Source: New Zealand Government
The Government is taking another step to strengthen the fiscal sustainability and integrity of the immigration system following the successful first reading of the Immigration (Fiscal Sustainability and System Integrity) Amendment Bill.
“Our immigration system needs to be smart, responsive and flexible to keep pace with the changing geopolitical context. The changes proposed will help ensure our settings appropriately respond to risk and are sustainable,” Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says.
“The Bill introduces appropriate safeguards in the system for vulnerable people and implements legislative recommendations from two independent King’s Counsel (KC) reviews of the immigration system. It also offers pragmatic updates to keep the Act current and support efficient visa processing.”
Changes include:
- Introducing appropriate safeguards in the system for vulnerable people, including refugees and protection claimants, as recommended in the 2022 Victoria Casey review.
- Introducing a requirement for a judicial warrant for any ‘out-of-hours’ compliance activity, as recommended in the 2023 Micheal Heron review.
- Tightening some settings so that more instances of migrant exploitation can be prosecuted, and strengthening consequences for residence class visa holders who commit criminal offences.
- Ensuring the system is flexible to respond to unusual events, such as natural disasters.
Other changes, such as the options to expand the immigration levy payer base and create a new immigration levy in the future, will enable a greater sharing of the costs of the immigration, although there is no intent to implement these changes this year.
“These sensible and timely changes will help futureproof the immigration system, and better balance the integrity of the immigration system with the rights of individuals,” Ms Stanford says.
