2. Question No. 2—ImmigrationDr JAMES McDOWALL (ACT) to the Minister of ImmigrationQuestion No. 2—Immigration2. Dr JAMES McDOWALL (ACT) to the Minister of Immigration: Does he stand by all his policies?Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Immigration): Fakaalofa lahi atu Mr Speaker. I stand by the Government's border policies to protect New Zealanders from COVID-19 and position our economy for a strong recovery. This has meant taking some difficult decisions needed to maintain secure border settings which continue to protect the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders. Where it has been safe to do so we have adopted policies that have taken the pressure off migrants and their employers. I acknowledge some continue to experience difficulties as a result of the global pandemic. However since closing the border in March 2020 we've issued a range of border exceptions. We've extended the visas of onshore workers and given them more flexibility in their conditions and we've recently provided an additional streamlined pathway for a one-off residency stream for over 165000 migrants currently in New Zealand.Dr James McDowall: Will he consider expanding the criteria of the 2021 Resident Visa to include onshore student visa holders who have previously held eligible work visas but changed to a student visa to simply upskill?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: As was mentioned when the announcement for the residency visa was made it is very broad. We expect 110000 applicants meaning 165000 people currently in New Zealand could be eligible for residency. The criteria are around people who have been settled in New Zealand who have skilled work or have scarce skills in New Zealand in order to make a commitment to them and to employers who are relying on their skills especially when the border is closed. The types of people that the member talks about are here as students and have come here to study and if they find themselves in a position to apply for residency under the normal process they can take that.Dr James McDowall: Point of order Mr Speaker. My question very clearly referred to those who held work visas and were in fact here to work and then they decided to subsequently study. The Minister referred to people on temporary visas coming in here to just be students so he actually didn't address the question.SPEAKER: Does the Minister want to further clarify? I thought he had addressed it but maybe if he wants to make it a bit clearer.Hon KRIS FAAFOI: Reinforcement: if they are currently on a visa for study they are currently on a visa for study and therefore ineligible for the one-off residency. I would again reinforce that if they want to apply for residency at some stage once they have finished their studies and have become eligible for the normal residence process they can do that because this is a one-off residency process.Dr James McDowall: Will he consider allowing eligible applicants who are split from their families to apply from December 2021 and furthermore to continue to process their Resident Visa applications if they choose to reunite with their families offshore after applying?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: We've made it very clear that anyone who is eligible who is already in the queue with either an expression of interest (EOI) or an application in who is eligible for the residency visa can apply from 1 December this year. Again with the border closures as they are it is very difficult to be able to allow people to come in and out of the country but as we have said once people get residency potentially from the residency visa itself they are able to bring their families in because they will also have the ability to get residence.Dr James McDowall: Point of order Mr Speaker. I asked about those who are eligible who can apply and whether or not he will consider letting them go offshore to reunite with their families. That's nothing to do with—SPEAKER: Well in this particular case that was addressed. It might have had some filling around it but it was a no".Dr James McDowall: Can he commit to resuming selection of offshore expressions of interest for the Skilled Migrant Category at the same time as onshore selections in July 2022?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: We have made a decision to not resume EOIs being drawn until we've undertaken a review of the residency settings. That is because the process around the residency visa will be the priority for Immigration New Zealand over the next 12 to 15 months. Depending on how the processing of those goes we might be able to look at being able to do that sooner but at this stage that is the plan."