy, we can achieve immigration settings that are sustainable while also supporting New Zealand businesses and local economies.”
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