The health insurance required to offer a long-term visa to parents of migrants in New Zealand could be “really expensive”, Erica Stanford has indicated.
The immigration minister says initial scoping work on the Parent Visa Boost – National and ACT’s election promise – has thrown light on some of the cost implications.
“We had started early scoping work [a few months back]. We'd worked out the types of insurance that would be required for that sort of visa. We'd also worked out that it's really expensive for that type of insurance,” she said in Parliament last week while replying to a question on why the government hasn’t delivered on its election promise.
“We're also working out what are the types of mechanisms we could use to ensure that parents who came here either had access to some type of insurance or some type of payment that would ensure that we could pay for their health requirements while they were here.”
Her response on September 12, 2024, came after Labour’s immigration spokesperson Phil Twyford asked her why the government hasn’t begun serious work on getting the parent visa going.
Stanford argued her government did begin scoping out the project early this year, “but the detailed policy work that needs to take place for such a visa won't take place until next year”.
She pointed to the extensive reforms she has undertaken in the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme, seemingly suggesting she has her hands full with that work this year.
“AEWV this year really had to take precedence because of the high rate of migrant exploitation,” she says.
The minister pointed to the three-year multiple entry visa for parents that is already available, and said migrants can make use of that provision till a final decision is made on the long-term solution.
Stanford was circumspect when Twyford asked her if National’s coalition partner New Zealand First had blocked her from delivering on the parent visa more effectively.
“I can categorically state that that is completely untrue; in fact, quite the opposite is true in that the coalition agreement that we have with the ACT Party means that we have to implement this policy.
“In fact, the ACT Party has been very vocal in the fact that they want this work done quickly as well,” she said, making no mention of Winston Peters’ party.
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