Skilled residency visa queue keeps growing

The oldest residence application was lodged in December 2018 and it has not been looked at by an Immigration Officer. Today around 12,000 applications covering about 30,000 people are just sitting in a queue waiting to be processed.

How did this happen?

More people are applying for residence than places available. Demand is far exceeding the number of residence approvals set by the government.

Why has the queue grown out of control?

The government refused to change the policy to dampen down the number of people who apply. They keep inviting people to apply for residence even when they know the queue is a growing problem.

Why doesn’t Immigration NZ just get on and process the applications?

Immigration NZ are sufficiently resourced to process the applications but are only allowed to approve a set of number of people for residence based on the quota set by the government.

Applicants and Malcolm Pacific Immigration have been waiting for advice on what would replace the expired planning range of residence approvals. The Minister of Immigration has said publicly this is now before cabinet for a decision but will not be drawn on a timeframe other than to say, “before the election” (that is in September 2020).

Malcolm Pacific Immigration believes the time for a decision is overdue. People’s lives are unrealistically on hold for too long. There are many skilled, talented and hard-working want-to-be Kiwis who deserve better after coming to New Zealand and contributing to both the economy and their communities. Delays are creating real harm to good people who the government invited to apply for residence.