Family Sponsorship update: INZ being taken to court.
Well – there’s a turn up for the books – and possibly a bit of relief for many of you (Eva?). It seems Amicus Barristers in Auckland are taking action of behalf of the Supreme Sikh Council, to try and force INZ to allow more time for people to get applications in for Family Sponsorship. By the time the change was officially announce, you had just three working days (Friday, Monday, Tuesday) to get your paperwork in. Which clearly would be almost impossible to achieve.
From memory – this is often the way it works : a change to policy is implemented, and the date given is the next day.
I for one am actually glad to see someone having the nous to stand up and say that this is highly unreasonable behavior.
The changes will only be implemented in July 2012; however Immigration New Zealand will not be accepting anymore applications from 15 May 2012 onwards. Many current applicants are in the process of putting together their residence application and are merely awaiting supporting documents such as medical and police certificates. However, with the sudden unannounced implementation of these changes, these applicants have been unable to gather their documents in time to lodge their residence applications before 15 May 2012. Their hopes and dreams of reuniting with their family members in New Zealand have now been destroyed.
Dr. Frank Deliu, on behalf of the Supreme Sikh Council, will be urgently applying to the High Court at Auckland to seek interim orders against Immigration New Zealand’s sudden policy changes. More specifically, Dr. Deliu will be arguing gross unfairness in relation to the short three working days’ notice in which to lodge applications under existing immigration policies.
Good luck – both to Amicus, and to everyone affected. I’ll do my best to keep you all updated.
Rimutaka Upgrade is finished!
State Highway 2′s infamous Muldoon’s Corner is no longer “tight and to the right”.
The project involved easing corners, widening and straightening out the road, installing guard rails and laying a new surface along a kilometre-long stretch.
Construction began on the Muldoon’s Corner safety improvements in August 2009, after it was brought forward two and a half years by the Government’s Jobs and Growth stimulus package. It was expected to be completed by the middle of this year.
“After two-and-a-half years of battling searing heat, horizontal rain, snow and 150km gales, we’ve got a safer, easier route for thousands of motorists to negotiate every day, and that’s a tremendous achievement.”
I am so impressed with the work on this. Yes – it makes the journey that little bit easier (there is still a really nasty bend on the Wairarapa side of the hill), a little bit quicker, and it a much better surface.
But on top of all that – the sheer scale of the work that was involved, and the pretty crap conditions the workers had to deal with – well – I take my hat off to the lot of them. And I for am very grateful.
NZ Mortgage rates coming down. Yay!
The reserve bank of New Zealand is keeping the base interest rate stable, and reports out today suggests that it going to stay where it is at 2.5% till at least 2013. And because the banks fixed rate mortgages are actually at higher rates than the floating rates, most people have come off their fixed mortgages, and are not re-fixing.
Which means that they can change banks without penalty. Which is not what the banks want right now.
So they are dropping rates, despite no change in the base rate.
Last week, Kiwibank brought out a 4.99% fixed rate for a year, as long as you had a 30% deposit. Its taken a few days, but apparently there was enough of an exodus of other bank customers to Kiwibank, that the other banks finally paid attention and stopped dropping thier rates as well.
ASB are now down to 5.25% fixed for a year – a drop from 5.75%. Not quite as good as Kiwibank, but still a good saving.
The most interesting thing is that these drops in new Zealand mean that the rates are actually meeting the rising rates in the UK. The UK still has Tracker rates at about 2.9%, but some of the Variable rates are around the 5% mark.
So, now is the time to negotiate. Over that past few years – I have honestly wondered why ASB had a “negotiations team” as no matter what I asked – the answer was always “no”. Which does not require a team of “negotiators”. However, now things are different, and I have managed to get a very nice rate on some of my mortgages.
All of our mortgages are now business ones, and we have just saved ourselves about $180 a month on our mortgage payments. That’s the equivalent of an extra $14 a week rent on each of our three rentals (with the added bonus that we get it even if the tenants don’t pay the rent one week!).
Or – just for Deborah!
That’s an extra 45 coffee’s a month!
My advise: be cheeky. Ask the bank to match the KiwiBank rate. They may say no – but they may say yes, and the savings can be considerable.
So for us – onwards and upwards. Or in fact, downwards, as we are now able to plow money into paying down our mortgages. We still have 2 revolving credit credit mortgages that we can pay down, while making the most of savings on the fixed rates.
Could you afford a 20% deposit on a house in New Zealand?
Filed under: Life in New Zealand, Property & General Investing
Apparently the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (bless their little cotton socks) are looking at enforcing 20% deposits on homes.
Maximum loans to 80 per cent of a property’s value were once common, requiring buyers to find 20 per cent deposits, but during the last property boom, banks lent up to 100 per cent. The 80 per cent limit was reintroduced as the 2008 credit crisis bit, but has since eased, with most banks now offering 95 per cent mortgages.
Reserve Bank deputy governor Grant Spencer has said the bank is considering introducing limits on the loan-to-value ratios banks use.
In some ways I can see their point. Within 12 months of the global financial crisis hitting New Zealand and causing a recession, I saw my first advert offering 95% mortgages – exactly the kind of lending that got everyone into this mess in the first place. So on the one hand, I do have some sympathy. This move isn’t just for buying your first home – it is also intended to stop people who already have a hone being able to continually re-finance and increase the mortgage.
Having seen the chaos that kind of thing can cause for people – I can also see the point in placing limits on refinancing.
I guess my problem is that I really don’t trust the Reserve Bank any more than I trust the retail banks.
So – bear this in mind. As an immigrant – you may be expected to pay a substantially bigger deposit for your dream home than you were expecting. And given that the exchange rate is still languishing at around the $2: GBP mark – this could have a marked affect on your plans.
WARNING – Adult Child and Sibling Category closes on May 16th 2012.
This means if you want to sponsor a brother or sister – you need to have your application in and accepted on Monday or Tuesday next week. Thanks to Eva for the heads-up.
After that this category will close forever, and those us with family members who have no other option to bring family in – are stuffed. I can only imagine the misery and distress this will cause for many people. I know how devastated I would have been if they had closed it down before we managed to get my brother’s application in.
From the INZ Website:
What is changing?
The Sibling and Adult Child Category is closing permanently.
When is the Sibling and Adult Child Category closing?
The Sibling and Adult Child Category will close from 16 May 2012 Immigration New Zealand (INZ) will not accept applications under this category from this date onward.
I have already lodged an application under the Sibling and Adult Child Category. Will it be processed?
Yes. Any applications for residence under the Sibling and Adult Child Category that were accepted for processing by INZ on or before 15 May 2012 will be processed. These will need to meet the requirements of the residence instructions that were in place at the time the application was accepted by INZ.
In what order will existing Sibling and Adult Child applications be processed?
Existing Sibling and Adult Child applications will be processed with other Parent Category applications in date order, only after tier one Parent Category EOIs and if numbers allow. Please see Frequently Asked Questions on the Parent Category changes for more information on this.
The number of people who can be granted residence through the Sibling and Adult Child Category each year is limited. This number is determined by the New Zealand Residence Programme and the number of people approved through other New Zealand residence categories.
How long will it take to process applications already lodged under the Sibling and Adult Child Category?
It can take several years from the time of lodgement with INZ to process Sibling and Adult Child applications.
I was going to apply for residence under the Sibling and Adult Child Category but now I can’t. How else could I gain New Zealand residence?
You may be able to make an application under another residence category. New Zealand has several other residence categories – these include family-based, skills-based, investment-based, and humanitarian categories. Information on each of these is available on the Immigration New Zealand (INZ) website www.immigration.govt.nz. We encourage you to search through the options available.
Yeah – great – but the whole point of this category was to give people like us the ability to bring family with us who wouldn’t be able to come in through other means, and therefore retain us as skilled migrants. Without that we would have done what many others have – and done our two years – got our permanent visa, buggered off and come back to retire when we no longer have family to miss.
If you have adult siblings who could get in to New Zealand any other way – trust me you would not go through the highly arduous sponsorship system in the first place.
Why are they doing this?
Well, according to reports only 66% of adult sibling/child applicants have a job after 18 months of residency. I’m surprised its that high to be honest. But clearly the government doesn’t want our family members taking benefits. Why they cant just change the rules to say that anyone gaining residency has to be supported by us forever is beyond me.
And bear in mind, there are currently only 2,500 applications in the queue right now. All from migrants who have had residency and given their lives to New Zealand for at least 3 years. Much longer if they also had to sponsor parents first. There are about 2000 applications on hand under the Humanitarian stream – which includes quotas from various pacific Islands. I would be interested in knowing the proportion of applicant under those streams who do not have jobs after 18 months. I imagine it would be a lot higher than for adult siblings – so if that is really the concern – surely the Pacific Island quotas need to be closed down as well?
Finally apologies for not catching this sooner. The date for closure was announced on the 10th May, but i didn’t see it. Thanks to Eva for letting us know.
INZ does the right thing – sort of.
The other day we recieved and published a comment from a Fernando Silva who had applied for the Silver Fern Visa, had his application accepted and money taken, then had the acceptance reversed due to a technical glitch.
Well, it seems that 306 people were in the same boat.
The silver fern visa is capped at 300 place a year, and basically “sells out” within about half an hour of the quota opening.
INZ did “the right thing” and decided to honor the applications of the people affected, so hopefully Fernando is now going to get his chance to come to New Zealand.
However….
The issue with the silver fern visa is that most people who manage to get one do not get jobs in the 9 months they are are here, and have to leave: disillusioned and out of pocket. Adding an extra 606 people into that mix is not going to help, and has met with resistance and complaints.
So on the one hand – Immigration for once actually behaved with some decency, and sorted out it’s cock-up from the point of view of the applicants, but on the other they may have just made the success rate of the visa even worse. On the whole though – I am personally giving INZ credit on this one – it’s nice to see them acknowledge and make right one of their frequent mistakes. (I cant help thinking it was more that they really didn’t want to refund the over $70,000!)
A pretty funny quote from one of the articles:
Declined Malaysian applicant Andy Chew, an IT professional, said the computer error showed all the more why New Zealand needed migrants like him to lift the technology and skill levels in New Zealand.
Anyway – Good Luck Fernando. Wish you all the best!
Finally NZ women can get free long term contraception.
I guess when you move to a new country, it’s inevitable that as many things that delight you, so too will many things shock you about how things work. Things you take for granted at home – work differently in your new home, and some of them are likely to have you scratching your head if it’s what you are used to, and yo happen to think it was a great idea.
Health costs in New Zealand are a good example – especially for Brits with our government funded National Health Service – which means we do not pay to go and see the Doctor, and prescriptions are free for most people, and a flat rate for the few that pay. (Although you need to remember that workers in the UK have to pay an extra 11% tax to cover the cost of welfare which includes the NHS.)
Contraceptives are always free in the UK. Pills, IUD and implants are free via prescriptions, and condoms are available free of charge through Family Planning Centers.
Here in New Zealand, while some contraceptives are free, the visit to get the prescription for some types – the longer acting ones – isn’t – which a charge to see the doctor (around $30-$60) and a charge for the prescription itself.
Now the government is changing the rules so that women on low incomes will be able to get the prescription and doctors visit for free – something that in my opinion should not be charged for in the first place. The thought that women may not be able to access contraceptives because they can’t afford them is beyond belief – especially in such a low wage country where poverty is rampant.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett today announced the Government will spend $1 million to pay for doctors’ visits and long-acting reversible contraception for beneficiaries aged 16-18.
The funded contraception will include intrauterine devices, injections and implants, which will later be extended to the wider beneficiary population.
Of course – only in New Zealand would this be met by some as an insult to women and claims that this is forcing them to stop having children. Apparently I come from a country that has ZERO respect for women’s reproductive rights and we are a country people by monsters. I would say that the (mostly women) screaming about how cruel this is, should hang their heads in shame for wanting to maintain a status quo that removes a women’s choice to control her own body because she can’t afford to. Family Planning should not be available only to well off women.
The change will not force women to use contraception – but it will allow women who want it and cant afford it to have it. I just wish this was available free of charge to ALL women here.
Finally.
The downside of snapper
Well, after about a year of owning a Snapper card and making use of public transport for really the first time in my life – I lost my card this morning.
Snapper is a pretty nifty system all-in-all – especially for someone like me who has long ago lost the knack of carrying and paying with cash. I still walk most of the time, but there are just days when I can’t be bothered to walk back across town – or I’m in a hurry.
Now – I had registered my Snapper Card – so having called the places that I could think of where I might have dropped the card with no luck – it was time to log on and report the card missing.
The downside I thought was that I have just lost all the cash still sitting on the card. About $19.
Not so.
As well as blocking the card so that no one who picks it up can use it – you get a number you can use after 24 hours (if the card has not been found) to transfer any balance to a new card.
So all I will be out of pocket for is the $10 I need to pay for a new card. Although I may go for a Snapper Mini this time at $15 and stick it on my key ring.
I’ve worked out that in the time I had my first snapper card, I also saved about $18 in bus fares – because a $2.00 fare costs $1.50 if you pay by Snapper. So with the $10 for the card, and three top-ups which cost 25c each – from a monetary point view the savings have basically paid for the card. If I hadn’t gone and lost it – we would now be ahead.
Ho hum.
Should a Union be able to stop you getting a visa and immigrating?
The actors union, non content to keep schtum after getting the crap kicked out of them in 2010 for trying to make out thye were the most important people involved in the making of the Hobbit (even though none of them were in it), they are still whinging about the film and still trying to use it for their own needs. At the heart of this issue is that Equity New Zealand appear to have the right to veto an immigration application for an overseas actor if they think it would harm local workers.
I think that’s outrageous! I don’t see why Actors should be any different than any other industry that doesn’t get to veto immigration decisions – its nothing to do with the unions. Immigration rules mean that anyone coming in on a temporary work visa has to have their job Market Tested. I.e – you have to show that there is no Kiwi that can do the job. Skilled Migrants do not have to pass this requirement.
Now ok – actors are basically on temporary visas – but then as an actor many people get a job because of who they are not what they do. Tom Cruise doesn’t get a role because hes an “actor” – he gets the job because hes Tom Cruise. You can’t replace Tom Cruise with A N Other actor currently starring in Shortland Street.
The documents show Kiwi director Sir Peter Jackson, who received personal post-Cabinet briefings from Brownlee, rated the union vetting of foreign actors as one of only two “key issues” in the debate.
Days before Prime Minister John Key announced a deal had been cut with Warners to keep The Hobbit production in New Zealand, Brownlee’s office emailed Jackson an assurance that Warners did not need to worry about access for foreign actors.
“We have and can continue to give Warners a guarantee that we will back casting decisions through immigration processes. In the end, the New Zealand Government – and not any other party – will determine who can enter the country,” Jackson was told.
The papers showed that in “several cases” the associate immigration minister had approved entry for foreign actors after the union Actors Equity would not support them.
NZ Actors Equity president Jennifer Ward-Lealand said the union was concerned that the Government had “undermined” the immigration processes in place at the time.
“These rules seek to determine whether the production would ‘put at risk the employment of New Zealand entertainers’ and whether ‘appropriate consideration has been given to employing available New Zealand entertainers’,” Ward-Lealand said.
“There is not one instance where an overseas production has pulled out of shooting in New Zealand because of our consultative role.”
Brownlee, however, said the visa issues were “vitally important” and could not be subject to veto by a union group.
To be honest – the Unions in New Zealand right now are being a pain in the arse about everything. I have very little time for them, and find them contemptible. I am sure they are only kicking up a stink because the government isn’t currently Labour – and I find it shocking that they did nothing to help workers when there was a Labour government here. Work conditions in New Zealand are not great – and Labour didn’t do much to improve the lot of workers. Neither did the unions – until there was a new government. Call me cynical but …
“Who should determine who can come into New Zealand or not, I think you’d have to say it is the Government’s right to do that.”
While I am not 100% sure I agree with that – I would say more its the employers – who are the ones paying us to work here after all – the fact remains the government is the body that decides on Immigration Policy – and decides whether the rest of us can come in or not. The fact that as an Actor my plans to emigrate could be bashed on the head by a group of jumped up “luvvies” would somewhat reduce my desire to try emigrating.
Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly said “the immigration issue” had been “kept hidden” as part of discussions with Warners.
“Alongside the change in [employment] law, the $30m [in tax credits], they agreed to remove opportunity for New Zealand performers to work,” Kelly said.
“New Zealanders wouldn’t have liked to know that our borders were being opened up … what is the benefit to New Zealand? [Actors' Equity] were working to have some standards around immigration in the industry.”
Standards in New Zealand acting???
I also wish that people would not speak about what New Zealanders (all of us?) want without actually asking first. Right now, according to all be-it non official polls, most people actually don’t seem to support the unions as a whole here. And the many thousands of people who stood up and supported the other non-actor workers on the Hobbit also don’t seem to back this claim from Helen Kelly.
And besides – who the hell else would play Gandalf other than a definitely-not-Kiwi Ian McKellen? Having people like him allowed to come here and work is a HUGE benefit. There are already standards in Immigration – bloody tough ones. Why should acting be any different than Medicine, IT, Accounting, Teaching, Nursing?
It shouldn’t. And Actors Equity needs to stop trying to make out they are special.
Supermoon
Tonight we got some wonderful views of the “supermoon”: a larger than normal looking moon due to its proximity to earth. Apologies for the pictures not being excellent – I only have a simple camera.
Views from the Botanical Gardens overlooking the city:
And one from the waterfront.
Updated: Best photos so far by Ian Cooper at the Palmerston North Astronomical Society.
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