smithone

This was released today.

Immigration and Wellington Regional Economic Development Workshop

Thank you for the opportunity to deliver a keynote address on the absolutely positive aspects of skilled migration. And there are many absolutely positive benefits - we have the BERL report which identifies the fiscal benefits, there is the meeting of skill shortages, which allows industry in New Zealand to grow, which has a favourable impact on work opportunities, it enables us to grow our own expertise through innovation, it enables us to build links with overseas markets. The list goes on.

I want to congratulate all of the organisers of this workshop for the opportunity that it presents for the whole of the Wellington region to ensure that the benefits of skilled migration, and especially of the Regional Immigration Initiative, which this region is piloting with the Southland region, are maximised.

The timing of this workshop couldn't be better, given the announcement of the new Skilled Migrant Category on 1 July this year. New Zealand is now poised to shift from being a passive recipient of skilled migrants, whether or not we need those skills, to a country which assesses what our needs are, and goes out to the world to actively recruit those who meet those needs. And the regions can benefit significantly from this by assessing what their particular needs are and joining the recruitment drive.

Prior to the 1991 points based General Category being introduced, the focus was on occupational priorities. So this stream of migrants was always intended to ensure that migrants matched New Zealand's skill shortages.

Unfortunately, the shift to the points system, which essentially created an entitlement to residence as long as the points were met, shifted the emphasis from New Zealand's actual priorities in terms of skill shortages to the assumed employability and potential contribution of the skilled migrant.

This was the policy that gave us the 'doctors-driving-taxis' scenario; something the government of the day took four years to address. But they only fixed it for those who needed professional registration to practise in New Zealand.

Other policy changes in the 1990s and the unwillingness of the government of the day to focus on settlement outcomes, meant skilled migrants came to New Zealand without a hope of ever finding opportunities to match their skills and experience. Some of those people are still struggling today.

The new approach is about turning the policy around so that we get the best of both worlds. We retain the points system, with bonus points that emphasise New Zealand's needs, and we prioritise potential migrants with the greatest potential to meet those needs.

Despite some publicity on the announcement it is not about immigration numbers. The government is committed to an ongoing and stable immigration programme now and into the future, and has recently decided to maintain the annual programme at 45,000 for 2003/04. The new policy is about ensuring that skilled migrants, whose stream makes up 60 percent of the programme, are selected by us on their ability to settle well and make a contribution to New Zealand.

This is the most significant change to skilled immigration policy in more than a decade, and has been welcomed by virtually all sectors of the community.

It has been welcomed by the business community, as it meets the objectives they have established for innovation and growth. It has been warmly received by the union movement, as they have been concerned about skilled migrants under-cutting wages and conditions of employment, having been forced into unskilled and semi-skilled work, well beneath their fields of expertise, as they struggle to find skilled work in New Zealand. It has been welcomed by many well-settled ethnic communities, who have seen newer members faced with insurmountable barriers.

And it has been welcomed by the good immigration consultants, who either provide or have links with post-arrival settlement programmes, because they are already working on an outcomes basis, with a recruitment focus.

Other consultants, who think their job is done when the residence permit is stamped in the passport, and that all they have to do is to create a device to avoid government residence policy, will find this hard to get around and that is good. Afterall, what do those consultants actually do for these migrants - other than reinforcing a belief that we are stupid or corrupt? And what does it mean for New Zealand when we get migrants who cannot settle here, because they have been brought in through a backdoor route or have been given an overly optimistic assessment of their chances of success.

The changes that have been announced are about making the skilled immigration policy work for New Zealand. And this workshop is about you making it work for your region.

But anyone who has come here today, believing that immigration is the only solution to skill shortages is wrong. Immigration can provide a temporary solution, but it is vital that it is integrated with skills development and training for our own young people. Linking in the opportunity for skills transfer from new migrants to the next generation enables us to get the best of both worlds.

When I look at the Southland Regional Immigration Initiative, I don't just see the identification of skill shortages and settlement programmes, I see the removal of student fees at the Polytech, encouraging young people to come to the region as well. This is a region that sees immigration as only one component of an integrated strategy to meet its growth and innovation goals.

And that is the message that I have for you. You have made a very good start, but you have to plan the way forward so you really do achieve the benefits of this approach.

You may have guessed that my passion from this portfolio lies in the results that can be achieved from getting it right. The fundamental flaw of the past has been an unwillingness to measure the success of skilled immigration policy against anything other than sheer numbers. My preference has always been to consider it from the perspective of the successful settlement of the migrant and the benefit to New Zealand.

I remember saying before the Regional Immigration Initiative was launched that I could work out ways to deliver migrants to the regions, but I could not make them stay there. That is your job.

From the community perspective, which is your particular area of interest, it is really important that you understand settlement policy and that you develop your own regional settlement strategy. This is an approach being explored in Auckland as a result of my attendance at the Auckland Mayoral Forum last month. On Friday I am attending the launch of the Manukau City Council's New Settler's Policy and Action Plan.

It is important to understand that being part of a community means more than living in a house in a particular neighbourhood. It means engagement with neighbours, local businesses and wider community groups. The essence of community is the notion of shared values, reciprocity of respect for rights and obligations and an understanding and appreciation of diversity of views, experience and beliefs. When we are born into that community, we often take these things for granted, but when we move into a community it can take time to build the relationships upon which communities are founded. This can be a difficult period for any newcomer to an area, so you can imagine that the experience for someone who is not born in New Zealand requires more effort on both sides of the equation. And this is increased exponentially when familiarity in the predominant language of the community is one that you have had to learn.

This is why I always say migrant settlement is not a one-way process. It is not something that can be 'done' for someone, nor something that a migrant can 'do' on their own.

Welcoming communities are an integral component of successful policies, in the same way as an unwelcoming environment is a barrier.

At the same time, 'new Kiwis' must be willing to be part of their new communities and contribute to New Zealand's social and economic well-being. The allegory I have used is that the migrant who is willing to engage is the key, and a welcoming community, equally willing to engage, is what locks in successful settlement.

When I looked for a title for the Immigration component of our 1999 Election Manifesto, I was drawn to the slogan that accompanied the Canadian Immigration Programme, which was "Immigration: Reflecting our Past, Shaping our Future". It said it all, so I plagiarised it. But it really does speak for us.

New Zealand is a migrant nation, and there is not one New Zealander that does not have a migrant story in their past. Each of us, or one of our forebears, made a journey to make New Zealand home - by waka, by ship or by plane - the journey is our common heritage and one of the foundation stones of our nation.

southerner

Thanks for the post.
Wonder if our resident Immigration Consultant(s) on this website agree with the Minister's view regarding their profession.

GetMeOutOfHere

Should be interesting to hear what consultants say at the Oct Expo. Did you mention that Dunedin will be represented there?

After reading the ministers speach I have to agree completely with the view that any Country must take people who can contribute/offer something them. Shame the UK is so different in not having this as an essential backbone of its own immigration policies. I think overall this is a v.good move for NZ as a whole, whether they can attract the numbers required remains to be seen.

Jamie Smith

Howzit?

Good agents were discussing this today at NZAMI Meeting and have no issues overall with it.

However you cannot really blame other agents for setting up a recruiting service without settlement as until now that has not been a clear focus of the process.

Logical, yes, required, no.

What is queried is - exactly what does the Minister want, and can she express it in in tangible terms, so agents can market, communicate and reassure, all vital parts of building numbers.

For those of you who are anti agent, NZ just will not get adequate volume of quality migrants without advertising and filtering, a role often performed by agents in more countries than NZIS can cover by itself.

We mostly share the vision, but there are still tripwires across the path that need to be removed before more migrants will walk it.

Hmmm, nice analogies ;-)

And here's the real thought - The Minisiter complains about agents not offering settlement.

Point of fact is more applications are self completed than agent based.

So are the real culprits the people who self complete and don't arrange or prepurchase their own settlement services from themselves????

Ok, NZAMI Conference tomorrow. Check NZAMI website in a few days for copies of speeches and notes, my own included.

Regards

Jamie

southerner

Jamie

Thanks for your views, and hope your speech goes well.

Regards

Jamie Smith

We had some reassurance that NZIS have not sent NZ down the toilet via immigration policy.

Media turned up expecting some fireworks, but there was more rational debate than anything else. Despite request not to, Minister got into slagging her opposition again, but not the whole speech fortunately.

Some agents do need to get organised and stop only selling visas and offer extended services -eg help with jobs.

And applicants need to get into the idea of not cutting corners. This means - visit NZ first.

New policy design focuses on applications with job offers already. Once they process those, NZIS will look at the ones to be invited. So expect a slower trip in the system if you want to get a visa without a job.

Minister was then made aware of Visitor visa anomalies, and the policy people did say it's 8 years since visitor visa was reassessed.

I think you'll find that the present policy design as above is weakened by Visitor visa shortcomings. NZIS will probably fix that mid next year.

Anyway, there was a sense of goodwill, and NZIS do want agents to participate in the process as NZIS need marketing partners.

Minister also spoke about regulating the industry like Oz.

This will reassure those of you in UK who do not use agents.

With regulation, the statutory requirements for compliance mean NZIS may relax their processing of registered agents' applications, perhaps faster processing of registered agents' work will result. They should then be able to respond faster to ALL applications.

They will still accept self-applications. Using non registered agents will then be purely caveat emptor basis.

NZAMI are already working on stronger self policing of members, we needed rule changes at AGM to make progress.

Without sure grounds for termination, legal disputes over termination of membership can get expensive.

Anyway, things are looking up.

We just have to deal with inconsistencies at case officer level for several more months until everyone in NZIS reads off the same page.

Endurance and patience is key.

jseni01d

As someone who hopes to go to NZ and be self-employed but whose home business would be a massive longshot for an LTBV, this comment leapt out at me as pretty much the first ray of hope since the passmark leapt from 25 to 28 last year. (We had 26 points under the old system.)

Do you mean that it will be possible, albeit time-consuming, to get PR without a job offer under the new category? If yes, were there any clues as to what hoops you might have to jump through? Would you have to have skills matching a job on the priority/shortage list AND/OR commit to living outside Auckland, for example?

Cheers,
John

JWW

Are there any moves to up the immigration numbers? With the number of companies crying out for skilled staff (including ours), I can't see 45,000 being enough to be honest.

Seems to be a big bottleneck at the minute.