Did we say $75 Million???
Silly us, we meant $90.5 million.
There is no explanation as to why there is a difference.
Although I have to be honest – no matter whether this is scope creep or just a more honest number, it is probably money well worth spending. They cannot continue as they are with an antiquated system. But I doubt the increase in budget will actually end at 90.5 million.
Datacom wins the contract for the new INZ IT system
So, INZ is going to get a sparkling new IT system, which it desperately needs to replace the steam powered and carrier pigeon system it currently uses. It’s going to cost $75 million.
Datacom have won the contract to put the system in.
Which is really good – Datacom is a New Zealand owned company – whereas these contracts often go to the multinationals.
Government information technology projects the size of IGMS have usually been awarded to United States multinationals. IBM won a similar-sized deal to renovate Customs’ Cusmod computer system in June.
However, a decade of consistent, strong growth has put Datacom in contention for larger projects. The privately owned firm upped its revenues to a record $725 million last year. About half its 3800-plus staff are based in New Zealand. It also has sizeable operations in Australia and Asia.
The Wairarapa is getting popular with big names
Filed under: Life in New Zealand, NZIS & Immigration issues
It turns out that James Cameron has bought two large plots of land near lake Wairarapa, after getting consent through the Overseas Investment Office.
I have to admit to finding that a little bit exciting.
Apparently according to the article, he and his family are going to be living permanently in New Zealand after setting it up as a farm.
”James F Cameron and his family intend to reside indefinitely in New Zealand and are acquiring the property to reside on and operate as a working farm,”
I do kinda hope that doesn’t mean he’s going to give up making movies, though personally I don’t really want to see Avatar 2&3 in yet more 3D. Peter Jackson also has his main pile in the Wairarapa – near Masterton.
There are a couple of issues here – that I am sure we won’t get any answers to but here goes anyway:
1/ There’s a loud (very loud) hoo hah going on in New Zealand at the moment because a Chinese company is buying up the Crafar Farms (had to be sold as they went into receivership). It seems James Cameron alone is buying about 15% of the amount of farm land involved in that deal, and so far not a whimper about “selling New Zealand to foreigners”.
Personally I don’t think its a big deal either way – but I do dislike the hypocrisy when people scream at selling land to the Chinese, but couldn’t care less when selling it to non-Asians.
2/ Of personal interest – what are the Immigration issues – you cant just buy a farm and have the right to live in New Zealand indefinitely. It doesn’t work like that. People buying farms generally do so under a business visa, and you have to have experience in that business. Is this another investor category?
Its important because the Overseas Investment Office is nothing to do with immigration – so its a whole other ball game.
Either way, I wish them the best of luck and a warm welcome to the Wairarapa. It is a wonderful place, and I for one don’t blame anyone for wanting to live there.
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.
$75 million for a new INZ IT system…
…what could possibly go wrong?
Well now, I’m not saying that it actually will go wrong – I’m just saying I don’t have a huge amount of faith is all.
The Immigration Global Management System is due to start being implemented later in 2012. (Not due for competetion till 2015 though). And let’s be clear – INZ really do need it – the system they use now is a joke, and enables a huge amount of immigration to occur that would be stopped if staff could actually see info from other offices. The system is so antiquated – INZ can’t even access records electronically and have to “Courier” documents between offices. It takes over 3 weeks to get paperwork from NZ to London. Mind you – given the state of the internet access in New Zealand – perhaps I am being unfair.
On second thoughts – no – I’m not.
This will certainly fix part of the problem – but the bottom line is that INZ staff are still a major problem – badly trained and often with bad attitudes and appalling lack of knowledge of Immigration Law and processes. No amount of shiny new IT systems is going to fix that problem .
Scarily – the Auditor General reported on this back in June 2009 and recommended a complete overhaul of the system. Now this being the very security of New Zealand’s Borders we are talking about, I would have thought that perhaps they could have sorted this out a bit sooner.
And just for kicks – Immigration New Zealand itself tells us:
Customers applying for visas will have a transformed experience
You notice they don’t say improved? 
I was trying to find out who was going to be responsible for putting the system in – but all I could find anywhere was cut-and paste reporting of the press release from the immigration minister. Hubby has discovered that as of early December, the decision had not been made about who had the contract to put this system in. Can’t say I envy them!
For the IT people out there – EDS are responsible for the current pile of shite masquerading as an IT system.
Immigration agent / adviser / lawyer or none of the above.
I came across a particularly unhelpful and badly written article about an Immigration Adviser up on forgery charges, who is due to be taken to court next September. No hurry then. The article doesn’t say much to be honest, except that apparently he wasn’t licensed, but had been asking for fees as if he was licensed. And there’s a line at the bottom that says people should check the register of the Law Society to find out if a lawyer has a current practicing certificate.
So what gives?
Well, as much as I can find out (which is little) Richard Martin (Of Richard Martin Immigration) was a lawyer. As such he would have been exempt from needing to be a licensed adviser as lawyers are in the exempt category. He is no longer a lawyer, though there doesn’t seem to be any information as to why – whether he retired, was refused a practicing certificate or what.
(Note to Law Soc – the IAA actually keeps lists of whose licensed expired vs who was refused or cancelled – it’s a good idea!)
The company website is down “being updated” but thanks to the magic of the Internet and the WayBack machine, I found an old cache of the website. Not that’s its a good one – but it does confirm that he was in fact an immigration lawyer at some point, and had previously worked at Malcolm Pacific – one of the biggest agencies.
The NZAMI the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment -(“the professional association for New Zealand migration advisers and the people who use their services” – um and we need a second agency why exactly – there’s only 502 agents for crying out loud – one agency is too many!) – has Richard Martin listed as being an ex-member whose membership was terminated in October 2009. They also make the note specifically that he is not legally allowed to give immigration advise.
The IAA say nothing about him, but then he was never registered.
But I have to ask – WHY aren’t immigrants looking for this information. If you are going to pay thousands of dollars for immigration “advice” – wouldn’t you at least take 5 minutes to do a google search? No one who has done so would have gone near this guy. If you are thinking of using him – do yourself a favour – GOOGLE. In fact – ANY agent you want to pay thousands too – do a thorough internet search. It’s a lot of money – why wouldn’t you?
And to be clear – checking the IAA register would not have helped because as a lawyer he didn’t have to be registered with them, and they have no mention of him or of the issue. Google however has plenty to say about why no one should have used this guys business.
Turns out he was also the lawyer who got Michael Barrymore into New Zealand despite the guy being in no way capable of passing a good character test but being famous – which is much more important in New Zealand.
Anyway – bottom line – he’s up for the mystical $100,000 fine or 7 years in jail. And his criminal behaviour is apparently like me giving advice for free to people I meet via a blog or forum. Utter bleeping bullshit law!
CHARGES
· 34 Crimes Act charges of forgery.
· 34 Immigration Act charges of providing false and misleading information.
· 11 charges for asking/receiving fees when unlicensed.
· 9 charges for giving unlicensed immigration advice.
· 3 other immigration-related charges.
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 has Immigration New Zealand hidden the complaints process again?
Immigration New Zealand have revamped their website. And surprise, surprise, any mention of the complaints process has vanished into thin air.
This is what the INZ homepage used to look like (Courtesy of WayBack Machine).
You will notice the complaints process is the 11th option on the right hand side.
Now the new version:
An lo – it’s disappeared. Anyone would think they didn’t want immigrants knowing they had a complaints process.
I wonder of the Ombudsman has noticed?
Now the complaints process is still available but you now have to search for it – which obviously means you have to be aware that there is a complaints process to search for. I note with no surprise whatsoever that the fist link that comes up when you do so is a dead end (which is also the link I had on my links page). The second link actually gets you to the complaints process. I have updated my link so that INZ can’t hide from my readers.
Now this is still an improvement on when we wanted to make a complaint about INZ – the process was not published anywhere. In fact – this blog was the first place it was ever published. (Something Im still dead chuffed to have been able to do!)
You know – every time I’m tempted to think we may have turned a corner on the immigration process and there may be hope that it will get better – along comes something like this and I am reminded why I am so cynical.
Here is the correct link. Nice try INZ.
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.
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.
Avalon’s Guide On Facebook
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