INZ incompetance or just plain old bribery?
This weekend the papers all over the world are full of the news that the bosses of MegaUpload have been arrested in New Zealand. MegaUpload is apparently a hub for filesharing pirated tv/movies. Which clearly is highly illegal and should be stomped on forthwith.
Kim “Dotcom” (what a bloody pretentious name), was arrested. He’s German, but has New Zealand Residency.
Now most of the news is about his nefarious dealing in the world of illegal Internet downloads, and his mega luxury lifestyle.
What I want to concentrate on is the Immigration side of this.
Because Kim “I need a silly name” Shmitz, was refused a residency visa on the grounds that he failed the good character test. Now the information in the news is a bit sketchy on this point, but quoting directly from the Dom Post At the weekend:
“his New Zealand residency initially failed the “good character” test, but was granted after he invested $10 million in government bonds”.
Any one else think heads should be rolling at INZ???? Winston Peters MP does and is asking pointed questions of the government. Which I think he needs to do. INZ hound people to breaking point over good character and health issues. Apart from the fact that this guy did have convictions for Internet Piracy and insider trading, he seems also to be way too overweight to have ever passed the BMI 35 or under test. Was he even refered to the Medical Assesors?
BMI <35? Hmmmm.
Amazing just what $10,000,000 can buy you in New Zealand if you know who to pay it to.
A quote from INZ says:
In a statement, the Immigration Service said that “Mr Dotcom made full disclosure of his previous convictions and they were taken into account in the granting of his residence. The Immigration Act allows for discretion to be exercised in certain cases. In this particular case, Immigration NZ weighed the character issue and any associated risk to New Zealand against potential benefits to New Zealand”.
I.e. we don’t actually care if your health is a cost to New Zealand and we don’t actually care if you are a criminal mastermind, as long as you give the NZ government $10,000,000 we will let you in, no problem. On the other hand, if you are a “normal” human being, with a career you have worked hard at, a family you love, and you happen to be a bit over weight – then “Bugger off because you are a danger to New Zealand and our wonderful country has to be protected from you and your filth ever costing us a cent.”
Now interestingly, in one article about this reported some questions put to John Key (Prime Minister), he is quoted as saying that INZ made this decision to accept his good character without reference to the Immigration Minister. Which means they were even slightly concerned. Which also means that they need to take full responsibility for their decision. Bet they won’t.
Another question is: does the New Zealand Government have to return the $10,000,000 in bribes investment funds as they are likely the result of “ill gotten gains”? Will those assests be frozen? Are they part of the MPAA FBI case?
Sometimes, even with my own personal animosity towards Immigration New Zealand taken into account, they manage to sicken me with their ability to make decisions based on how rich you are and ignore how you got the money.
Immigration Updates.
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Immigration Advisers, NZIS & Immigration issues
There’s actually been quite a lot happening on the immigration front here – I’e just been too lazy (and too depressed by it all) to blog about it. So Instead of writing an stream of rather sad and depressing posts – I decided to do it in one short sharp shock, and write an update instead.
1/ Immigration New Zealand being idiotic over relationship statuses.
It’s an annoyance that never seems to go away – but another couple are being harassed my INZ over the fact that INZ don’t believe their relationship is real. They have a baby together, and they are in fact married – but that is not enough for the bean counters and paper shufflers at INZ.
Despite him being married and with a child on the way, Immigration NZ visa services manager Jan Clark said proof of a shared home, finances, belongings and household chores were required to prove they were a genuine couple.
Marriage certificate and – dare I say it – an advanced pregnancy – isn’t enough???? A few years ago, I came across a poster on a forum who had to go through this farce despite being married for 40 years. Before joint bank accounts were common. At the end of the day lack of knowledge on the part of immigration staff does not constitute a lack of relationship on an immigrants part. So this isn’t a one-off situation.
Joint Bank Accounts and bills. It’s a necessity if you don’t want to have to deal with this kind of crap.
2/ More Kiwi’s employ slave immigrant labour.
This it has to be said, affects mostly ethnic minority or pacific islander immigrants, who seem to be less confident and knowledgeable about their rights and the law. That is not to say that western immigrants don’t get similar treatment, but it tends to be of a lesser scale (paid considerably less, conned into taking 2 year work visa positions and forced to do a job that differs markedly from that applied for or you lose your visa- that sort of thing).
In this case – a Wellington “businesswoman” – whose identity is protected by name suppression laws, employed 2 Fijians, did not pay them the minimum wage, and did not pay them holiday pay. She also employed them illegally while they were here on visitors visas.
3/ Immigration Adviser holds on to a passport for over a year.
This is a bit of an odd one, as I can’t find the adviser listed at the IAA, even under past licence holders. So hopefully this guy, Piliki Talanoa, will be prosecuted under the Immigration Advisers Licencing Act. His client, a hairdresser by trade, gave him the passport last September in order to get a work visa renewal. The agent apparetly closed his office down last month, at which point the police managed to get the passport back.
Mr Talanoa says Mr Cohen changed his mind about which category visa he wanted to apply for and that caused the delay, a claim Mr Cohen strongly denies.
A hairdresser by trade, Mr Cohen says he’s pleased to have his passport back and hopes to have a new work permit approved by Immigration New Zealand. But the delays have cost him the chance to apply for residency, he says.
“I have to apply for a work permit from the beginning.”
His advice to other people seeking work permits is to deal directly with Immigration New Zealand.
Mr Talanoa wouldn’t discuss why he abandoned his former office in Otahuhu so suddenly.
But property manager Johan Ackerman says Mr Talanoa had already left the property when the owners showed up to evict him.
Hmmm, there’s a story there – including why he doesn’t appear to have ever held an Immigration Advisers licence. Of course the IAA has no authority to read this article and act on its contents unless someone makes a complaint. The police haven’t charged Mr Talanoa with anything. Question is: why not?
4/ A good news story – 102 year old bypasses the system.
I say good news – as it undoubtedly is for the lady who has been given a 3 year visitor visa instead of the normal 6 months, and for her daughter. It’s not so good though for the hundreds if not thousands of people who refused help or consideration from the Immigration Ministry. So on the one hand I am chuffed to bits about this one, on the other hand it annoys me considerably.
The details are that Louise Sydes UK rest home was being closed, and rather than be relocated, she wanted to move to be with her daughter in Auckland. They contacted the Immigration Minsiter’s office and appear to have just asked them to let her stay. Ive read 2 articles about this – neither of them mention anything about going via Immigration New Zealand, or applying for residency via the family stream, or indeed having to pass the stringent medical tests.
Speaking from New Zealand her daughter Sue Pearson said she was ‘excited’.
She said: ‘Usually family members are only allowed to come for six months but we wrote to the minister of immigration who granted us permission for her to come and live with us.
Given the desperate needs of some people I have come across to get a visa to live in New Zealand, and the crap they have to go through to get it – IF they get it (often they don’t)- I cant help but be a little angry about this. It does kinda make a mockery out of the pain of other families who are refused the right to live together.
5/ Another Indian family facing deportation.
Pooja Kapila, whose husband Satinder is in Waikeria Prison awaiting deportation, was so desperate to avoid what she says is the death sentence of being returned to the slums of the Punjab that she refused to sign the documents presented to her at their Te Puke home on October 21.
They have been living here in New Zealand for 10 years. They have three children, one of them is a New Zealand citizen by birth, having been born here just one year after they arrived. This was before the loophole allowing this to happen was closed. Now I’m probably going to come over as heartless and cold on this – but I really think in case like this we cannot keep holding INZ to blame. Often from reading these kinds of articles, I find I end up making a judgement (based on very little information) about whether I feel the families should be allowed to stay or not. I really cant work out why in other cases I feel compassion, but in this one I don’t. Perhaps it’s because the third child was born so soon after arriving, perhaps it’s because after 10 years of living in New Zealand Mrs Kapila needs an interpreter. Perhaps it’s because once again “celebrity” Immigration Adviser Tuariki Delamere is involved.
As is often the case with these articles – they are full of emotion, and short on facts. As is also often the case, the comments with the article are somewhat enlightening.
Why you need marine insurance when you emigrate.
See those “boxes” tipping over on the back of that ship? Some of those could contain the household goods of people moving to New Zealand. The Rena has been run aground on a reef near Tauranga. For ease – the Dom Post has a nifty The Story So Far section:
Wednesday, October 5
2.20am: Rena, a Liberia-flagged 235m vessel, was heading to Tauranga from Napier when it crashed into the Astrolabe Reef, about 7km north of Motiti Island. Maritime NZ said the cargo ship, which was carrying 1900 tonnes of fuel, was on a 10-degree list and some fuel had leaked from its hydraulic pumps.
Thursday, October 6
-An early morning flight by MNZ confirmed an oil slick stretching 2 kilometres.
-Four dead birds were found, covered in oil. An oiled wildlife response team was mobilised.
-The Director of Maritime New Zealand issued the owners with two notices. One, that a reputable salvor be appointed. Two, that MNZ can take control if it deems it necessary and the vessel owner must comply with the National On Scene Commander’s directions.
Friday, October 7
-Four little blue penguins and two shags affected by oil were rescued from Motiti Island. Six teams of responders are deployed and joined by 10 more teams on Saturday.
Saturday, October 8
-Fresh oil is spotted leaking from the cargo ship, which is on an 11-degree list, MNZ confirms.
-Specialists from around New Zealand and Australia join the more than 100-member strong oil spill response team led by MNZ. Three hundred defence force personnel are on standby.
Sunday, October 9
-Oil recovery teams head out on the water to collect oil. The oiled wildlife response is continuing
-About 10 tonnes of oil is pumped from the Rena to the bunker barge Awanuia.
Monday, October 10
-3500 tonnes of oily water has been recovered and offloaded at the Port of Tauranga.
-Clumps of oil are found washed up on the beach.
-Awanuia is currently alongside Rena and preparations are underway to transfer oil from Rena to the Awanuia, weather permitting.
Tuesday, October 11
- Environment Minister Nick Smith calls the incident our worst environmental disaster.
- Stormy weather in the region makes the clean-up difficult
- Maritime New Zealand issue warnings for volunteers to stop picking up clumps of oil.
Now, the captain of the ship is being charged, and faces a fine of upto $10,000 or 1 year in jail. His ship is leaking oil which will do substantial damage to the New Zealand environment and we have to pay to clean up his mess.
$10,000 or 1 year jail! That 10% of the fine, and 14% of the jail time he could face if he got caught giving immigration advice without a licence.
But that aside – what would you do if that happened to the ship carrying your containing?
I despise insurance companies – especially with the sickening way they are behaving in New Zealand right now with regard to the earthquake in Christchurch – but I also know I would stump up the cash and pay the premium to insure all my worldly goods when shipping them half way round the world.
Our shipping insurance cost £1,390 7 years ago (blimey was it really that long). It was 3% of the value of what we shipped. Looking at that listing ship – which is by all accounts about to break apart – I am glad we did.
Why are Licenced Immigration Agents STILL guaranteeing visas?
Lets get one thing absolutely clear. No One can guarantee you a visa.
No One.
If an agent – licenced or otherwise says they can. They are lying.
So why are they still doing it - and why are people still falling for it? This isn’t new – agents have always done it and immigrants have always fallen for it- but with licencing – this should have stopped. So it is with a high level of concern that I read on stuff that a couple have been screwed by a Licenced Agent and have lost $6,500 to the jackass.
An English woman says she is “heartbroken” that her dream of living in Nelson was destroyed after a Golden Bay immigration adviser lost his licence last month.
British resident Nicola McGeorge said she and her husband Andrew lost all their hard-earned savings, and their dream of moving to New Zealand, after Glen Standing, owner of immigration advisory company Living New Zealand, was unable to help them.
The company went into liquidation last month after Mr Standing was fined more than $20,000 and had his licence cancelled by the Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal for giving wrong advice to a client.
Unfortunately you don’t seem to be able to link directly to a single decision at the IACDT – which I think is just lousy. But there are 2 claims against Glen Standing that you can read. This is probably the reason he has gone into liquidation – fines and compensation over 2 cases totally more than $20,000. Reading the documents – I have absolutely no sympathy – not only did he give crap advise, he lied to cover it up (well there’s a shock – but why is it OK for INZ staff to do that but costs Agents thousands of $$$?) His company also held back passports until fees has been paid – something that was at the heart of the reasons for setting up the IALA in the first place.
But again in saying that – the whole point of the IALA was to stop people like Tuariki Delamere being able to operate as an Immigration agents – and he has a licence.
Mrs McGeorge claims that Mr Standing promised he could get her husband an IT job, and told them they had to be prepared to move within three months.
The couple, who have a five-month-old daughter, made an initial payment of $6500 but then heard nothing from Mr Standing, who did not reply to their emails or requests for phone calls, she said.
Mrs McGeorge had already made a complaint to the Immigration Advisers Authority (IAA) when she found out from Mr Standing that his company was in liquidation.
She said Mr Standing offered to carry on their job search, but she declined and asked for their file of personal documents to be returned.
Now I firmly believe that Immigration agents should immediately stop acting as recruitment agents and promising that they can get people jobs. In exactly the same way they demand that anyone not licenced to be an immigration agent cant possible do the job as well as they can – it is sheer unadulterated hypocrisy to claim that immigration agents can act as recruitment agents. They should stop conning people. They should be told by the IAA that it is not their job to do that – and they should be forced to hand clients over to proper job agencies.
She had applied to the liquidators of Mr Standing’s company, but it looked unlikely that they would get their money back, given the amount he owed, she said.
After contacting other clients of Mr Standing, she was “horrified” to receive more than 10 emails from people all over the world who had similar experiences with him, Mrs McGeorge said.
“Several of these people had to go back home and write off the money as a bad experience.
“Some have complained to the IAA, like me, but others didn’t know what to do.”
It shocks me that even now people using licenced agents don’t know how to make complaints. I would say this is a failing of the IAA – perhaps they should spend less time working with INZ to get the best deal for their agents and spend more time doing what they are supposed to do - protecting the immigrants.
She said she was “heartbroken”, as she and her husband could not afford to replace the money they had lost.
“Our dream of moving to New Zealand has crashed. We visited back in 2009 and loved it and the people.”
Mr Standing said the contractual agreement Living New Zealand had with clients was to obtain residency for them not to find them a job.
Hes used this excuse at the tribunal – they didn’t think much of it either.
“We assisted people to get a job, but we did not guarantee anyone a job. It was down to them to get it, not us. The employer employs them ultimately. We just broke down the barriers to that did the vetting and guaranteed a visa, which makes that transition into the process a lot smoother and easier.”
Seriously – when is the IAA going to take a stand in this. It is just not possible – INZ are the SOLE agency that has the power to grant a visa. No agent can guarantee how INZ will decide. They can tell you they are pretty sure you will be able to get through – but they cannot guarantee you a Visa.
Mr Standing said he had about 140 clients when the company went into liquidation.
He was “surprised” to hear of unhappy clients, and no-one had contacted him with complaints, Mr Standing said.
Clients had to be patient, as “the liquidation of a business is not a two-minute job”, but he said those owed money would “absolutely get that money back”.
Actually it’s highly unlikely. Liquidation is not an easy process. Client fees should be safe because they should be in a separate trust account – but then on of the cases against Glen Standing suggests they he didn’t operate the trust account properly so it’s anyone’s guess if that money is still there.
The liquidators were working through that now, and were looking at selling the business, and database, he said.
There had been some interest from potential buyers, including immigration advisers, who could take on existing clients.
He was also able to continue working in an administrative role, and was currently dealing with quite a few existing clients in that capacity, he said.
I would be very wary if I was one of those and I would be getting my money out and dealing with my application direct.
He was unable to say how much in total he owed clients or other businesses.
A spokesman for the Immigration Advisers Authority said they had received a further two complaints against Mr Standing after his licence was cancelled on August 15.
Authority registrar Barry Smedts said $45,000 had been awarded to migrants by the tribunal in the last month.
Anyone who had received bad immigration advice could complain to the authority, he said.
“People can raise the issue even if the adviser is no longer working in immigration.
“The law allows complaints up to two years after an adviser’s licence expires, is cancelled or surrendered.”
Anyone thinking of using a licensed adviser should check the authority’s online register of licensed immigration advisers first.
“This way you know their advice is of a set standard and you are more likely to get your money back if things go wrong.”
Actually it doesn’t – as this case shows. All the IAA list does is shows you who get a licence – it does NOT show you that the advise is of a set standard. The advice coming out of some of these licenced agents is laughable – be clearly that Glen Standing is not the only agent pulling this kind of crap – hes just one unlucky enough to have pissed of clients who are prepared to complain. We know of plenty of people fobbed off with the same crap advice – they just didn’t complain and left NZ in disgust. You are also not more likely to get your money back – especially if the agent liquidates – which is common practice here in NZ.
I think it is telling that in all the tribunal decisions I have read through, the statement that keeps coming up from the tribunal is:
To establish the profession, a relatively low threshold was applied.
I think this is something that people must remember. Very few agents are registered – but there were very low standards applied for them to get a license – so it cannot be trusted. Until such time as these people have to undergo proper professional level training – they will never be a profession. Giving someone a piece of paper and a seal does not make them a professional.
I wish the McGeorge’s all the luck in the world and I hope that eventually they get to make their dream come true. Hopefully they will now have learned that trusting an Immigration Agent is no better now after licencing than it was before. If you want to immigrate to New Zealand YOU must learn the ropes and understand the processes – doing that will save you thousands of dollars and a whole heap of hassle. If you want to use an Agent – fair enough – that’s your choice – but do not assume that because they have the licence they will know what they are doing – and do not fall for they crap that using Licenced Immigration Agent will guarantee you a visa. It won’t.
On the plus side – at least the tribunal is finally up and running and doing something. Bit I think it also needs to be said that all this – and proper qualifications – needed to be in place BEFORE licencing came into affect instead of this half cocked silly mess we have now.
Emigrants (and prawns) by Stewart Lee
With many thanks to Christine for sharing this on Facebook – and really cheering me up after a rotten morning.
Come to the Rugby World Cup – get spammed by INZ.
In what can only be described as blatant bloody hypocrisy after the previous 2 posts, immigration arrival cards you fill in when entering New Zealand will now ask if you are visiting for the Rugby World Cup.
If you are, and your occupation shows you are employees in a skill set we need, immigration will be sending you marketing marieria to entice you to emigrate and come here.
You just cant make this up.
A Labour Department spokesman said possible privacy implications of using people’s personal information were being discussed with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
Unfortunately, the Labour Department Spokesman seems to be entirely unaware that the Department of Internal Affairs has responsibility for a small niggly little law called The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007. Usually called the Anti-Spam law.
It says that you cannot send emails to people that have not explicitly or implicitly agreed to let you do so. If you send such email, you are breaking the law. It doesn’t matter if you are the immigration department, it’s illegal under New Zealand law. Also, if youcollect someone’s email address for one purpose, but then use it for a different purpose, you are breaking the law. The New Zealand labour party just found that out after being made to look really stupid.
The privacy commissioner has little to do with this. The New Zealand customs service “own” the forms and thus the information on them, and they already have the abilty and right to share that with certain other government departments. Presumably there are already rules that cover that. However that is very different from using that information for marketing – that is nothing to do with the privacy commisioner. But it is a very NZ Government thing to do to get tacit permission off the wrong person, so that you can say you checked and were told everything was fine. We are supposed to ignore that they asked the “convenient” question and forgot to ask the question that would be answered by “Actually, no you can’t do that – it’s illegal!”
Acting head of immigration Craig Owen said the intention was to capitalise on visitors’ initial impressions. “Having seen the country, they might be interested in returning with a view to obtaining residence under one of the skilled migrant or business categories. Marketing such as this is in the interests of economic growth via tourism, study and immigration – we want Rugby World Cup 2011 visitors to consider returning to live, work and/or play.”
Sorry – I thought we just wanted them to buy overpriced tickets, beer (as long as its Heineken) food and hotel rooms.
Iinformation given on arrival cards would be used “over the longer term” to market New Zealand opportunities, including targeting people with occupations for which New Zealand has significant shortages.
“While the Labour Department has ongoing migrant attraction programmes, this one has been designed specifically to take advantage of an expected 85,000 World Cup visitors.”
This is so wrong: its a blatant (and illegal) misuse of information that you HAVE to give. You cannot not fill out the form, though you could just not give an email address. But that information should not be used for marketing – anything. And should Immigration want to use it for such a purpose – they have to add a box you can tick to say you don’t mind receiving marketing bullshit from them.
In which case why not go the whole hog, cut the pretence, and add a second box allowing them to share your information with “trusted third party providers (such as immigration advisers???) who will also send you marketing bullshit”.
Those who might expect to be targeted include engineers, surveyors, regional planners, early childhood and secondary school teachers, anaesthetists, audiologists, midwives, social workers, IT staff, chefs, mechanics, ship captains and film animators.
Institution of Professional Engineers chief executive Andrew Cleland said there had been a shortage of engineers here for about a decade. After the Christchurch earthquake, structural engineers in particular were in hot demand.
But he warned that overseas engineers would still need training in New Zealand industry codes.
Ah yes – the whole “we need you – we just don’t want to pay you, so we will make you retrain, because really we don’t want to admit you may have better skills than we do”.
Information on arrivals cards is used by agencies including Customs, the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, Immigration, Statistics NZ, police, and the health, justice, tourism and transport ministries.
That is indeed what it is supposed to be for. Not for marketing.
Just embarrassing – how can INZ have staff this stupid making such appalling decisions. And I personally believe they are doing this because tourists may not be aware that INZ are acting illegally in emailing them this way.
Big changes to immigration policy kept very quiet. Pt 2
While we were looking at this, we noticed that INZ published an update on the 8th July about changes to the skilled migrants policy. It hasn’t been in the papers – all that hit the news was the affect on foreign students and how much money NZ stands to lose if students stop coming here.
It’s still all about the money!
Anyway, as of 25th July 2011, you will now get less points for lower qualifications. So New Zealand is now tipping the points towards PhD’s.
But here is the real important bit, buried in the notes at the bottom. So vitally important to potential immigrants, yet snuck in with not a peep out of anyone.
Applicants with qualifications in an area of absolute skill shortage will no longer be able to automatically obtain residence without skilled employment.
That is actually a fundamental change to the way the Skilled Migrant Category works, and has always worked. Oddly enough, when it was first brought out it was always supposed to stop people getting visas without having a job. But you would never be able do that in a 2 part system where you can enter the pool (for a fee) with 100 points but you have to set the points level to be taken out of the pool so that people who needed the job offer to get to 100 points could be taken out. It would always be the case that some people could get higher points without a job offer and thus get selected from the pool.
In one phrase they have allowed themselves a “get out clause” to not select you from the pool if you do not have a job offer.
Now in principle, I have to kinda say that on one hand that is fine. To a point. We are still going through a world wide financial crisis, and NZ has a stonkingly major problem having to deal with one of its major cities being a pile of rubble. Giving jobs to immigrants at a time like that is perhaps not the best move. But only to a point. We still have skills shortages. Not everyone in Christchurch who needs work has the skills needed, and some people frankly do not want to leave their city. And while youth unemployment figures are apparently rising, unemployment for others isn’t, so there really isn’t a huge pool of workers available anyway.
So: the issue here – right now emigrating to New Zealand is harder than it was. Couple that with the fact that it is hideously expensive because of the crap exchange rates – you need to think REALLY hard about the pros and cons. Do you homework. And then do it again, but what ever you do – make sure you know your chances, you know the rules and you know what you are letting yourself in for.
If New Zealand is still your dream – then go for it. If you are not sure – wait. Immigration policy, like house prices and exchange rates runs in cycles, and it will get easier at some point.
Did we emigrate to New Zealand or Maoriland?
Today’s Dom Post talks about new signs being erected at the entrance to the Kapiti Coast region. It seems they will have “Macron” above the “a”, which makes it a long vowel rather than a short vowel. So it would be pronounced Car-Pity rather than Ka-Piti which is how most people say it.
The addition of the Macron is happening in other areas as well, and from what I can tell is designed to improve pronunciation and more accurately reflect the Maori language.
So where is the problem?
Well, i guess there will always be people who object to anyone not speaking English. I personally feel it is the one language everyone should know, even if it isn’t their first language, and yo would be at a disadvantage of you didn’t. But the crux of this particular issue is that a Mr Warriner believes Kapiti with a macron actually spells Cabbage.
Well, that I leave to the linguists!
What I find troubling though is this quote:
Last year Paraparaumu resident Martin Warriner forced the council to back down over its use of macrons in “Kapiti” in legal documents, including his personalised rates invoice.
Mr Warriner, an English immigrant, insisted he had emigrated to New Zealand, not to “Maoriland”.
Now yes, he like myself migrated to a place called New Zealand. How does that in anyway detract from the fact that New Zealand has two official languages, one of the being Te Reo Maori? We emigrated to a place that is Bi-Lingual, and has a history and culture that is sometimes different from the one we left behind. While I certainly do not (and never will) buy into the notion that only Maori in New Zealand have a “culture”, I refuse to buy into the same rubbish that says their culture has no meaning.
I am proud of my heritage and culture – why shouldnt any Maori be equally proud of theirs? Sure they have thier tricky spots, and less pleasant moments in history – but so do we all.
And language is a huge part of that. I do sometimes feel it goes to far – particularly here, where my understanding is that there was no written language until the European settlers arrived, so there may not be a “right spelling”. But honestly – this is really no different that being in Wales. We tried to ban Welsh as a language – but we grew up eventually and now Wales is covered in Bi-Lingual signs. I personally find that quite wonderful.
Seems the ombudsman gives a crap about some immigrants.
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, NZIS & Immigration issues
While they may have done absolutely sod-all about how INZ treated our case, and basically let INZ walk all over them, they have just beaten INZ up over their treatment of a load of Pacific Islanders who were also let down. These were people who were “advised” by the now defunct “Pacific Division” set up my Mary Anne Thompson, and disbanded after issues of corruption were highlighted by the Attorney General.
13 people – who have been in New Zealand illegally -have now been granted residence subject to police and medical checks.
Now, it’s all very well doing this – its the right thing: INZ let people down and behaved appallingly. The division was badly run, and applicants were badly advised.
The Ombudsman ruled that the information the families were given during the 2005 meetings was confusing and misleading.
Um – but so are hundreds of other people applying to immigrate to New Zealand. INZ still continue to give misleading information , still treat some applicants like crap, and they still get away with it (as do licensed advisors). While I am glad the Ombudsman has at least done something for these people, I fail to see why they can’t be bothered to do it for the other applicants like us, who have suffered mistreatment at the hands of INZ. This is at the end of the day grossly unfair, and still does nothing to force INZ to ensure that the information they give to all applicants is correct, and hold them to account when it isn’t.
Especially when many of us, when faced with INZ misinformation – still do not overstay illegally.
Somedays I do get really fed up with staying on the right side of the law, and really can’t always see the bloody point.
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Can the Exchange rate actually get any worse?
Filed under: Economics, General Budgeting, Getting to New Zealand
Having lunch with mum the other day, she told me that she had been checking the exchange rate, looking to bring a bit more money over, and seen that it have actually gone below $2 to the £!
She was right. On the third of January this year, the interbank rate was a sickening $1.986 for every £1.
I actually had a look back to see when it last went that low, but unfortunately first I came across what it was like before it went into freefall.
In fact I had to go back to the earliest date allowed on the charts at HifX, and even going back as far as 1998, the rate for people moving money this was has never been so bad.
On the plus side (I guess) this is an absolutely great time for anyone with $NZ sitting around with nothing to do. You can convert it to £ or $US and wait for the cycle to come round again. Now there are people who claim that this might not happen – that actually $2:£1 might be the new “normal”, but always before these things have worked as a cycle. Oddly you get the same argument with house prices – we shouldn’t this time be expecting house prices to rise again, and we should all get used to lower house values. I’ve noticed these are generally the same people who poured scorned on others who were claiming that there wouldn’t be a downturn in the housing market – that this time would be different.
The thing is human behavior is what causes these cycles – and at some point house prices, interest rates and the exchange rate will start improving. The real problem is that there is no way to tell when that will happen.
Unfortunately this just means that right now it is going to be very hard for most people to emigrate if they are relying on fund from their home countries. I thought we were hard done by when we moved and were getting a paltry $2.50! You notice when it was nearly $4 to the £? Thats when there was a huge spike in immigration to New Zealand – whereas at the moment, immigration is pretty low.
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