Transcript
PAUL SPOONLEY - It's come from a request for information from the Immigration New Zealand and it gives an indication of the overstayer estimates. They are estimates by the way, which we just need to make clear.
SELA JANE HOPGOOD - How often is this report done?
PS - There is ongoing interest in overstayers because it really tests how good our system is in terms of both approving people to come in as temporary and permanent, but also the people who are breaching their visa and therefore overstaying illegally.
SJH - There is a big drop in the numbers of overstayers for Tongans and Samoans. What did you make of it?
PS - Well I was very very surprised. I mean not that I see Tongans and Samoans as inevitably overstayers, but there are since 2000, a drop of 6,000 from those two countries alone and that accounts for about 2/3s of the drop in overstayers since 2000, so it's very very significant.
SJH - With your findings, does it show what ethnic group has the highest percentage of overstayers?
PS - It's quite a complicated picture and it depends on visa approvals and denials, so there are a number of groups from various countries who overstay particular visa categories, so its not like a league table where Tongans are number one. The thing I've taken away from the figures is the very significant drop in overstayers from Tonga and Samoa.
SJH - What do you think has caused the numbers to drop?
PS - I think there are various reasons. One is that we've got new schemes, so of course the recognised seasonal employment (RSE) scheme has come in since then and that gives Tongans in particular an opportunity to come and work in New Zealand and generate some capital and the Tongan experience of the RSE scheme has been a real success story. Why would you breach your conditions and stay on. I think New Zealand has got better in identifying and monitoring people who come here on temporary visa categories. There is a sort of scrutiny of what's happening in identifying people who possibly should be encouraged to go and I think the other thing is there has been a real shift during the global financial crisis (GFC). There wasn't necessarily the same demands for particular jobs and I think we've seen people who might have come and who might have stayed illegally previously. It's just not the reasons for staying on illegally and not there and quite the same way. I think the communities themselves have been really quite aware of who can come and who can stay and being very good citizens really in terms of making sure that people do observe the regulations around visas and how long you can stay and whether you should go.
SJH - Do you see this number continue to drop then?
PS - New Zealand is in an interesting space because since the end of the GFC, we need immigrants. Despite what recent political campaigns might have indicated and what's very interesting is that we need very skilled immigrants, but we also need people to fill those jobs, which have traditionally been filled by Pasifika migrants and I go back to the horticultural sector. Without temporary workers from the Pacific, we wouldn't get our apples picked at the moment, so I think there is going to be an ongoing need to recruit from the Pacific and to manage the recruitment from the Pacific and I think it needs to be a mix of temporary and permanent, to be honest.
