Printed from https://fyi.org.nz/request/14750-jacinder-ardern-government-s-plan-for-open-work-visa-holders-stuck-overseas on November 22, 2024 10:36

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Jacinder Ardern government's plan for open work visa holders stuck overseas

Hao Zhang made this Official Information request to Kris Faafoi

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From: Hao Zhang

Dear Kris Faafoi, Minister of Immigration,

Since border closure, many valid New Zealand open work visa (mainly post-study I believe) holders have been stuck overseas and many of them are desperate to go back to New Zealand to work. And I am one of these people.

As of now, almost a year has gone by, New Zealand government has not publicly given out any plan on how they are going to deal with this. These overseas open work visa holders are totally dependent on the decision or plan from New Zealand so that they can either wait for border reopening or go for other options about their life. Many of these people have seen their open work visas expired during this period of time while they can not do anything about it. This has caused deep frustration to us.

According to the visa requirement, the open work visa is available for those who have studied toward a certain qualification in New Zealand for as least a year. This means these open work visa holders have invested huge amount of time and money so that they can get the visa. The visa gives the holders the rights to stay in New Zealand.

But what is happening is the New Zealand government is silent about this. When many open work visa holders overseas are struggling with their lives in home country, they have to see their visa expired with deep frustration but hear nothing from New Zealand government. Their rights have been totally undermined.

Therefore, I am here to request the Minister of Immigration to give out the following information,

1.What is New Zealand government’s plan about these open work visa holders stuck overseas due to border closure? Are you going to extend the open work visa by certain length of time or what?

2.Since the border closure, how many open work visa holders stuck overseas (excluding those who were able to get back to New Zealand under border exceptions) have their open work visa expired as of now?

3.As for myself, I have successfully lodged my resident visa application under SMC while I am holding my open work visa. But due to border closure, I lost my skill employment because I am not exempted to get back to New Zealand to do my job. This skilled employment is a mandatory requirement for my application. Please kindly inform when my case is allocated to a officer to process, if my open work visa expires at that time and I still can not go back due to border closure, what decision will INZ make on my case?
Please kindly reply as these questions are important for me to make a decision.

Kind regards,
Hao Zhang

Yours faithfully,

Hao Zhang

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From: K Faafoi (MIN)
Kris Faafoi

Kia ora,

On behalf of Hon Kris Faafoi, thank you for your email. 

While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, and all
messages are carefully read and considered, it is not always possible to
personally reply to all emails.  As such, the following guidelines apply:

·        Invitations and meeting requests will be processed as soon as
possible and a staff member will be in contact with you in due course

·        All media queries will be responded to by a staff member

·        Requests for official information will be managed in accordance
with the provisions of the Official Information Act 1982, which may
include transfer to a more relevant Minister or agency

·        If your email falls outside of the Minister’s portfolio
responsibilities, expresses a personal view, or is copied to multiple
Members of Parliament, then your opinion will be noted and your
correspondence may be transferred to another office, or there may be no
further response to you

Thank you for the taking the time to write.

Nga mihi,

Office of Hon Kris Faafoi

Minister of Justice, Minister of Immigration, Minister for Broadcasting
and Media

Private Bag 18041 | Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand

Authorised by Hon Kris Faafoi MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6011

 

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From: K Faafoi (MIN)
Kris Faafoi

Dear Hao

On behalf of Hon Kris Faafoi, Minister for Broadcasting and Media, Minister of Immigration, and Minister of Jusitce, I acknowledge receipt of your email requesting information under Section 12 of the Official Information Act 1982.

Your request was received in this Office on 23 February 2021 and will be responded to under the provisions of the Official Information Act.

Yours sincerely
Office of Hon Kris Faafoi
Minister for Broadcasting and Media, Minister of Immigration, Minister of Justice
Executive Wing | Private Bag 18041 | Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand

Authorised by Hon Kris Faafoi MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6011

Disclaimer: Please note information about meetings or events related to the Minister’s portfolios will be proactively released (this does not include personal or constituency matters). For each meeting in scope, the summary would list: date, time (start and finish), brief description, location, who the meeting was with, and the portfolio. If you attend a meeting with the Minister on behalf of an organisation, the name of the organisation will be released. If you are a senior staff member at an organisation, or meet with the Minister in your personal capacity, your name may also be released. The location of the meeting will be released, unless it is a private residence. The proactive release will be consistent with the provisions in the Official Information Act, including privacy considerations. Under the Privacy Act 1993 you have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong. If you’d like to ask for a copy of your information, or to have it corrected, or are concerned about the release of your information in the meeting disclosure, please contact the sender. You can read more about the proactive release policy at https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas...

Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is prohibited and may be unlawful.

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From: Dongrui Pang

Dear Hao Zhang

I’m writing in regards to your OIA request on 1/3/2021.

Under section 12 (1) of the Official Information Act 1982  requests can
only be made by;

Any person, being

a New Zealand citizen; or

a permanent resident of New Zealand; or

a person who is in New Zealand; or

a body corporate which is incorporated in New Zealand; or

a body corporate which is incorporated outside of new Zealand but  which
has a place of business in New Zealand,

 may request a department or Minister of the Crown or organisation to
make  available to him or it any specified official information.

From the information you have provided in your request it appears that 
you are not entitled to make an Official Information Act request as you
are not a New Zealand citizen or resident and you are not in New Zealand.

As such, we have closed off this request.

I can, however, advise that the best place to find information on
immigration and border is the Immigration New Zealand website, which is
regularly updated and any future changes to the border closures will be on
the website at [1]COVID-19 | Immigration New Zealand.

I also noticed you have asked questions about your current visa
application status, please note that this is personal information
therefore falls under the Privacy Act, not the OIA. You could make a
Privacy Act request if you wish. I’m not sure about their eligibility
criteria but you can query about it by  calling the Immigration New
Zealand contact centre at 64 9 914 4100.

 

Kind regards

 

Dongrui Pang

Business Advisor

Operations Support, Border & Visa Operations
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

[2][email address] | Telephone: +64 (04) 8965320

[3]www.immigration.govt.nz

 

NZBN 9429000106078

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[4]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/
4. http://www.govt.nz/

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From: Hao Zhang

Dear Dongrui Pang,

Thank you for your reply.

In that case, my friends who are currently in New Zealand may put forward such requests as mine.

Is that right? Please kindly confirm. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Hao Zhang

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From: Dongrui Pang

Yes you can ask someone in NZ to request the information. Your request has been closed so please ask your friends to make a new request.

Dongrui Pang
Business Advisor
Operations Support, Border & Visa Operations
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
[email address] | Telephone: +64 (04) 8965320
www.immigration.govt.nz

NZBN 9429000106078

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From: Hao Zhang

Dear Dongrui Pang,

Thank you for your confirmation.

Yours sincerely,

Hao Zhang

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