8. Question No. 8—ImmigrationDr JAMES McDOWALL (ACT) to the Minister of ImmigrationQuestion No. 8—Immigration8. Dr JAMES McDOWALL (ACT) to the Minister of Immigration: Does he stand by all his policies and actions? Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Immigration): Yes. In particular I stand by the 2021 Resident Visa. Yesterday marked the successful launch of phase 2 with applications opening for another 85000 migrants here in New Zealand. As of midday 18500 applications were successfully submitted in the first 24 hours of phase 2. This is a significant achievement because previously the highest number of visa applications received by Immigration New Zealand was around 3500 in a 24-hour period. Under phase 1 which began in early December nearly 10000 applications have already been approved which equates to more than 20000 people becoming New Zealand residents. The Government has created this new one-off residence pathway recognising the immense contribution migrants have made to New Zealand during the COVID-19 crisis and appreciating the uncertainty they have faced with border restrictions. We've been working hard to make sure that the new 2021 Resident Visa application process is simple and that it is streamlined and easy for individuals. This has also meant Immigration New Zealand are able to process these applications on a highly effective basis which is borne out in these numbers. Dr James McDowall: Why after three months of preparations since the opening of phase 1 of the 2021 Resident Visa was Immigration New Zealand not able to prevent its website crashing upon the opening of phase 2 and does he acknowledge that the demand for this visa is the result of an immigration system that takes far too long to process visa applications and constantly shifts the goalposts? Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I note that the member continues to focus on the negative. There was a 10-minute outage of a system that has been in operation as of 2 o'clock today for 1680 minutes. As I say there have been 18500 applications so far. I think it goes to show that there is demand for it and that the system is working and I'm very proud of the people who have put in an effort to make sure that that system is up and running to ensure those 85000 applicants can become New Zealand residents. Dr James McDowall: Does the Minister think it is fair to give the lowest processing priority to families who did the right thing at great cost in renewing their work visas in the past few months while prioritising those whose visas are expiring soon but can be granted a one-year 2021 interim visa to tide them over anyway? Hon KRIS FAAFOI: I thank those families who made sure that they stayed legal in terms of their visas. The processes around the triaging of the applications were worked through by Immigration New Zealand with a focus group which included Business New Zealand the Employers and Manufacturers Association Federated Farmers and the Council of Trade Unions. They all agreed—and also licensed immigration advisers of which sector the member has come from. I would note that they were very happy with that approach in order to make sure that the processing of those applications is done in an expeditious and efficient way. Dr James McDowall: Why is the Minister as part of the Government's immigration reset considering sidelining hospitality workers in its forthcoming residency changes and hiking up the investor 1 category to as high as $25 million when he should instead be focused on fixing a broken immigration system that has destroyed families and made it near impossible for businesses to fill workforce shortages? Hon KRIS FAAFOI: The Government agrees that the immigration system needs reworking which is why we are rebalancing the immigration system to a high-wage and high-skill model. We will continue to work with sectors that have continued to work with the likes of working holiday visas or short-term temporary visas to make sure that they can transition to the new model. But as the Productivity Commission is highlighting in some of its interim findings in looking at our immigration settings there are some long-term settings that New Zealand has to look at in terms of its immigration system to benefit the economy and our country as a whole.