ASEAN and New Zealand have pledged to strengthen their cooperation by implementing the ASEAN-New Zealand Plan of Action (2021-2025). The commitment was reaffirmed at the 11th ASEAN-New Zealand Joint Cooperation Committee (ANZJCC) Meeting, which was held at the ASEAN Secretariat on March 25. The meeting was co-chaired by Permanent Representative of Brunei to ASEAN Ambassador […]

New Zealand’s Immigration Department is reviewing the visa application of a controversial UK anti-transgender activist, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, after her supporters were seen performing Nazi salutes and abusing LGBTQIA counter-protesters at her event in Melbourne on Sunday. Keen-Minshull had planned to hold rallies at Albert Park in Auckland and Civic Square […]

Immigration officials are reviewing some visa decisions that have prevented visits from Iranians to their New Zealand-based relatives. One man’s parents have had their visa refusal overturned, after previously being told they were judged to be at risk of overstaying because of the political situation in Iran. But other families are still battling – and […]

Heavy machinery operators are likely to be among those sought for the new visa. The government is setting up a…

An unlicensed adviser who strung a family along for months with false promises of residence will serve two months of…

Immigration New Zealand has apologised to a Korean-based chef who has waited 3.5 months for a New Zealand work visa. Chinese-born Zhicheng Huang, who currently lives in South Korea, was offered a job by the Invercargill Licensing Trust. He is one of several overseas-based chefs the licensing trust has offered jobs to in Invercargill because […]

Pathways to residence for skilled migrants and their parents have been restarted, the immigration minister has announced. The points-based Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) visa has not accepted applications since the start of the pandemic and the Parent Category visa has not accepted applications since 2016. The minister said that the Skilled Migrant Category visa would […]

Health Minister Andrew Little says the government is working with the immigration department and the nurses’ union to get more nurses into the country. Of nearly 350 who have their visa approved, so far only 22 nurses have arrived since August. The Nursing Council estimates about 4000 are needed. Nurses already here on short-term visas which […]

Cabinet papers have revealed that ministers approved plans a year ago to reunite families split by the border closures, but later said that it was not necessary. The documents, published last month, show that about 14,000 separated partners and children, who were not covered by other border exemptions, were waiting to enter the country last […]

The government is doubling the number of places available on the Working Holiday Scheme and extending working holiday makers’ visas in a bid to address staff shortages across the country. It is also allowing employers in some sectors to pay skilled migrants less than the new median wage requirements. Announcing the changes last week, Immigration […]