Many of you will know that as Covid-19 has spread
the globe, our offshore network of offices
has closed over the last few weeks.
Now, this week in New Zealand, we have moved to a Level 4 response,
which effectively means that all
non-essential workers in
New Zealand must go home and self quarantine. So we're no different
and that means that we've closed all of our onshore offices here,
so that our staff can go home, protect themselves, protect their families
and self quarantine in the safety of their own homes.
That doesn't mean to say that Immigration is closed
for business, because we're not. It's a busy place
there are plenty of essential workers
and certainly our border is an area of
criticality for New Zealand and all of our workers there
are busy and will be busy for some time to come.
We've also got a skeleton crew operating
out of Stout Street in Wellington, our National Office
who are responsible for our emergency coordination
and ensuring that we are
gearing up our business
to be able to operate even in
these strange and unusual times
As you will have seen over the last six weeks
the Government has made a series of
changes, border enhancements
to restrict the flow of
international travellers coming into New Zealand.
Now, that's had a massive impact.
So, we're seeing arrivals that were about 16,500
international arrivals a week or so ago
and that's now down to around 5,000
and what we're seeing increasingly
is a series of international airports closing
or airlines diverting flights
so the options for getting
into New Zealand are dwindling
and they are dwindling quite fast
so as it stands at the moment
you'll know that absolutely,
New Zealand citizens and New Zealand permanent residents can return home, should they
be able to get a flight. But the opportunities for other people
are very very limited
I'll talk a little bit about that in a moment.
The other focus for us at the moment is very much on
the 400,000 people
who hold temporary visas here in New Zealand
now they are as affected by the circumstances
as anyone
so we understand the need to act decisively and quickly
to relieve anxiety and protect the interest
of those individuals, who through no fault of their own
many of whom might be stranded here in New Zealand.
We want to minimise business disruption.
Business disruption is massive
at the moment
and we don't want Immigration to contribute to that.
In particular, we don't want Immigration to contribute to business disruption
of essential services
and many of our migrant workforce
actually work within those essential services.
So we are working very hard with Government
about steps that we can take to address those risks.
So, you'll remember
that there are three general exemptions
including essential workers, including
Pacific and including
humanitarian.
So it will come as no surprise to you that over the last
week or two, our focus
has very much been in the essential workers space.
We are working very very closely with
other agencies and in particular with the Ministry of Health
to facilitate the movement
of essential workers into New Zealand.
And when I say essential workers, I'm talking
about the people with the skills and specialist
technical abilities
that the Ministry of Health needs
to help combat Covid-19.
To be completely honest and blunt with you
the humanitarian circumstances have got to be
exceptional. Have got to be exceptional.
They will be isolated cases at best,
because with every traveller that comes into
New Zealand, there comes with them a risk.
So whilst I'm not saying that we are not accepting humanitarian cases,
and we are, and we have processed
and decided a number of those,
they have got to be exceptional.
and I realise that that's causing
some consternation out in the community
So a partner is eligible to come into New Zealand
if they are a partner of a New Zealand citizen or a New Zealand permanent resident
and they are
travelling with that citizen or resident.
Now, the partner
we need to be satisfied
that they are a bona fide partner.
So that means either the partner
has got a Partnership Visa
or they've got a track record
of coming into New Zealand with that
New Zealand citizen
or that New Zealand resident
or there is other information which is compelling,
which convinces us,
that that partnership is a genuine partnership.
Now, these are difficult decisions at the moment for
our border staff because these decisions
are being taken at the border at the point that many people
are turning up to try and board planes.
If our staff cannot
have the assurance
that people meet those exemption
criteria, they will not be boarded.
As people will have seen, the Government have announced that there
will be an automated visa roll over
as of the 2nd of April
so that effectively means
that all temporary students,
work and visitor visa holders
who have a valid visa on the 2nd of April
will have those visas rolled over
so that they are valid, on the same conditions, through to the end of September
so that takes away all of the anxiety
that those people may have
about their lawful status in New Zealand.
If you have any clients in that situation,
here in New Zealand,
then please, get them to apply for a new visa,
an online visa,
get that application lodged
and then trigger the interim visa process.
As soon as those applications are lodged,
the interim visa kicks in
and they will have 6 months validity to remain
here in New Zealand, again, on broadly
similar conditions to what they were on.
Look after yourselves, take care of you and the family,
take care of your friends and
listen to the Government instructions
and in times like this, let's keep perspective
let's keep our patience
keep our sense of humour
and I look forward to the time
when we can get around the table and have
those face to face discussions once again.
Take care, goodbye.