Immigration New Zealand

Immigration New Zealand's origins can be traced back to an informal "Immigration Department" that was established within the Lands and Survey Department in 1909. The Immigration Department was tasked with finding employment for new immigrants. In response to demand for more workers in the manufacturing sector, Prime Minister William Massey announced the formation of an official Immigration Department in 1912. This Immigration Department initially had six staff and was headed by J.E. Smith. This Department assumed the immigration functions of the Public Works and Lands and Survey Departments. However, the First World War prevented a large-scale assisted programme to New Zealand. In 1931, the Immigration Department and the Department of Labour were merged into a combined "Department of Labour and Immigration."[4]

By 1946, the Department of Labour's immigration function had been transferred to a newly-created "Immigration Division" headed by Jack Brennan. This Immigration Division was tasked with administering New Zealand's post-war assisted immigration scheme and came under the oversight of a newly-created Immigration ministerial portfolio.[5] Following the Second World War, the Secretary of Labour Herbert Leslie Bockett expanded the Immigration Division by establishing sections in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin district offices. A Migration Office was also opened in London opposite the New Zealand High Commission in London. The Department of Labour used advertisement and booklets to encourage European immigration to New Zealand during the post-World War II boom.[6]

In 1971, the Immigration Division cooperated with the-then Ministry of Foreign Affairs to expand immigration to Asians with professional and technical qualifications, English language skills, and specific jobs. By 1975, rising unemployment led the New Zealand government to end its assisted migration scheme for migrants. Under the leadership of Assistant Secretary J.L Fouhy, the Immigration Division was tasked with enforcing the Immigration Act 1964. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Immigration Division and Department of Labour was tasked with managing various issues including Pacific Islander overstayers and refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia. In response, the Department of Labour established a work permit scheme for Tongan, Fijian and Samoan migrants in 1975. The Immigration Division also established a resettlement unit to manage the resettlement of Indochinese refugees in New Zealand. By 1985, more than 6,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees had settled in New Zealand.[7]

By 1984, the Department of Labour's Immigration Division had 157 staff.[8] Following a review of the Department of Labour in 1988, the Immigration Division was revamped as the "Immigration Service." The Immigration Service established three regional and four branch offices. Staff numbers rose from 139 to 324 by 1992. By the early 1990s, Asia and the Pacific Islands had replaced the United Kingdom and Europe as the main source of New Zealand's immigration. In 1993, the Immigration Service was reorganized to accommodate the increased number of tourists and to shift much of the immigrant processing to staff overseas. In response to the increasing strain placed by immigration on New Zealand's social infrastructure particularly housing and education, the Department of Labour tightened English language and capital requirements.[9]

In 2004, Immigration New Zealand was designated as the government agency in charge of migration settlement.[10] In 2005, the Fifth Labour Government established the Pacific Division to improve visa and immigration services in the Pacific Islands and for Pacific Islanders living in New Zealand. In 2009, a report by the Controller and Auditor-General identified a range of problems including poor leadership, mismanagement, lack of accountability and transparency, poor services, and a "fiefdom" mentality.[11] In response to the report, the Fifth National Government dissolved the Pacific Division and re-integrated into INZ.[12][13]

After the Department of Labour was merged into the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment in July 2012, Immigration New Zealand was incorporated into the new ministry.[14][15]

Immigration New Zealand is an agency within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment that is responsible for facilitating and regulating immigration, tourism, foreign students and workers, and foreign investment in New Zealand. Immigration NZ's other responsibilities include migrant attraction, visa facilitation, border protection and refugee resettlement. As of 2017, the division has five branches:

• Compliance, Risk and Intelligence
• Visa Services, which provides immigration advice, services, and visa application processing.[16]
• Service Design and Performance
• Settlement, Protection and Attraction
• Vision 2015, an initiative implemented in 2012 to upgrade INZ's information and communications technology.[17][3]

• In February 2004, Immigration Officer Manjit Singh was charged for theft for pocketing the proceeds of disposing of the assets of nationals deported from New Zealand.[29]
• Lianne Dalziel, resigned as Minister for Immigration on 20 February 2004 for leaking and later lying about leaking it to the Media a copy of a legally privileged letter from a Sri Lankan asylum seeker, a scandal that was later referred to as Bunnygate.[30]
• In 2008, Mary-Anne Thompson, the General Manager of the Pacific Division, was forced to resign after not one scandal, but two. The first scandal was where she was exposed as not only getting several relatives from Kiribati to NZ without a visa in full violation of immigration rules, but later obtaining them Permanent Residency under an annual quota. Despite the fact that they had not been even randomly selected out of the lottery like every one else, their residency applications were processed. Despite these repeated and blatant breaches of policy, the initial internal investigation merely recommended "counseling".[31] [32] Her second scandal was where she was subsequently exposed at lying about her qualifications, namely her claim to have a doctorate from the London School of Economics, a claim later exposed to be untrue. She subsequently pleaded guilty to criminal charges laid regarding this claim.[33] [34]
• At the same time of that scandal hit the headlines, it was also revealed that Mary Anne Thompson had awarded a $500,000 untendered contract to set up the Pacific Branch to Pacific Edge International Limited, despite it being owned directed by senior Immigration Manager Kerupi Tavita, which when challenged the involvement of Tavita, simply bypassed this by resigning his directorship, and got his wife to substitute for him. Later, the other director, Mai Malaulau, was controversially appointed the head of the Pacific Branch.[35][36]
• In March 2009, Immigration NZ's Pacific Division was dissolved by the Fifth National Government following a damning report which identified a range of problems including poor leadership, mismanagement, lack of accountability and transparency, poor services, and a "fiefdom" mentality.[12][13]
• In 2009, The Christchurch and Sydney branches were revealed to have operated an unsanctioned "initiative" called "Project Crusade" between April and July 2008 in granting visas to applicants who had not submitted either medicals or police clearance certificates. It was halted following a review by the Department of Labour in 2009.[33]
• In 2012, it was reported that 50 Immigration NZ staff had improperly accessed client information since the agency started its internal investigation process in 2004.[37]
• In November 2017, Immigration New Zealand's efforts to close down several domestic branch offices in favour of shifting services online drew criticism from representatives of the Pacific communities in New Zealand including Member of Parliament William Sio. Key complaints were that many Tongan and Pacific New Zealanders lacked access to computer and that delays in renewing immigration applications had caused some people to be classified as overstayers. Peter Elms, the Immigration NZ's director of operations for visa services, defended the Department's decision to shift services online and contended that clients could still contact INZ officials via phone.[38][39]
• In November 2018, drug smuggler and convicted Czech criminal Karel Sroubek was granted residency by Minister of Immigration Ian Lees-Galloway.[40]
• In mid–June 2019, Immigration New Zealand attracted criticism from the pro-Israel advocacy group Israel Institute of New Zealand after it published a map on its website which labeled Israel as Palestine.[41] An Immigration NZ spokesperson clarified that the map had been published as part of its online fact sheets on the humanitarian situation in Palestine and New Zealand's refugee program. The Israel Institute's Director Ashley Church demanded that the Immigration Minister apologize to the Jewish community and confirm this did not represent New Zealand foreign policy. He also demanded that Immigration NZ issue an apology and take steps to prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.[42][43] On 20 June, the Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway issued an apology to the Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Gerberg and said that immediate action had been taken to remove the diagram. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters described the map as a "careless and shoddy mistake" and criticized the handling of the incident as "an affront to the Israeli people."[44][45]
• In mid October 2019, Immigration New Zealand controversially tightened their partnership visa policies to exclude applicants from India who were engaged in non-resident Indian (NRI) marriages. Since 2009, the New Zealand Government had made an exception for NRI messages at the advice of the Ombudsman. This ruling was criticized by the Indian community as racist.[46] In early November 2019, the Government announced the reversal of the partnership visa decision, restoring the exception for non-resident Indian marriages.[47]

• Immigration and Protection Tribunal
• Minister of Immigration (New Zealand)
• New Zealand Customs Service
• Visa policy of New Zealand

• Brady, K.P. (May 2009). Inquiry into immigration matters: Volume 1: Visa and permit decision-making and other issues. Wellington: Office of the Auditor General. ISBN 9780478326260.
• Martin, John E. (1996). Holding the Balance: A History of New Zealand's Department of Labour 1891-1995. Christchurch, NZ: Canterbury University Press. ISBN 0908812612.
• Matthews, Martin (April 2017). Immigration New Zealand: Delivering transformational change. Wellington: Office of the Auditor General. ISBN 9780478442632.
• Provost, Lyn (November 2013). Immigration New Zealand: Supporting new migrants to settle and work. Wellington: Office of the Auditor General. ISBN 9780478410440.

• Immigration New Zealand