Dealing with an inconsistent immigration system where rules are being changed almost arbitrarily, without giving any certainty to a vast number of temporary migrants in the country, along with the insensitivity of the bureaucratic system, were some of the main pain points shared by a large number of migrant workers protesting in Auckland last weekend.
Hundreds of temporary migrants, mostly work visa holders, with main grievances of being in limbo for years, either for sharing family separation due to closed borders or languishing in long processing queues of residency under the Skilled Migrant Category, had come together on Sunday, July 11 under the umbrella of Federation of Migrants.
Notably, earlier in April this year, few prominent migrant unions and networks have come together to form a Federation of Migrants (Migrant Workers Association, the Migrant Rights Network and the Association of New Kiwis Aotearoa (ANKA) and Migrants NZ) to increase pressure on the government to shed the long-demonstrated ambiguity and indecisiveness within immigration sector.
Since then, many protests have been held at a number of places in the country, including in front of parliament a few months ago, where Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi was cornered by protesting migrants demanding answers to their and their family’s precarious visa situations.
On Sunday, in Auckland, the protest started with a march from Britomart train station, which culminated at Aotea Square. It was followed by passionate speeches from several speakers and leaders, including Green Party, MP, Ricardo Menendez.
The Indian Weekender spoke with several temporary migrant workers who were frustrated with the Immigration system’s “inaction,” particularly on the delays in processing queues for Skilled Migrant Category visas.
“I have been in the country for last six years hopping from one work visa to another along with my family,” said Ravinder Kumar, who had come all the way from Te Puke to be part of the migrant protest.
“I have submitted Expression of Interest (EOI) for my wife and me towards the end of 2019 after we were able to have enough points to be eligible for filing application based on my work experience,” Ravinder said.
“However, given the current job environment in the post-Covid phase, we always live-in perpetual fear of what will happen if my job situation changes suddenly.”
“Having your residency application in the processing queue for years is a nightmare as it keeps our lives uncertain where we cannot plan a family or buy a home as we don’t know if we will finally be able to come out of this never-ending uncertainty,” Ravinder said.
“We have invested a fortune for our dream of Kiwi-life and contributed by working full time and paying taxes and meeting all visa requirements by Immigration New Zealand for many years, and this should be enough for INZ to assess our application and grant residency,” Ravinder said.
Immigration NZ’s website says that currently, they are assigning applications submitted in May 2019 to case officers for assessment.
Notably, the government announced a temporary suspension on submission of new Expression of Interests in March 2020 following Covid-pandemic, and since then, no new applications have been filed in the system.
This has further exacerbated the plight of tens of thousands of temporary work visa holders currently onshore who meet required points for submitting EOI and have still chosen not to submit an application as it requires a lot of money to invest, and the government is unsure of when to start and streamline the process.
Varun Deewan, one of the temporary migrant workers present at the protest, told the Indian Weekender that he has been in the country for the last five years and working as a chef with enough points for EOI and was reluctant to file a new application.
“Apart from the normal fee required by Immigration New Zealand, which would be in thousands of dollars [for him and his wife], there will be an additional immigration lawyer fees which is a separate thousand of dollars,” Deewan said.
“This unsure government can anytime choose to return money [immigration fee and levy] after letting us languish in the processing queue for years and years. But how will we get back immigration lawyer’s fees,” Deewan said frustratingly.
Many other temporary migrants at the protest also shared similar sentiments that they are feeling “suffocated” after having made New Zealand as their choice for skilled migration destination.
“When we start our migrant journey as a temporary migrant and seek long term goal of becoming a permanent resident in the country after working and contributing in the country’s economy and society, migrants, in general, need to see long term certainty and a clear plan around immigration rules,” Gurdeep, another protesting migrant said.
“But my experience of last four years in New Zealand has been very confusing, archaic and uncertain, as I don’t know if the government want us to come or not,”
“We have come to the country based on the immigration policy and settings, and in New Zealand’s case, it is continuously changing,” Gurdeep said.
Towards the end the organisers of the protest avowed to plan more such protests in coming months to demand affirmative action from the government.
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