jseni01d

No doubt there will be a flurry of news articles on this tomorrow, but for now the only one I can find is the one posted by Shirley on another thread:
----
Government says High Court decision invalidating immigration rule may be appealed - 16 May 2003

The Government is considering appealing a High Court decision which found an immigration rule change last year was invalid.
The New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment challenged two technical policy changes last year concerning the Job Search Visa.
The High Court found that as a matter of interpretation the Job Search Visa should be included in the government's overall residence policy.
However Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel says it was never this Government's nor the previous one's intention to have the JSV in the residence policy.
----

So, as I understand it, JSV people who applied before Nov. 20th, 2002, will now get their extra points for any relevant job offer, not only those in occupations on the list. And (again my layman's understanding), pre-Nov. 20th applicants will be judged as only needing 5 on the IELTS test.

Good news for them, bad news for people hoping the backlog will disappear so that overall policy can be relaxed.

Of course, there's still a probable appeal to wait for. The best thing for everyone is if that is sorted out ASAP.

Here's a somewhat clearer explanation:
http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_det...16-1-7,00.html

Cheers,
John

Don

Strange how there doesn't seem to be more reporting of the case.

Cheers - Don

Ben

Interesting that "the judge found the long term business visa is not part of
residency policy, meaning the Government can make changes in that area
retrospectively."

Ben


"jseni01d" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > No doubt there will be a flurry of news articles on this tomorrow, but
    > for now the only one I can find is the one posted by Shirley on
    > another thread:
    > ----
    > Government says High Court decision invalidating immigration rule may be
    > appealed - 16 May 2003
    > The Government is considering appealing a High Court decision which
    > found an immigration rule change last year was invalid.
    > The New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment challenged two
    > technical policy changes last year concerning the Job Search Visa.
    > The High Court found that as a matter of interpretation the Job Search
    > Visa should be included in the government's overall residence policy.
    > However Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel says it was never this
    > Government's nor the previous one's intention to have the JSV in the
    > residence policy.
    > ----
    > So, as I understand it, JSV people who applied before Nov. 20th, 2002,
    > will now get their extra points for any relevant job offer, not only
    > those in occupations on the list. And (again my layman's
    > understanding), pre-Nov. 20th applicants will be judged as only needing
    > 5 on the IELTS test.
    > Good news for them, bad news for people hoping the backlog will
    > disappear so that overall policy can be relaxed.
    > Of course, there's still a probable appeal to wait for. The best thing
    > for everyone is if that is sorted out ASAP.
    > Here's a somewhat clearer explanation:
    > ]http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_det...90716-1-7,00.-
    > html[/url]
    > Cheers,
    > John
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Jamie Smith

This is good news, whichever way you look at it, purely for democratic purposes.

Governments must be held accountable and should never be able to make retroactive policy changes where the only reason for going retroactive is they didn't act when they had to.

Imagine reaching retirement age and finding that your pension is no longer available because Govt says you didn't put enough into it ten years ago, and too late now....

Or that, as a permanent migrant, when you went to hospital you find out that you no longer qualify for health care as they've backdated policy to only allow those who migrated with a native born partner to get medical care.....

Or that your child finishes schooling and the Government decides to bill you for the cost as they shouldn't have given it to you for free ten years ago.....

Extreme cases I know, but the point is this: if Govt can write bad policy once, then they'll get lazy and just fix things retroactively if they get the precedent to do so. Tap on, tap off, again and again.

Banana Republic days.

If retroactivity is not allowed, then Govt will just have to try harder to get it right first time, and isn' t that good thing?

Call me a cynic for saying this, but the Labour Govt in NZ has never enjoyed more than two terms in power at any time, and Helen Clark is sitting on top of things now.

We have election year next year. If Labour win a record third consecutive term, Helen Clark will be the Queen of the Labour Party for the next 150 years and future party historians will look back with teary eyes at these hallowed times....

Wouldn't that result make any politician want to take more and personal control, in fear of losing that prize?

For the record, the 19/11 changes were in fact made on instructions handed down by the Prime Minister to the Minister of Immigration. The PM's interference was significantly in response to rising political pressure.

Previous inaction and autocratic desires are the reason for the Govt now being found guilty of breaching its own Act.

Govt should accept that they needed to act early and smarter, but didn't, and they should learn from the situation.

So, now that a few thousand people are legitimately back in the queue, you can expect policy change in Gen Skills and probably substantial change or abolition of JSV.

Givt may adjust quota structure so that the GS/JSV cases have upper approval limits on them, with sole purpose being to frustrate people into withdrawing their case becasue of processing delays ...

Whatever they do, this time they'd better get it right and do it fairly.

Moving back to the decision, there are no strong grounds for appeal other than for thelosing lawyers or politicians to try to save face - the JSV was written chapter and verse into many many Government documents as being part of permanent residence policy. There is no new evidence or procedural unfairness, and no threat to the integrity to the country or safety of its people (unlike the refugee detention cases)

LTBV was not so clear, but there are 44 pages of ruling to analyse, and I understand that the judge left the door open for LTBV cases to go to formal appeal (that is new option), and that any case being declined now may have strong grounds for procedural unfairness where similar cases have been approved in the past.

I also understand that NZIS are now invited by the judge to allow people to submit improved plans rather than just declining applications almost out of hand.

Seems that the judge wants to see more fairness in the immigration system, and who can disagree with that other than those who have prejudice, unfounded fear or weak management skills?

What is the NZIS doing to LTBV cases from Chiona/Korea at present? - Well they are saying , sorry we got it wrong before, we know we approved those people over there, but these ones over here have to go - even with same case features, just diffferent timing. One gets in, other is tossed out.

The following is a real scenario that came up at Court. Picture yourself here: your and your neighbour have identical circumstances and lodged applications together, same day. His case got assessed yesterday and was approved, and your case gets decided today and is declined.

Would you be happy and accept that, if you'd been waiting 2 years already?

And isn't all this a good reason to have an active and professional immigration agent industry, so that all of you who lodge your own applications will get treated fairly too?

The thing now is for the industry to look forward and sell new policy, in support of the higher standards and expectations of the Minister.

And the Minister's advisers could consult more widely and recommend action earlier.

By the way, NZIS operational analysis indicated that LTBV case in flow would only fall by about 15% as a result of proposed changes. Well guess what, they're now down by about 80%.

With data modelling skills and information quality like that, no wonder The Government gets things wrong occasionally.

One thing to come out of this is that Govt and NZIS should hold their policy planners as more accountable.

The least the Govt can do is act honourably when they get things wrong :-)

I'll post more comment once we get to see the full 44 page judge's finding next week...

The Simpsons

Just wondered if anyone else was in the system already with their application, hoping to get a JSV.

I just panicked a bit about NZIS possibly getting rid of the JSV! As we're technically in the system with a PR application aren't we, until we're judged as not having enough points, so a JSV would be offered. What if the JSV was abolished before our application got to that stage?

Mmmm.... am a bit worried/stressed now. Am I wrong to be? Anyone else in the same situation?

Karen

Jamie Smith

Hi Karen

The end result of the NZ immigration agents taking the Govt to Court was that the agents won, and JSV is not able to be retrospectively tampered with.

If you've lodged your case, the policy in place at time of lodgement is to apply to your case.

Cheers from NZ

Jamie Smith

The Simpsons

Thanks so much Jamie,
I think i knew, but you know what its like, I just needed some confirmation to put my mind at rest! Husband always jumps on this kind of thing so he can be his usual pessimistic self!

Thanks again,
Karen

Kd

How soon are we guessing that the JSV will be changed? I'm looking at
putting my application in around July/early August for financial
reasons. But I will be depending on the JSV as I only get 24 points at
the moment.
Am I better to get my Application in ASAP?

Any advice would be appreciated.
KD.

Jamie Smith wrote in message news:...
    > Hi Karen
    >
    > The end result of the NZ immigration agents taking the Govt to Court
    > was that the agents won, and JSV is not able to be retrospectively
    > tampered with.
    >
    > If you've lodged your case, the policy in place at time of lodgement is
    > to apply to your case.
    >
    > Cheers from NZ
    >
    > Jamie Smith

Don

The only good advice has got to be: get your advice in quickly if you like dealing in certainty. The rules could be changed soon and you maybe won't in future get the passmark/ JSV offer. You don't need to post settlement funds until 6 months after approval in principle, then you get another year to validate.

Cheers - Don