Dalziel Lianne: Immigration Amendment Bill — Instructions to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
Dalziel Lianne: Immigration Amendment Bill — Instructions to CommitteeCWH In Committee 
[Volume:611;Page:8280] 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 I want to begin my contribution to this part of the debate on Part 2 by quoting one little section to the Committee: “ (a) No person is entitled to a residence permit as of right; and (b) Any question whether or not—(i) to grant a resident permit to any person … is a matter for the discretion of the Minister or subject to any special direction given under this Act and to section 13C of this Act of the appropriate immigration officer.” That is the existing law. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Why did you call it “entitlement” in this bill? 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: Because it has become an entitlement through the operation of exactly the protection that is offered by Government residence policy. Government residence policy is what the Residence Appeal Authority has to ensure is being applied in a case being decided by an individual immigration officer by way of delegation. That is the way the law is currently structured. What has happened is that it has got out of kilter with the way the law was intended to be structured. We have ended up with a right to residence based on an individual meeting a set of points based on qualifications skills and experience that may not match New Zealand’s needs. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: Change the points system. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: No but this is the point that I want to make to the member. I hope we do have this interchange in the course of this debate because this is the most important part of the bill. What I think people do not realise is that the numbers are currently being controlled under the New Zealand immigration programme by the number of points that one has to obtain or draw together in order to qualify for residence under the general skills category. In my time as Minister those points have risen from 24 points to 29 points. The reason they have risen so significantly in a relatively short period is that there has been an increased interest in people moving to New Zealand under this particular category. 
The points were actually too low at 24 points. I accept that. I held the points at 24 so I accept that I made a mistake in doing so and that is why we ended up with a backlog. It does mean that we have a significant number of people who have had applications lodged within a system that did not cater for the change in the policy that the Government wanted to introduce. So this means that there will be fewer delays not more delays; there will be more certainty and there will be no ministerial unfettered right to decide because Government residence policy will determine the factors that will be taken into account. 
I can assure the member that when people lodge their expressions of interest they will do so on a points-based system. The only difference between the current points system and the new proposed points-based system—and the details are still being worked out but they will be known in advance of the skilled migrant category coming into effect—is that the new proposed points-based system will have additional points for meeting New Zealand’s needs over and above the pre-existing general skills category. So there will be additional points for people having qualifications and experience in the areas of skill shortage within New Zealand. 
Dr the Hon Lockwood Smith 
: You can do that now. 
Hon LIANNE DALZIEL 
: No there is a reason we cannot. The second thing is that it will have additional points if people have job offers in those areas. It will have additional points for job offers that are relevant to qualifications and experience. But the job offers that are currently there now that are not relevant to qualifications or experience will go. They will not get any extra points because they have been incredibly unhelpful in ensuring that people are able to take up their previous areas of occupational skill. 
There will also be extra points for people who get job offers outside Auckland. The point that I have been making is that a lot of people who have been making some criticism around us moving away from a transparent and open system really have not looked at the detail of what is being proposed and that is a points-based system for the expressions of interest. People will register their expression of interest for a very low fee. At the end of say a quarterly assessment those who have been selected will be invited to apply for residence—that is those who score the most points. The rest will be lapsed at the end of that 3-month period if that is the period that we determine. So people will not be sitting in a pool for ever. They will know within a period of 3 to 4 months whether they will be invited to apply for residence. 
Once they are invited to apply for residence then it is pretty sure that unless there is something particularly wrong—for instance they have attempted to defraud the system with false documentation or whatever—they will have a reasonably good chance of gaining residence. In fact the sorts of statistics that we have been working off are around the general skills statistics. I think about 10 percent are declined residence and some of those are in fact allowed to have their applications reconsidered as a result of the Residence Appeal Authority. 
But there will be two streams of people who will fall off this residence application. There are those who have job offers in New Zealand who have already proven that they can settle in New Zealand who did their university degree here and who have studied here for a couple of years—they are people who already know themselves what they are coming to what to expect and they have already demonstrated that they can settle in this country. 
In the other group are people who do not have job offers who have not got their qualifications here in New Zealand or who have not worked here for a couple of years. Their situation can be managed through a work-to-residence option which means that there is a residence permit at the end of it but it does mean that they carry the risk of failure of not being able to get a job in their area or expertise or qualification. 
So in fact this system is much more geared towards those whom New Zealand needs to meet its skill shortages. It is aimed precisely ensuring that migrants who come to New Zealand under the skilled migrant category—and this is only the skilled migrant category that it applies to at the moment; maybe in the future we will look at expanding it to other areas but not at this stage—can be selected to meet New Zealand’s need. 
So the system itself will be much quicker. There will be no delays such as we have at the moment and there will be no chance of people waiting 1 year 2 years or 3 years which has been the case not just under this Government but under previous Governments as well. I think people should read the histories of their own party’s performance in this area of immigration before being so quick to criticise others.