Hon Clayton Cosgrove - Minister of Immigration

31 October 2007

Released under the Official Information Act

Department of Labour strategic context

1. The Department of Labour aims to ensure that New Zealand workplaces are productive and that New Zealanders have high quality working lives. We do this by seeking to expand the workforce, increase skill levels, ensure better work and encourage working better. Through this work we make a significant contribution to the government’s economic transformation agenda.
2. Labour market outcomes are critical for New Zealand, socially and economically. New Zealand’s labour market is tighter than ever before – we have record numbers of people employed, unemployment is lower than most of our trading partners (at 1.7%), and participation is at almost 69%. Work stoppages are down to 42 (in the quarter to June 2007), with work related injuries falling to 242,600 in the same period. The Department expects these trends to continue in the short term, although we are forecasting a slight easing in employment growth in the medium term.
3. New Zealand needs to shift to a high wage, high skill, high value economy. The Department, with social partners and other key government agencies, aims to leverage the diversity of our labour market and immigration functions across the portfolios of labour, employment, ACC and immigration to improve labour market outcomes.
4. We have the following four long-term goals:
   • Our place in the world – New Zealand will prosper through its connections with the rest of the world
   • Our workplaces – New Zealand workplaces will lead the world in maximising that value of work while providing a high quality working life
   • Our workforce – the skills of our workers will ensure New Zealand enterprises are leaders internationally
   • Our people – all New Zealanders will be able to grow and develop through access to well-paid and meaningful employment.
5. These goals, and their underpinning medium-term priorities shape our work programmes, and enable us to align the work of the various groups in the Department.
6. An example of our approach is our work in the Horticulture and Viticulture Sector. With acute labour and skill constraints, the industry needed to adapt. The Department’s response has been to work collaboratively with industry representatives, the CTU and with other Departments to improve workplace practices, enhance employment relations, and where appropriate, facilitate Pacific people’s contribution to this significant industry.
7. Such service delivery adaptation relies on core, fit for purpose, enabling organisational infrastructure. Building this is a critical priority for the Department as we seek to implement our strategic direction. Most of our core foundation systems are legacy ones, and do not fully support organisational integration and responsiveness. This is a key focus for the Department in Budget 2008, and if successful, will yield internal productivity dividends for the organisation.
8. Demand for our services continues to increase year on year. In order to meet such pressures, we are continuing to adapt and innovate as an organisation. Increasingly we are providing proactive information via contact centres and our web presence, targeting our resources to where they will have maximum impact.
9. With the legislative and policy changes currently occurring in the immigration portfolio, the Department is now focussing on future proofing immigration risk management and service delivery. Focusing on skills, security and settlement, the Department is working to redesign our service delivery to better meet the future needs of New Zealand.

Organisational form

10. The Department’s delivery and support groups are headed by Deputy Secretaries. Together with the Secretary of Labour, this group of six comprise our Strategic Leadership Team. The work groups are:
    • Work Directions – focusing on achieving the best labour market outcomes at the national, regional and sectoral level, through strategic analysis, engagement and comprehensive labour market information and insights
    • Workplace – delivers services relating to employment relationships, workplace practices, workplace health and safety and safe management of hazardous substances to build healthy, productive workplaces
    • Workforce – delivers immigration, employment and skills policy to build New Zealand workforce, while managing immigration in New Zealand’s best interests
    • Legal and International – provide internal legal advice and support, including Ministerial support for legislative change, and manages our labour-related international engagements. The Group also provides an internally independent home for support staff for immigration appeal bodies and the newly created Immigration Advisers Authority, and
    • Corporate – provides a range of central shared services, advice and standards across the organisation in relation to human resources, information technology, communications and marketing, financial management, planning and reporting and internal audit.

Ministers

11. The Department services four votes – ACC, Immigration, Labour and Social Development and Employment. The Minister of Labour is the responsible Minister for the Department of Labour.

IMMIGRATION PORTFOLIO

12. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is the larger partner in the Workforce Group of the Department of Labour, which is in turn the largest operational group within the Department. Immigration is the oldest function of the Department of Labour; since the 19th Century, immigration policy’s main focus has been to bring people in to meet skill and labour needs in the New Zealand workforce.
13. As at 30 September 2007 there were 1,175 immigration staff, 228 across the 15 offshore branches, and 947 in New Zealand, working in the eight onshore branches and in national office. During 2006/07 staff made almost 437,000 decisions on temporary (work, visitor and student) applications, and 27,000 decisions on residence applications. During 2007/08 it is expected that INZ will approve residence for around 46,000 – 50,000 people, 60 percent of whom will enter under the Skilled / Business stream. (This percentage includes the partners and children of skilled and business principal applicants.)
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Legal responsibilities of Ministers

15. Under the Immigration Act 1987 the Minister of Immigration is responsible for:
    • formal approval of Government Residence Policy and Government Immigration Policy, to give effect to Cabinet policy decisions
    • decision making in regard to individual cases, both where decision making would be outside policy and therefore beyond the Department’s capacity, and where individuals are unhappy with the Department’s decisions
    • delegating aspects of decision making to an Associate Minister and to departmental officers (existing delegations remain in place until amended)
16. While some Ministers of Immigration have retained all decision making with regard to individual cases, it is usual, where there is an Associate Minister of Immigration, for most individual case work to be delegated to that person. The principal Minister generally retains the work around ordering deportations and the revocation of residence.
17. The previous Associate Minister of Immigration further delegated some individual case decision making to named Senior Managers within the Department. Between them, the Associate Minister and Senior managers made decisions on over 3,000 individual cases in 2006/07.
18. The separate document, Minister of Immigration and Associate Minister of Immigration’s Decision-Making and Administrative Roles, goes into the detail of the legislation and other parties (including the Appeal Authorities) involved in this area.

Strategic priorities and context

19. In the future, immigration will play an increasing role in achieving government priorities. In particular, New Zealand will have an increased need for skilled and talented migrants. Competition for those skilled and talented migrants will be stronger and their immigration security and health risks are likely to rise. As migrants increase in number and come from more diverse backgrounds, it will be increasingly important that New Zealand manages well potential impacts on the natural environment, infrastructure, service provision and social cohesion.
20. The pace of global change is fast: competition for skills is intensifying rapidly while significant security risks are growing. Other countries are taking steps to best position themselves to meet these challenges. New Zealand’s immigration system must be overhauled to ensure we are not left behind. This means a shift to a better integrated immigration system that continues to attract skills and talent, reunite families, protect refugees, promote relations with the Pacific, and contribute to development and trade, while ensuring New Zealanders have confidence in our border security.
21. The Government has put an Immigration Change Programme in place to achieve the step change required. The Change Programme has three interlinked elements:
    • strengthening legislation
    • putting in place a new business model (Immigration Business Transformation), and
    • repositioning policy.

Legislative Change

Immigration Bill 2007

22. The Bill is currently before the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee. It is a first principles rewrite of the 1987 legislation and aims to help ensure New Zealand has the skills, talent and labour needed for economic transformation, New Zealanders have confidence in our border security, and migrants and refugees settle well and integrate into communities. The closing date for submissions has been extended until Friday 2 November.
23. Key changes are proposed around terminology and concepts, the protection of vulnerable people, deportation, appeals, and compliance. The Bill also proposes the enabling of electronic decision making and of the collection and use of biometric identity data. It allows the use of classified information in immigration decision making. Most parts of the legislation will come into force 12 months after it receives assent.

Implementation of the new Immigration Act

24. In preparation for the passing of the Immigration Bill, a major project is underway to ensure instructions, processes and tools, ICT change, training, communication, publications and legal support are all in place in time for implementation. The planning of the implementation programme is proceeding on the assumption that the Act will receive assent in April 2008 and the implementation will be complete by August 2009.

Implementation of the Immigration Advisers Act 2007

25. This Act will come into force on 4 May 2008. It provides for the compulsory licensing of most persons who give immigration advice (MPs are exempt), the implementation of a Code of Conduct, and sanctions for Advisers who do not conform with the Code. From May 2009, unless exempt, advisors onshore must be licensed. This will extend to offshore advisors from May 2010.

Delivery Change

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Policy Change

28. Cabinet approved an Immigration Policy Framework in 2006. Policy reviews under way include:
    • Temporary work: temporary work policy needs to meet employers’ needs and support economic growth, while ensuring that work opportunities are available first for New Zealanders. A Cabinet paper is due to be considered by the end of November 2007, and a companion paper from the Ministry of Social Development will go to Cabinet at the same time.
    • Working Holiday Schemes: the policy review will examine working holiday schemes, the overall cap used to manage numbers and consider a broad range of issues around their development and operation. The review reports to Cabinet in April 2008.
    • Skilled Migrant Category: many countries are developing immigration attraction policies and it is important that New Zealand’s policies remain attractive. This fundamental review will use the results from a longitudinal survey of migrants and the IBT project to inform the policy development process. It reports to Cabinet in June 2008.
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Other significant issues and risks

Select Committee Financial Review

29. Work on the 2006/07 Financial Review is under way. Specific areas of interest from members include: the impact of the Office of the Auditor General identity fraud report and immigration fraud in general, the Special Zimbabwe Residence policy (see page 8), Taito Philip Field, the work of the Immigration Profiling Group (especially in relation to the PriceWaterhouseCoopers review, see page 8), Networkz Online (see page 8) and refugees.
30. The Department’s responses to questions which pertain to Vote Immigration will be copied to the Minister of Immigration for information. Answers to the questionnaire are due with the Clerk on 7 November, and the hearing is set down for 15 November.

Budget 2008

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Office of the Auditor General (OAG) report

33. In June 2007, the OAG released a performance audit report into the Department of Labour’s management of immigration identity fraud within the Refugee Quota and Skilled Migrant categories. The report criticised a number of aspects of identity fraud management and made 15 recommendations to address identified gaps. As at late October:
    • all the recommendations are either in process, or planned to be addressed through the IBT programme, and
    • a Fraud Assessment Panel has been established, consisting of senior managers from Service Delivery, Border and Compliance, the Review branch, Legal Services and Fraud. The Panel’s role is to assess immigration fraud cases and decide the actions to be taken.

Recognised Seasonal Employer policy (RSE)

34. RSE was introduced in April 2007; from the end of September 2007 RSE and TRSE (see below) have replaced the Seasonal Worker Pilot, which enabled any visitor to New Zealand to work in the horticulture and viticulture industries. RSE has the aims of:
    • ensuring the horticulture / viticulture industries have a sustainable labour force into the future, focused on New Zealanders in the first instance
    • enabling Pacific Island countries to benefit from the income and skills acquisition of their nationals, and
    • discouraging overstaying and illegal work.
35. Under RSE, only employers who are recognised as meeting a set of minimum standards are able to recruit overseas workers. Preference is given to workers from Pacific Forum countries. A two-year transitional policy (the TRSE) was announced in September, to enable growers who are moving towards RSE status to access foreign labour while they are working towards meeting the required standards. Employers have recently expressed disquiet about the length of time being taken to approve workers, and particularly with the Ministry of Social Development processes involved.
36. Before Christmas:
    • the Department will be working with Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, to help in the recruitment of workers, and
    • it is not expected that any decisions will be required from the Minister of Immigration.

Fishing

37. Significant reform has been undertaken over the past three years in the fishing industry. In order to source overseas fishing crew, companies must now adhere to a Code of Practice, which among other things protects crew’ terms and conditions and limits the deductions which can be made from their wages. At present, all requests for Approval in Principle (AIP) to recruit foreign fishing crew are decided by the Minister of Immigration. A review of fishing work policy is due in February 2008.
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Special Zimbabwe Residence Policy (SZRP)

40. The SZRP allowed Zimbabwe nationals who arrived in New Zealand on or before 23 September 2004 to be granted residence. In August 2006 the New Zealand Government waived the need for this group of migrants to meet the acceptable standard of health required of residents. The policy closed in February 2007. Just over 30 people who were eligible to apply have not done so. This policy has been the subject of recent parliamentary questions.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report

41. PWC was engaged by the Department to undertake a post-establishment review of the Immigration Profiling Group (IPG) in 2006. (The IPG was established in 2005 to decide higher risk applications.) PWC’s report provided a useful assessment of the IPG's operational strengths and weaknesses. WITHHELD UNDER SECTION 9(2)(g)(i)

Networkz

42. This website was set up in late 2005. It aimed to match offshore migrants with job opportunities in New Zealand. It was not a success and was replaced this year with the NZRecruitme website, managed by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. WITHHELD UNDER SECTION 9(2)(G)(i)

Oral questions

43. The Immigration portfolio is a frequent target for Oral questions. During 2006/07, 68 questions for Oral Answer were received, an average of between two and three per sitting week. Recent topics have included:
    • The status of New Zealand workers as opposed to foreign workers
    • Taito Phillip Field
    • Classified information and the Immigration Bill
    • Fraudulent claims for refugee status
    • Emigration to Australia
    • Iranian converts to Christianity
    • People held in detention for immigration purposes.
44. The Department’s Government Executive Ministerial Support (GEMS) unit provides the initial support for the Minister of Immigration once a question has been received. Other staff are available if required.
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Things in train

Operational policy changes

48. The previous Minister announced a number of changes to Family sponsored policy on 12 October 2007, and recently certified the relevant temporary entry policy. They will be introduced on 5 November 2007 and comprise:
    • implementing a good character requirement for partners supporting partnership applications
    • establishing a minimum income requirement for sponsors of Parent applications, and
    • establishing a new multiple entry visitor's visa for parents and grandparents.
49. Changes to the Skilled Migrant Category concerning assessment of skilled employment and recognition of qualifications and some minor amendments to Student policy have also been certified to become effective on 26 November 2007. The student policy amendments were announced by the previous Minister on 24 October. Skilled Migrant category amendments are due to be announced in the week beginning 5 November 2007. The timeframe is important, as a delay to their announcement (which could be made by the Minister or the Department) could disadvantage prospective applicants and lead to negative comment.
50. A further set of operational policy changes are also due to become effective on 26 November. They have been agreed by Cabinet, but still require certification by the Minister. The policy changes to be certified will be with you by the end of the week, and comprise:
    • a new Active Migrant Investor Policy (as soon as possible), and
    • amendment of the visa and permit component of the RSE policy to make this a form of Limited Purpose Entry policy, to better manage the risks of overstaying.

Immigration portfolio key contacts

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