Recent media statements by New Zealand’s Minister Of Immigration have given migrants the impression that they are not welcome to New Zealand. I review these statements in this post and talk about the reactions of would-be New Zealand migrants and provide clarity to migrants as to their position – migrants are still welcome to New Zealand.
While it would be an exaggeration to call it panic, there is little doubt that the Minister of Immigration's recent comments about not issuing work permits or renewing existing ones has caused a lot of migrants and their employers genuine concern and heartache. At best the comments were unhelpful and compounded when taken out of context by the media, at worst they were irresponsible, misleading and undermined the Government's own residence immigration program. The reaction from migrant groups, unions (strangely enough) and advocates reinforces the need for Ministers to choose their words carefully and for the media to understand the issue they are reporting on and to write stories that are accurate and reflect the reality of the situation.
What was the real story?
Radio New Zealand broke a story about 'foreign' workers having their work permits renewed while the same company laid off New Zealand workers two months later. How could 'foreigners' keep their jobs here when locals were losing theirs? Unions got involved, the media were clearly tipped off and the Minister was suddenly left trying to defend how this could happen in a time of rising local unemployment.
The Minister was forced to stand up in Parliament and confirm that under the National led Government it is always going to be a case of jobs for Kiwis first and foremost or words to that effect and that he had ordered the Immigration Department to look at revoking the permits of these migrant workers. In a nutshell he said that you can rest easy New Zealand, migrants will always be the first to get the chop. And chopped they were - their permits were revoked.
But should they have been? Were the decisions to extend these permits based on sound reasons and within existing policy? There are a million different and perfectly valid reasons why these particular workers may have got work permits extended and why locals may have been laid off but none of these questions were asked by the media (or addressed by the Minister).
How big was the company? How many people does it employ? What do they do? How important is this business in the local community? What were the particular skills sets of these foreign workers that made them so valuable? Were they simply better workers than the locals? What is the impact on the remaining jobs at this company now that these skills have gone? Has this decision jeopardized more jobs directly at the company and indirectly in the community? Had any of these foreign workers been invited to apply for residence as skilled migrants but had now lost their jobs (and with it their chance to stay and contribute to the company and the country)?
In all the ballyhoo that swirled in the press I never got close to learning the answers to any of these fundamental questions.
So what of those other migrant workers who were here on work permits, who may have received extensions to these permits previously and who may well be sitting in one of the Immigration Departments so called 'managed queues' having been invited to apply for residence but are waiting months and months for the Department to process their cases? Are they going to deported? More than a few of our clients asked us that question. Many highly skilled Brits and South Africans started emailing us asking if there was still any point in their coming to New Zealand, finding highly skilled jobs and filing their residence papers if, as the Minister had been widely reported in the press, they weren't going to be able to take up the jobs (on work permits) while the Government spent months and months processing their residence applications.
We assured them that they would be okay. That what the Minister had said and what he meant were two different things as the context was lost when reported on by an ignorant media. That the Minister was playing politics. I urged the Minister's office to clarify his statements and confirm what he meant in the context of the Government's skilled residence immigration program - the big immigration picture as it were.
Whether I had any influence on this or not I will never know but within ten days the Minister came out and stated once again that work permit policy was clear and had not changed- if there are locals who are available to fill positions then foreign workers need not apply - their work permits would be declined or not renewed. This I can confirm is Government policy and has been for at least the past twenty years. The Minister of Immigration added however (as he had done in Parliament but the media had clearly missed the point) the Government was not cutting back on its skilled migrant intake (of roughly 27,000 people this year) and work permit policy had not changed and there were no plans to change it. Reading between the lines - we are open for business and work permits will still be issued and where the policy allows, renewed.
Unfortunately the horse had already bolted and many thousands of migrants on work permits were already fearful that they would not be able to stay. Employers who had read the Minister's comments were now assuming in many instances that the Government had shut up shop and that it was pointless offering jobs to non New Zealanders as he said they wouldn't get work permits. Recruiters too were calling us asking us to clarify what was going on. Newspapers as far away as South Africa picked up on the theme and ran headlines such as "New Zealand withdraws welcome mat" and were seeking comment.
The fear and uncertainty generated by the Minister's answer to a question has caused real damage in the same migrant markets the Government is serious about attracting long term skilled immigrants from.
In conclusion although I have little doubt he never intended the message to be one of foreigners not welcome anymore, that is how it was reported. He might choose his words a little more carefully next time around and make clear that short term work permit holders who are here as seasonal workers or similar might expect as local unemployment rises to not get work permits or not have them removed. To those more highly skilled who are the target of the Government's skilled migrant category but who often need jobs to fulfil residence criteria, you are still welcome to come here and will be granted work permits.
Has the welcome mat been withdrawn? Will work permits continued to be issued and renewed? Absolutely - just so long as, where required under policy, the New Zealand Immigration Department is satisfied that the lcoal labour should not be able to fill the vacancy.
.jpg)
Subscribe