Simon Park Attended the session with new Minister of Immigration, Ian Lees-Galloway. Key points are: 1. INZ is developing "Regional Skills Shortage List" which will be announced. 2. It will double the number of labour inspectors to stop exploiting migrant workers. 3. Family category visa will open again with changes in the mid of this year. 4. There will be some new visa categories (I.e. Exceptional Skills Work Visa, Kiwi builder visa etc). 5. It is working on Post Study Work Visa to make it difficult for those who do lower value education courses in NZ to get. 6. No immediate changes to Entrepreneur Work Visa & Investor Visa. Key messages he was delivering were "INZ will work on changes to contribute to the regional economy. It will also work to protect vulnerable migrant workers from being exploited by toughening labour market test and adding more labour inspectors"
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Inquiry into deporting Kim Dotcom is complete but Immigration NZ is keeping its findings secret - even from its minister Immigration NZ has completed an investigation into whether Kim Dotcom can be deported from New Zealand for failing to declare a dangerous driving conviction - but it's refusing to say what the outcome is. The department has not even told its new minister, Iain Lees-Galloway, the inquiry is complete although legal experts say it almost certainly would recommend Dotcom be deported. But that won't happen without the report going to Lees-Galloway - it's his job to make the decision. Immigration NZ won't say what the outcome is and instead aims to wait for the end of the legal fight to extradite Dotcom to the United States to stand trial for alleged copyright breaches. The NZ Herald broke the story that led to the investigation in 2014, revealing Dotcom applied for residency without declaring a dangerous driving conviction from 2009. Court records show he was clocked doing 149km/h in a 50km/h zone. There was no mention of the conviction in his residency application eight months later, which asked: "Have you or your family members included in your application ever been convicted of an offence (including a traffic offence) committed in the last five years involving dangerous driving?" Dotcom's application showed the box marked "no" had been checked. Immigration NZ's resolutions manager Margaret Cantlon said "any question" of Dotcom's deportation would not go to Lees-Galloway until the extradition proceedings, including appeals and any judicial review, were finished. "INZ has not briefed the new minister on the deportation case." Asked if the length of the inquiry was a record, she said there were no "statistics in a reportable format on the length of time it takes to deal with cases involving potential liability for deportation". A spokesman for Lees-Galloway confirmed the minister had had no briefings on Dotcom. "The minister has received no information on this issue to date." The inquiry into Dotcom has the potential to affect his whole family, as former wife Mona and five children came into New Zealand on his residency. He has since remarried, wedding Elizabeth Donnelly last month. He entered the country on a special scheme intended to attract wealthy foreigners, giving three-years residency and a fast-track to citizenship to those who invested $10m or more in New Zealand. Dotcom has called deportation the government's "plan B" if efforts to extradite him to the United States fail. But he has said that effort to remove him would result in another fight through the courts. Dotcom said he believed Immigration would "sit on it" because Labour's Lees-Galloway "would not deport my family for a speeding ticket". "I'm not concerned about this stillborn plan by the former National government. They thought if extradition fails, which it will, they can just deport me." He predicted deportation would fail, saying it had been studied and "resulted in a good laugh by my legal team". If deported, Dotcom would likely be sent back to Germany, which would pose a problem for the United States because it has different extradition rules. Germany has already refused to extradite one of the Megaupload accused within its borders. It's not the first time Dotcom has faced scrutiny over his residency application. In 2010, when Dotcom was granted residency, his lawyers had to tell Immigration NZ within days of his arrival in the country that share trading convictions in Hong Kong had not been declared. In that case, the lawyers explained that Dotcom was unable to disclose the charges because of Hong Kong law. On that occasion, Immigration NZ sent its inquiry report to then-Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman, who said it was fine for Dotcom to stay. The whole process took about two months, including Christmas. Lane Neave law firm partner Mark Williams said the final decision was down to Lees-Galloway and "the minister is going to hope extradition does the job for him". It would save carrying out unnecessary work, potentially fighting through the court and save the minister from a political hot potato. "My view is if it got to the position where the minister was looking at this under a National government, it would be a practical certainty he would be deported." Under the new government, he said it still looked a "slam dunk" because it was the second time a new conviction had emerged. "That would not be viewed favourably at all." Williams, who is considered an international expert on immigration law, holds roles at leading universities and sits on the NZ Law Society immigration committee, said the international perception of New Zealand's immigration system was important. "You'd almost have to deport someone like that to send a message." Williams said appeals were heard by the Immigration and Protection Tribunal and could be subject to judicial review at the High Court. Successful appeals beyond the High Court were rare. He said Immigration NZ's position was "practical" because if Dotcom was extradited and then imprisoned in the US there would be no need to go through the deportation process. Simon Laurent of Laurent Law, who also sits on the New Zealand Law Society immigration committee, said Dotcom would have to show there was no deliberate attempt to conceal the conviction. But he also said it was ultimately up to the minister. "Concealment is one of those things they lay into people very heavily for." Laurent, who has had leading roles across immigration law and with the NZ Association of Migration and Investment, said the longer decisions took created greater reasons for continuing to stay in New Zealand. He said delays were not unusual and cases could linger, with the extra time creating stronger ties between the focus of a deportation order and New Zealand. National Party immigration spokesman Simon Bridges said "there should be no special treatment for Kim Dotcom". He said he would expect Immigration NZ was taking the same approach it would to anyone facing deportation. Immigration NZ granted Dotcom's residency application despite being told by the NZ Security Intelligence Service that the FBI was investigating. Documents obtained by the Herald through the OIA showed NZSIS staff tried to block the residency application but dropped its objection after being told there was "political pressure" to let the tycoon into New Zealand. At the time, the new residency scheme was having little success and - documents show - Coleman was eager to get "high rollers" into the country. The case of Dotcom and the three others facing extradition with him is before the Court of Appeal in Wellington. Although Dotcom is charged with criminal copyright violation in the US, the High Court ruled there was no such crime in New Zealand. It instead accepted the US argument that Dotcom should be extradited on "fraud". The shift from copyright to fraud is the main basis of the appeals. Both sides have said they intend to appeal the outcome to the Supreme Court. Deportation and extradition - what's the difference? Deportation: It is the act of expelling someone from a country, usually back to the country of their citizenship. In the case of people with residency in New Zealand, they have gone through a process that has resulted in losing their legal right to stay. They are then served a deportation order signed by the Minister of Immigration. Extradition: It is the act of allowing a foreign nation to take someone from New Zealand to face criminal charges in that foreign country. The right to do so exists under agreements made between countries. In New Zealand, extradition hearings take place in the district court, which establishes if there is a case to answer. The Minister of Justice then signs the extradition order. To read the actual article, visit here. Information and communications technology (ICT) workers who were refused visas after being classed as call centre operators say further delays to their cases are draining their hopes and causing mental anguish. The ICT customer service workers won an appeals tribunal case in November but are still awaiting Immigration New Zealand's re-assessment of their claims. One of the workers, who did not want to be named, said he and other immigrants had lost thousands of dollars in fighting their case for the last 18 months. He believed it was a deliberate strategy to prompt immigrants to give up on valid applications by wearing them down. "they are trying to take as much time as possible and people who are nearing the end of their visa will probably go back to their country and that is how they can cut down on immigration," he said. "We have already lost thousands in fighting against an unfair decision and have suffered mentally enough that slowly all our hopes are draining away. "It's been an absolute nightmare for the past 17 to 18 months, as we are totally stressed out financially and mentally, so that some of our colleagues have even visited doctors as they are now mentally upset as well." Immigration New Zealand area manager Marcelle Foley said cases referred back by the Immigration and Protection Tribunal were prioritised, but it was not possible to say when decisions would be made. Immigration New Zealand had completed its review of the applications and was now reassessing them, she said. To read the actual article, visit here. An Auckland woman is accused of preying on vulnerable family members by illegally charging them for immigration services. Lealeifuaneva Linda Moala, 31, appeared in the Manukau District Court on Thursday charged with unlawfully asking for a fee for immigration advice. It is alleged she took payment from four family members and friends in the Tongan community. The Immigration Advisers Authority brought the charges, two of which are under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act and one of which is under the Crimes Act. The authority alleged Moala, while not being licensed nor exempt from the requirement to be license, asked for a fee for the provision of immigration advice. It also alleged she obtained a payment by deception. Moala was remanded on bail and will reappear in court in March. "The [allegations] by the IAA are another example of someone taking advantage of Tongan and Pacific people who are in a tough spot," Immigration Advisers registrar Catherine Albiston said. "The IAA continues to raise awareness amongst Pacific communities in New Zealand, as well as in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, that unlawful immigration advice can cause significant stress and problems for visa applicants." Anyone needing help with a visa application should only use a licensed immigration adviser or a person exempt from licensing requirements, such as a lawyer, she said. Those found guilty of offering unlicensed immigration advice can face up to seven years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. To read the actual article, visit here. Immigration Trust & Simon Park's names/profiles have been stolen & used to scam people in the Philippines. Someone called Nixon family approached people in the Philippines using their Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/poeanewzealandjobhiring/ (now the page has removed the reference to Immigration Trust and Simon's profile but still operate the page https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=209195606295084&id=197442257470419) to offer immediate work placement for you. We have NO affiliation with the Nixon family. We have no affiliation in the Philippines yet. The family used Immigration Trust's name and Simon Park (our CEO)'s profile to lure people to believe that the company has a reputable Licensed Immigration Adviser (LIA) working with them. However they used a wrong email address ([email protected]) which was not listed on www.iaa.govt.nz (see below). Now they changed and use their own email address. Immigration Trust & Simon Park has NO working relationship with Nixon family nor New Zealand Job Hiring - POEA. They stole & used our company name and Simon's profile to scam people to get money. How to avoid all these?1. Check the licensed immigration adviser's details from www.iaa.govt.nz, See Simon Park's details below. As you can see the email used by the Nixon family is different from the email address registered with www.iaa.govt.nz 2. No Licensed Immigration Adviser (LIA) asks you pay the fee without issuing a letter of engagement. Therefore you must ask for a written agreement or a letter of engagement from your LIA before paying anything. This practise has been clearly explained in the Code of Conduct 2014 and every LIA must follow. If not, please complain to www.iaa.govt.nz via here. What should I do if I was contacted by the Nixon family1. If you have been approached by the Nixon family or their Facebook Page called New Zealand Job Hiring - POEA (https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=209195606295084&id=197442257470419) please report to www.iaa.govt.nz via [email protected] with evidence. We really hope there is none actually paid them for this bogus service. 2. Please share this via your social site to prevent the Nixon family from carrying on this scam. A Southland migrant farmer has had a visa application denied as apparently he did not meet the five-year residency agreement. But Riverton farmer Arnulfo Nanat is confused as he has lived in New Zealand with his wife and two daughters for nine years and five months, arriving in 2008. The visa with a pathway to citizenship for immigrants is due to close in 2018. "According to the letter, it's just that I did not meet the five-year residency requirement," Nanat said. His employer changed its business name in "2012 or 2013" and Nanat said that might have caused a problem with his application. "I've been with the same employer on the same farm the whole time." Nanat said he had been getting advice on his application, and would be "filing for ministerial intervention". The South Island contribution work visa was introduced in April 2017, and was designed to provide a residency pathway for migrants on long-term working visas. Invercargill electorate MP Sarah Dowie said that she had received figures from Immigration NZ showing there had been only 1264 applications for the 4000 places available under the scheme. Of these, 681 applications had been approved, and 225 declined. "Eligible Southland migrants only have until May of next year to take up this residency offer," Dowie said. Dipton dairy farmer Ronald Carbonel has been successful in obtaining the new visa. "Before I tried the skilled migrant category and had no luck with that, with this pathway I had a better chance." Carbonel has been in New Zealand since 2008, and has worked on two different farms during his time here. His wife and daughter joined him in 2010, and his 19-month-old son was born "a New Zealand baby," he said. Any migrants eligible for the South Island contribution visa should not hesitate to apply, Carbonel said, because it "gives a big opportunity to stay in New Zealand." "The skilled migrant category at the moment is hard because there are so many requirements for it." Dowie said the pathway was implemented "in recognition that we have a strong economy throughout the South Island and a long-term shortage of people to do the available work in many regions, including Southland." "There are a whole lot of people in our province that have had their working visa roll over and roll over and ordinarily wouldn't meet the criteria for a skilled migrant visa." She said questions needed to be asked around why applications haven't been coming in, and why so many applicants had been denied. The previous government did "a lot of work" to determine how many potential applicants there would be, which was how the 4000 available places was determined. It was important to recognise the workers had been in New Zealand for a long time she said, and "the kids are in school and are Kiwi as." "They are New Zealanders at heart." Labour and NZ First campaign promises to cut immigration was "quite concerning considering our primary sector is reliant on immigrant workers," she said. The Southland Regional Development Strategy goal of 10,000 new residents in Southland would be impossible without a continued stream of immigrants, Dowie said. "We are going to have to look overseas and bring skilled people to our shores." Clutha-Southland New Zealand First MP Mark Patterson said the Government recognised the need for migrants, especially in the dairy sector, where it had been difficult to recruit New Zealanders. "We are always in support of bringing in people we need." However, "there needs to be more training of our own people". Patterson said more support was needed from the previous government for the Lincoln University Telford Division, that "nearly had to close its gate", which was recently taken over by the Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre. The immigration cutbacks NZ First proposed was "largely targeted" at students coming to New Zealand and doing "shoddy" courses in Auckland, he said. To read the actual article, visit here. A woman whose elderly mother is stranded in England because of a freeze on the parent immigration category says thousands of other families are stuck in limbo. The previous government decided to review the category in October 2016, and the new government is due to consider recommendations on that in the New Year. Norah Cheetham, 83, had been visiting annually on a three-month visa and had returned to England last year to avoid becoming an overstayer. Her only child, Carole Barker, who emigrated in 2005 and is now a citizen, said her mother's visa decision looked close to approval when the freeze was announced. "It was totally unexpected and we've effectively been stonewalled by Immigration now for 12 months," she said. "It's not getting any easier as the months go by. She's trying to keep positive but it's very physically and emotionally draining for her. "She's in complete limbo. The one thing we've been trying to push with the government departments on in this situation is that the people affected in this category are predominantly elderly and often living on their own, widowed. "They are stuck in limbo and being in limbo at the age group they're in is not a nice place to be." She said not knowing their fate for two or three years was "absolutely awful" and being apart from her only daughter and grand-daughter at Christmas was particularly tough for her. "She's stoical," she said. "She always has good faith in people and she's trying to get on with her life in the UK but obviously as the time goes by she gets a little bit more despairing, and saddened I suppose, frustrated." They wanted to draw attention to what she said was the thousands of people affected by the freeze. "If the answer is no, at least they know, they can plan for the years they have got left. Immigration New Zealand said the parent category was temporarily closed to new applications because of very high demand. It said as of August 2017, 2423 applications had NOT been allocated to an immigration officer for processing. Immigration New Zealand's recommendations from a review of the category were expected to be completed by the end of 2017. To read the actual article, visit here. The employment offered to people applying for an Essential Skills Work Visa is assigned a skill-band based on the pay-rate and the skill level of the most closely matching ANZSCO occupation. There are 3 skill-bands: lower-skilled, mid-skilled, and higher-skilled. The skill-band assigned to the employment offered helps to determine:
These are the threshold amounts for applications received prior to 15 January 2018: These are the threshold amounts for applications received on or after 15 January 2018: How the remuneration rates are calculated. We will look at a worker’s employment agreement to calculate how much they will be paid. To ensure the skill bands are applied consistently, remuneration is calculated on the basis of payment per hour. If an employment agreement details a number of different hourly payment rates, we will use the lowest rate to determine the employment skill-band. Where payment is by salary, and the number of hours worked each week can change, we may ask for evidence of the range of hours that will be worked. To be considered mid- or higher-skilled, every hour worked must be paid above the relevant threshold amount. A number of common payment scenarios are described below. Immigration New Zealand increases minimum income threshold for Residency & Work Visa Applications15/12/2017 The Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has quietly increased the minimum income threshold for residency and Essential Skill Work Visa applicants on Wednesday, December 13. The INZ website mentions that the thresholds are indexed against the New Zealand median income and as previously announced remuneration requirements are to be updated at the end of each calendar year based on New Zealand income data (which is released in September). This year the changes have been delayed until January to give employers and migrants enough time to adjust to the new thresholds. The change in threshold, though largely expected as per previous announcements by INZ, would bring further distress to many applicants who are already struggling with the recently introduced minimum income threshold requirement for residency and essential skill work visa. In April this year the then Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse has introduced minimum income threshold of $ 41,537.6 for being eligible for Essential Skill Work Visa. A minimum income threshold of $48,859.2 was introduced for resident visa application under Skilled Migrant Category (SMC). Essentially meaning that an applicant seeking residency on the basis of mid-skilled level employment will have to have a minimum annual income of $48,860. These changes were implemented by INZ from August 15. Today, INZ has quietly increased the minimum income requirement for essential skill work visa from $41,537.6 to $42,952, and for a resident visa from the current $48,859.2 to $50,523.2. The annual income is calculated for a standard 40 hour week for 52 weeks in a year. The changes in minimum income threshold will come into effect from January 15, 2018. The INZ website says that visas that people already hold will NOT be affected. The changes to the income thresholds will NOT affect the duration or conditions of visas that have already been granted. However, a new application made on or after 15 January will be assessed against the new threshold. This may mean the conditions or visa duration of the next visa could be different. For example, a chef paid $20 an hour would currently be considered mid-skilled, as the occupation is ANZSCO level 2 and the pay is above the existing threshold of $19.97. However, if he applied for a further visa after 15 January, he would be considered low skilled, unless his pay increased to above the new threshold of $20.65. To read the actual article, click here Down in Wellington, there’s a young Indian man managing a dairy. He also drives his employer and his wife around town, cooks dinner, cleans, and does other household chores. Racking up 120 hours, over seven days a week, he is paid about $5 an hour for his efforts. “They’re basically a slave”, immigration lawyer Alistair McClymont explains while recounting the tale, which he says is far from uncommon. While the tourism boom is easily noticed, there has also been a huge increase in recent years in the number of people arriving in New Zealand to study and work. A byproduct of that has been a rapid jump in visa fraud, migrant exploitation, and even human trafficking. In a recent interview with Newsroom, new Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said the visa system “lacked integrity” and was being abused. He had been shocked to read in a briefing that Immigration New Zealand (INZ) was investigating only a sliver of the fraud and exploitation complaints it received. In 2015/16 INZ investigated only a third of cases that met its criteria, with that number plunging to just 18 percent in the last financial year. Lees-Galloway blamed the issue on a lack of funding, but said finding extra money would be difficult. Immigration lawyers spoken to were far from shocked when told about the low investigation rate. Auckland-based McClymont said there was a myriad of fraud schemes, with employers who were experts at finding loopholes. “I’m not in the slightest bit surprised, I’m surprised it’s that high to be honest.” When he directed people to INZ to report fraud and abuse, nine out of 10 times they took a statement and never got back in touch, he said. Students were most at risk, having spent tens of thousands of dollars to get to New Zealand. Having invested so much they were desperate to stay and employers took advantage. “Some employers who have been accused say students have been lining up to work for 70, 80 hours for free because they’re desperate for residence visas,” McClymont said. Richard Fletcher, a Wellington-based immigration lawyer, agreed there was a strain on the system. He wondered whether INZ had the skills and expertise needed considering resource constraints and was curious about what their enforcement priorities were. “I’m looking forward to reading the briefings to incoming ministers and seeing what they’ve got to say about themselves.” Whether more of these cases can be dealt with will largely depend on whether INZ and its minister can find any extra money. Despite a 25 percent budget increase since 2015 most of the money had been soaked up by other areas and offset by the population increase. INZ assistant general manager Peter Devoy said the rise in the number of people partly explained the jump in fraud and exploitation cases, but not completely. “To some extent unsurprisingly the number of complaints have gone up, the extent to which they’ve gone up is the surprising aspect and it is something that is of concern that we’ve signalled to the Minister.” With the resources they had INZ was focusing on the pointy end of exploitation, with more minor complaints referred to other agencies or simply not being dealt with. Serious exploitation such as human trafficking was a priority, with the third prosecution currently before the courts. These were situations where people had been lured by the promise of a job but were being forced to work long hours for little pay. “The work we’re doing is good work, we’d like to be doing more of it. “There’s always more, it’s always that situation, there’s always another rock to turn over and go and have a look.” To read the actual article, visit here. |