Steve Watson: Immigration NZ Compliance and Investigations General Manager on the over 19,000 people estimated to have overstayed their visas
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What are the latest figures on visa overstayers in New Zealand?
New figures on these overstayers. So apparently nineteen thousand one hundred and fifty three of them. That's down eight point seven percent last year. Chinese your biggest group at twenty six hundred and ninety four, Tonga though, twenty five hundred and forty one. States at nineteen hundred and eighty one. Steve Watson is GM of Immigration Compliance and Investigations at Immigration New Zealand and is with us. Steve Morning. Good morning, Mike. So Tonga as a percentage of their population would be the main culprits here, right?
They they feature quite highly on the the chart. Yes, they do.
So what's the problem? What are they doing?
Why is employment the main driver behind people overstaying their visas?
They're just coming and staying with family and not leaving?
Uh that that's one of the things that they could be doing or um the other uh area that that is really drawing peop overstays to New Zealand is being able to gain employment. So that's why we have a strong focus on employers who unlawfully uh and illegally employ people, um because it's a real incentive for people to overstay.
Is there anything unusual about the US? What what what on earth are Americans doing here illegally?
Well, the the Americans, um num number as you as you have said is uh the third, um They don't feature in any of our four top priorities, which is criminality, character, um, or pe or people who've exhausted their appeals. Um so that and they don't feature heavily in the employer area. So we we are gonna do some more work this year to to try and understand what that cohort's all about. And that that will include some research and um Just just um meeting with the the um the American people in here in New Zealand, just to understand a little bit more about what that figure is. They could be
alternative lifestyle as you went to Nelson, got a camper van and just wandered around the country and forgot time.
What makes the rise of American overstayers unusual and why is it hard to explain?
Well, that's one possibility mine. Yeah. Yeah.
Well I'm just trying to work out how much of this is deliberate avoidance and criminality versus a bunch of people who sort of turned up and kinda never left in a, Oh, whoops, I'll go if you want me to vibe.
So we We um Criminality is and and bad character is is our our top two priorities. So we we focus on that and we did uh people who are in serving term of imprisonment um are are deported upon their first parole hearing. So we and we manage that really well. We we um have a very good relationship with corrections. Um and we also have um very good ability to to understand where people have been convicted in court or have have breached the laws of of New Zealand.
How does Immigration NZ target unlawful employers to curb visa overstays?
um and therefore have have uh lost their the rights to have a visa here. So we we We do very well in those deportations. Um and be also uh as I said have a strong focus on employers. Um because employers who employ people legally are are an enabling factor for a lot of this overspaying. Wouldn't you
get pinged I mean the moment I turn up in a job and the moment they run me through HR, there's got to be a red flag somewhere, doesn't there?
Uh if you're a good employer, yes. Um but there are a uh and to be let's be honest, most most employers out there in the New Zealand marketplace are good employers, but there are there are bad employers who who who Um acts in a in a criminal way and will employ people who are who are unlawful and and it's a it's a precursor to exploitation and it's also a very unfair
What enforcement actions does Immigration NZ take against illegal employers and overstayers?
Practice. Was that sort of like
the other day you you you'd be aware the IRD were putting out warnings for the hort sector and, you know, the kiwi fruit and stuff like that? Is that the sort of thing you're talking about?
Yeah, that's right. And we um we would um proactively visit companies who uh we believed were employing people who are unlawful and we would deal deal with the un unlawful employees, but at the same time we would take a very, very hard line on those employers who are not not meeting their obligations.
Of all the people who came into the country, and there's millions of them, nineteen thousand doesn't strike me as a problem. I'm not losing any sleep today. Um am I taking the appropriate approach in your view?
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What are the latest figures on visa overstayers in New Zealand?
0:00–0:32
2
Why is employment the main driver behind people overstaying their visas?
0:32–1:42
3
What makes the rise of American overstayers unusual and why is it hard to explain?
1:42–2:26
4
How does Immigration NZ target unlawful employers to curb visa overstays?
2:26–3:19
5
What enforcement actions does Immigration NZ take against illegal employers and overstayers?
3:19–4:30
6
How do overstayers impact the New Zealand labour market and immigration system confidence?
4:30–5:15
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