The immigration policies of the eight parties in Parliament are compared in the table below.
The Herald is covering all the major policy areas in a series running throughout the election campaign.
| Party | Policy | |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | New policy yet to be announced. Keep migrant numbers at about 50,000 but take a "Kiwis First" approach to work permits for low-skilled jobs. Will implement new regulation of immigration advisers and the broad reform of immigration systems and processes in the Immigration Bill. Further refining of Recognised Seasonal Employers' scheme allowing employers to recruit workers from Pacific Island countries for seasonal work. | |
| National | Lower taxes and less paperwork to encourage overseas New Zealanders to return, give employers ability to recruit more easily from overseas if unable to find NZ labour, "Silver Fern" visa to allow qualified people to enter to job hunt, and streamline residency if they get a well-paid job, lower investment and language thresholds for business investors, "retirement" visa for wealthy older people, pass Immigration Bill, review Immigration NZ, evaluate settlement services to ensure effectiveness. | |
| NZ First | "Drastically reduce" inflow of migrants, possibly from 50,000 a year to 10,000. Ensure migrants are used only for "genuine" gaps in labour market. Establish Immigration Service as a stand-alone agency. Review "family reunification" politics and restrict refugees to bringing immediate family only. A "civics education" programme for new migrants to learn New Zealand values. Five-year good-behaviour period for all new immigrants. Bolster health screening, strengthen immigration fraud detection agencies. | |
| Greens | Increase refugee numbers from 750 to 1000 by 2010. Extra funding for resettlement, oppose amalgamating Refugee Status Appeals Authority with the new appeals board, culture course on NZ for all new migrants, priority to migrants with skills useful for environmental purposes such as organics or scientists, put investors on three-year probation and monitor to ensure they are investing in NZ. | |
| Maori Party | Bulk of policy still to come. New citizens to do course in history of New Zealand and the Pacific. | |
| United Future | Maintain or increase a net inflow of 10,000 people a year. New agency to help migrants set up new businesses. Greater support for resettlement, job finding and language training. A "retirement visa" for parents of NZ residents and more use of short-term visa for siblings. A 10-year strategy to analyse the impact of demographic change. | |
| Act | Lower taxes to attract highly skilled workers. Boost migration to a 30,000 to 40,000 net inflow of people. Five-year probation period during which immigrants can be deported if they commit an imprisonable offence. Remove new requirements for immigration consultants to be licensed. | |
| Progressive | Boost resettlement programmes such as English teaching and help finding jobs. Target policy to get skilled people such as doctors, dentists, teachers and technical workers into provincial areas where there is a shortage. Ensure workers' rights are maintained for new migrants. | |
