There’s another new immigration Visa on the way
It turns out that Jonathan Coleman, the immigration minister has come up with a new “Interim Visa” to cover the time between someones work visa runs out and INZ supplying a new one. Except its not available till next March.
”The new interim visa is a bonus for businesses. In most circumstances it provides continuity in the workplace as employers have the security of knowing their staff member can continue working legally while Immigration New Zealand processes their application,” Dr Coleman says. ”For some time temporary migrants have been falling through the gaps because in the period between applying for a new permit and receiving that permit, their legal immigration status has lapsed. Knowing they can maintain lawful status while applying for a new visa will provide peace of mind for migrants.”
Umm – but don’t some people get a short term work visa anyway to cover this? And I don’t want to seem picky(honestly – I really don’t), but why should we need a new Visa to be created? Why can’t it be as simple as INZ staff having the ability to extend the work visa already granted to cover this period? But anyway – while I feel another level of bureaucracy is never the best way to solve a problem – at least the problem is being dealt with. Again – something that can only make life easier for people who have emigrated to New Zealand.
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Investigation into Staff at INZ continue :)
It seems that more and more Immigration New Zealand staff are being investigated for misconduct.
I blogged a while back about 7 staff being sacked, but it seems that by the 16th August this year, 32 allegations against immigration staff were being investigated, and that number now stands at 34. 18 of them are about staff in New Zealand itself, and 16 are about staff abroad (though no indications about where abroad – but it’s worth remembering that of the 7 sacked earlier this year, 6 of them were in New Zealand and 1 in Delhi. It also turns out that 5 of the seven sacked were long term employees of INZ, so this cant be blamed on new people not knowing the roles of conduct.
Labour’s immigration spokesman, Pete Hodgson, said it was “concerning” that the department had such a high number of staff facing investigations.
To be slightly fair here – there was never a published complaints procedure until recently, so perhaps people didn’t know they could complain while the immigration minister was a Labour MP. Or perhaps the sheer volume of work visas being declined arbitrarily becuase of the recession has something to do with it? The article doesn’t say, and without more information on what the complaints are about – theres no way of knowing.
“The question is how long have they been crooked, and how many of the visas have already been inappropriately granted or declined?” Mr Hodgson asked.
Well, as long as they could get away with it I would have thought. Which is exactly what I have said time and again during our attempt to make a complaint. If my parent’s case officer got away once with lying to our MP, without so much as a sniffle from the Department of Labour – hes sure as hell going to do it again!
In the past 12 months, immigration officials faced 60 allegations of fraud, corruption and dishonesty, of which 10 were substantiated, 27 unsubstantiated and 23 were being investigated, Mr Bickle said.
The substantiated allegations related to systems misuse, misconduct and corruption and have resulted in the seven dismissals, four written warnings, one final written warning, one resignation and one suspension.
I would be interested to know how many allegation were made in the 12 months before that.
Mr Bickle said the department investigated all allegations that were made.
Actually – you don’t. Some of them you choose to ignore. And to be honest you can hardly expect your staff to be squeakily clean in the honesty stakes if you are going to fudge an issue like that. Of course you could actually investigate the 5 allegations we made that you ignored. I’d be OK with that as a method of fixing that little oversight!
A colleague of a staff member under investigation for system misuse said the agency was “acting on every tiny complaint” in recent months, and this was affecting morale. “People make allegations when decisions don’t go their way, and it’s really a waste of time and resources when every one is being investigated,” said the officer.
“There seems to be more of a ‘big brother’ culture now at Immigration and some of us just feel like we’re being watched a lot more.”
My heart bleeds. Really it does!
Jeeze – get a grip. Of course every little complaint should be investigated. You are charged with protecting the very borders of this great country – an excuse used time and again by INZ officials when they are being belligerent, unhelpful and downright obnoxious to applicants. You ask the same questions over and over again, and refuse to believe the evidence – so quite frankly – welcome to our world. You are more than happy to waste our time and resources! I hope you like what it feels like – and I hope you remember this when an applicant is begging you for some common sense and help becuase they are tearing their hair out trying to deal with obstinate and rude case officers.
He did not want to be identified because he said speaking to the media without authority could result in criminal charges, formal warning or immediate dismissal.
Absolute rubbish! Ok – you can get the sack for speaking out – same as most government employees – but criminal charges??? Gimme a break! Not unless you are divulging state secrets. To be frank – I’m risking more criminal charges writing a blog about immigration issues – so shut the hell up and get a bloody grip!
I’m sure this won’t go on forever – but I’m also equally sure that there really needed to be a substantial clear out of the Immigration Department. There were just too many people there doing a crap job and not behaving honestly or with integrity. Those people need to be got rid of, and if this hasn’t happened before, it just a case of clearing out the deadwood.
And that can only be good news for future immigrants. 
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Biometric! Crackdown! on Illegal! Immigrants!
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Hubby's Views, NZIS & Immigration issues
In a headline that would bring pleasure to the ears of many Daily Mail or Daily Express readers, encapsulating many of the papers favourite subjects, NZ is to crack down in illegal immigrants, and share the information with the UK.
So what is behind the headlines?
Many (economic) refugee’s arriving in UK/Europe have in the past ‘lost’ their passports while on the flight over. Thereby making it very difficult for immigration authorities to prove who they are, or whether they are genuine refugees. Net result, they spend a protracted time in Europe while their refugee case is investigated and they can’t be returned to the country they flew in from. Since they don’t have a passport and their actual country of citizenship can’t be proven one way or the other. You can’t put someone on a plane and send then ‘home’ without a passport unless you can prove that the country you are sending them to is ‘home’.
One way to avoid this problem is by finger printing all non-resident arrivals. So when someone shows up without passport, you can potentially prove who they are, without their co-operation. The Americans have been doing this for a while, whether you need a visa before you fly or not.
(Which is why we refuse to fly through the US on the way back to the UK, and apparently we aren’t the only ones, because AirNZ started Flying Via Hong Kong a few years back to cater to people who refused to fly via Los Angeles).
What the NZ sharing of information means here is that if someone turns up in Australia on one passport, and whether they seek refugee status or not, then try and enter NZ on another passport (or ‘lose’ their passport on the plane to NZ) – the NZ authorities will be able to check their fingerprints with Australia when the person first entered. By return, the Australian authorities can then check NZ records. Net result, fewer ‘undesirable’ people are let into either country. Undesirable here is anyone who isn’t traveling on a genuine passport that belongs to them and correctly identifies them.
This helps with the bigger issue of criminal gangs establishing what appears to be genuine travel records on a fake passport. Using a patsy means that when the real criminal wants to enter a country, the passport looks used and genuine. Unless of course finger prints are taken each time. In which case Immigration authorities can determine that you’re using a fake passport. And you suddenly become ‘undesirable’.
The scope is being widened, to include Canada, the UK & the USA. Which casts a much wider net.
Why you may ask, is NZ part of this? Surely there aren’t that many criminals trying to sneak into the US via NZ? or the other way around?
Well, NZ has often been seen as a bit of a soft target for criminals looking to enter other friendly countries, or for obtaining fake passports. And NZ, for all it’s anti-nuclear stance, is still part of the friendly intelligence community. So the net result is that NZ passports are considered friendly, and less suspicious. NZ sharing finger print info is more likely to be of benefit to the other countries when checking on people arriving there, than of benefit to NZ for people arriving here.
So, NZ cracking down in illegal immigrants is more about stopping people using fake passports and keeping them out of any friendly country. Rather than turning a tide of economic refugee’s, which to be honest we really don’t have here.
But the headline was good!
Since when is being pregnant an illness?
Once again, Immigration New Zealand are making the lives of an immigrant couple a living nightmare becuase the woman has got pregnant.
How dare she!
A Brazilian couple who moved to New Zealand to start afresh have been caught in bureaucratic limbo because of an unplanned pregnancy.Marcio Tulio de Moura, 35, and his wife, Barbara Ohana de Sena Vieira, 26, applied for new temporary work visas this year but their applications were held up when a medical exam showed Barbara was pregnant.
She is five months’ pregnant and Immigration New Zealand says she does not meet the health requirements for a permit.
Mr Moura is eligible to apply for residency as a skilled migrant and can include his partner and their daughter, Ana, 4, but only if new work permits are granted.
It just makes me want to scream with frustration! Why are they still doing this? Why on earth is Pregnancy deemed to be such a danger to New Zealand? We have 2 people, working – one skilled as a stonemason, and becuase one of them is going to have take time off to give birth, they are deemed “unacceptable”?? Does New Zealand really want to be known as a country that behaves like this? Its clear they are not trying to rip the system off – they already been here contributing for 2 years.
Ms Vieira said she briefly considered an abortion – which is illegal in Brazil – but the couple want another child and decided against termination.
Right now, I am ashamed to live in a country that has put any family in that position. 
Immigration NZ manager of operations Simon Smith said a decision on the couple’s applications was pending.
I hope he has a fit of common sense! The information provided by the couple is being “assessed” so lets hope for their sake and their sanity that Immigration get that assessment done really fast, becuase to me – this is unacceptable. These people should be able to enjoy this pregnancy, not look on it with any amount of dread and uncertainty.
Yes, New Zealand needs to ensure that people don’t “rip the country off” and become pregnancy tourists – something that should have been negated anyway by closing access to automatic citizenship for anyone born in New Zealand. But surely this is just going too far.
Pregnancy is not an Appendix 10 Condition, so when applying for a residency permit, it actually doesn’t automatically disqualify you.However, Ms Vieira and Mr Moura are applying for Work Permits, and the rules are different, and as far as Immigration is concerned – you do not have an acceptable standard of health if you are pregnant, Which is quite frankly – nuts! Ok – look closely if this is a first time application – do you investigations – but not when people have given 2 years of their lives to your country already and proved themselves!
I wish them all the luck in the world!
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Employers can look at your immigration status directly???
In theory – I really don’t object too much to employers being able to check your visa status – after all, we would generally have to show them a copy of the visa to prove our eligibility to work for them. But today I read at Visa Bureau that Immigration New Zealand have set up an Online system called Visa View where potential employers can check you out.
Welcome to VisaView
This service allows New Zealand employers to access records held by Immigration New Zealand and to check whether a person who is not a New Zealand citizen is entitled to work in New Zealand.
It will provide a tracking mechanism so that employers can prove they are doing the proper checks – which helps them stay within new (and improved) immigration legislation that will come into force later this year. My only really beef with this is to wonder who INZ can so quickly set up a new online Information Sharing system so easily to employers, and yet cant tell what each of their offices is going yet, or send files electronically between offices yet. The mind boggles.
By the way the penalties for an employer taking on an immigrant that is not entitled to work in New Zealand is oddly enough a fraction of the penalties that can be imposed on an Immigrant for given unlicensed immigration advice.
You don’t say! And agents wonder why I an still so contemptuous of their law?
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Richard O’Brien is to be allowed into New Zealand :)
Really chuffed to be able to blog some good immigration news for a change: The associate immigration minister – Kate Wilkinson has apparently agreed to let the great Richard O’Brien have residence in New Zealand despite not fitting any of the current criteria.
O’Brien, 68, would still have to pass police and health checks, but Ms Wilkinson had said she would make exceptions on requirements for him to be 55 or under and have a job offer in New Zealand.
So basically – what they are saying is that he can apply under the Sibling Sponsorship rules, but not have to match teh age and job offer requirements – so its not quite as Rubber Stamped from the sounds of it as it might at first look. Still – its a step in the right direction.
They are expected the application to take about a month – so all I can say is I hope they don’t get my dad’s waste-of-space case officer (because it will go through the London Office) and I hope the even bigger waste-of-space Medical officer has retired by now on the grounds of gross imbecility. Otherwise Mr O’Brien could be in for a long haul.
But good news! It’s about time.
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Customs and Immigration – a dodgy mix.
It seems that both the customs department and Immigration New Zealand are in the middle of an investigation into bribery and corruption.
A SENIOR Customs officer in Auckland is under investigation for trying to use his position to fast-track residency for a female Indonesian overstayer he was allegedly having sex with.
Sources have told the Star-Times that Customs investigators found documents in the officer’s desk that caused them concern. The documents related to his using his title and senior position to fast-track residency for the Indonesian overstayer.
A subsequent New Zealand Immigration Service investigation found he had pressured immigration staff to fast-track the application. The source said the investigation established there were “financial transactions” between their bank accounts, and Customs had uncovered evidence of an ongoing sexual relationship as payback for support.
A source said an Immigration Service employee was also under investigation for helping the Customs officer assist the overstayer.
The Department of Labour’s head of immigration, Nigel Bickle, confirmed the service was conducting an investigation into one of its staff “in terms of possible inappropriate use of information”.
He said he could not comment further while the investigation was under way because it could prejudice inquiries.
So not only does it look like a customs officer is accepting “favours” to help an overstayer (does that make him un Unlicensed Immigration Agent???) but the Immigration Department still has someone in there willing to let them. Surely they should have passed the Overstayer on to a Licensed Immigration Agent. Chortle Chortle.
Hat Tip to Deborah – Thank you.
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INZ Staff getting sacked? Whatever next?
Filed under: Life in New Zealand, NZIS & Immigration issues
With a grateful Hat Tip to Paola.
It seems that Immigration New Zealand have sacked seven staff for corruption, and even more surprising, 6 of them were based in New Zealand, and only one offshore, in Delhi.
“The majority of the cases involved conflict of interest issues, and involved the non-disclosure of interests in family or friends’ immigration applications.”
I wonder what the minority was?
“It needs to be seen in the context of a 1200-strong workforce in 30 locations across the globe,” [Head of Immigration] said.
I actually disagree with that. You cant have a department that is prepared to treat people like garbage on the basis that their job in Protecting New Zealand is so vitally important and gives them carte blanche, and then turn round and say “well, most of us aren’t corrupt, so thats OK”.
Im Glad to see that they are finally starting to clean up the mess, but I do wish they would stop softening it up. They have some appallingly crap staff that need to be got rid of. So why don’t they just do it, and say “Yep, we ballsed up a bit there and hired the wrong people”.
“We take all allegations that we receive seriously. We’ve had 63 in the last year, most allegations are unsubstantiated, but where they are we are clearly going to take decisive and appropriate action.”
I wonder how many allegations were “unsubstantiated” on the basis that INZ refused to acknowledge that the allegation was made. Five of our allegations were also “Never substantiated”, because you refused to even answer the damn questions. Its a very handy way of getting the statistics down, but it still means you have staff working there who are prepared to lie to cover up their cock-ups.
Still, its a step in the right direction.
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In any country you get idiots working in Immigration
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when i saw Nadene Ghouri’s story come up on my Google news alert this morning. Nadene was born and raised in Britain, and want to bring in her Kiwi husband to live with her there. They married in New Zealand a few months ago, but are planning a church blessing in the UK in a few weeks. Only her husband Sam has been refused a visa to live in the UK. Despite Sam having already lived in the UK for 5 years previously (and – as demanded of all long-suffering legal immigrants everywhere) left the UK when his previous visa expired.
Why, you ask? Is he a Terrorist? A repeat drink driver with a criminal record as long as your arm? Un-educated?
Nope. among the reasons given were that they have an overdraft, and are thus likely to try bludging off the state.
‘I am not satisfied that you or your sponsor will be able to maintain you or any dependants adequately without recourse to public funds,’ declared the immigration officer.
She said she’d reached her conclusion because my bank statements show an average overdraft of £1,000 to £2,000 each month. Sam’s accounts also show a small overdraft.
Well, I demand that forthwith – everyone with an overdraft be summarily removed from the shores of Britain – especially anyone in the immigration department (and especially especially anyone working for INZ in the UK who doesn’t have a spotless bank record).
Then theres there blindingly stupid assertion that
‘Given your history of working overseas I am not satisfied you intend to live permanently with your spouse.’
Well, it seems that what the silly bint at immigration failed to grasp was that these two people work in Journalism, and it seems they often travel abroad reporting for such fly-by-night outfits as SkyNews and the BBC. So if they had switched their brains on (assuming they had any) I think its not too far a stretch to realise that while they may both work abroad a lot, their marriage is no more false then that of a pilot, air hostess, soldier or a host of other professions.
I have actually heard of people coming to New Zealand being asked to prove thier relationship was real – despite having been married 40 years. You just cant make it up.
Besides – you cant have it both ways – refuse them because they work for a living at the same time as refusing them for being probable bludgers on the state????
Thankfully Nadene and Sam have lawyered up and are appealing the decision. They have also done what we did, and starting getting letters of support and help off other people who know them and support their decision.
I also hope that the person responsible for this blindingly stupid decision is sacked for being so thick. It offends me immeasurably that people this stupid are given jobs that are so vitally important. These are the people supposed to be protecting our borders from undesirable immigrants – not keeping out a newly married couple who can earn money, pay taxes and make a successful life together. I hope their lawyer wipes the floor with the UK immigration Department, and the case officer goes and get a less demanding job – flipping burgers for instance.
Id also be tempted to say scratch the UK and come here instead – except you might get just as unlucky and get a case officer just as stupid. It’s still pure luck. Most people get decent case officers, who treat them as people and take time to use a bit of common sense. But without doubt, some of get robots with no ability to make sensible decisions. I guess you are as likely to meet the problem going from New Zealand as you are coming in.
Finally – good on Nadene for using the fact that she is a journalist to highlight this issue. If I was the UK Immigration Department I would be asking some pointed questions as to why my staff made such a huge balls-up with the case of a BBC / Daily Mail journalist.
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It’s not just us plebs that have trouble getting into NZ.
Today the papers are talking about the fact that the amazing Richard O’Brien cant emigrate to New Zealand, despite that fact that he actually grew up here from the age of ten, and his family is still here.
Seems he didn’t get Citizenship before he left in his 20′s to go to London, and create the best dance in the history of the world (possible excepting the Hokey Cokey if you really want to argue about it).
So now – he appears to have no automatic right to apply for residency as he doesn’t fit any criteria according to his immigration advisor. (Licensed, though it doesn’t say that on their website).
Now obviously – being a Newspaper report, there are a huge number of questions that aren’t answered. I’m assuming that at the time his family emigrated there were no such thing as IRRV’s which allow you to come back to New Zealand permanently even if you have been away for many years.
As it is it seems he was trying to apply under the family residence (adult sibling) category – the same as my brother, becuase he has two siblings here. Only hes too old and yes – you guessed it – he cant apply until he gets a job offer. I somehow thing that wouldn’t be an issue. The Retirement visas don’t seem suitable – one is for sponsoring your parents and the one that doesn’t is only temporary. His son is also in New Zealand as a Student, and apparently applying for residence himself.
It also turns out that Richard O’Brien is so well thought of as a Kiwi, that theres a statue of him in Hamilton, where he used to live. It even has a Webcam! Actually I find that quite fitting.
So now hes writing to Mr Coleman the minister and asking for help. I damn well hope he gets it. New Zealand is ever so eager to lame claim to all sorts of famous people – right up till the might ask for something back. I remember at the premier for King Kong, Andy Serkis was complaining that he couldn’t get residence here either – despite being part of a set of films that NZ just wont stop banging on about because they were made here. And yet Michael Barrymore got in despite having a rather disturbing criminal record that would have ensured any normal person wasn’t allowed in.
So here’s wishing Mr O’Brien the best of luck in his plans to retire to New Zealand as a Permanent resident. He has family here, history here, and he’s claimed as a Kiwi. Cant see the issue myself!
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