Immigration rules to be challenged in court

3.30pm

Businesses who earn their livelihoods from immigration are taking the Government to court over last month's changes to rules for migrants.

Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel announced legislation last month to tighten immigration rules, installing tougher English tests for permanent residency.

The Association for Migration and Investment today filed High Court proceedings against retrospective aspects of the rule changes.

As the association announced the move, Ms Dalziel was easing restrictions on the general skills category -- reducing the pass mark from 30 points to 29.

The reduction was signalled at the time changes to the English language test for skilled and business migrants were announced.

The pass mark sets the number of points a person requires to gain New Zealand residence in the general skills category.

Reducing the pass mark meant New Zealand could attract people with a wider range of skills, Ms Dalziel said.

"(It) will help us attract the sort of skilled migrants that New Zealand needs," she said.

Having the pass mark high cut out those with trades qualifications and experience, she said.

Last month's changes -- which were retrospective -- were dubbed unfair, unjust and harmful to the economy by the association.

Changes were "dragging New Zealand's reputation through the mire", association chairman Bill Milnes said.

He estimated up to 20,000 potential immigrants may have been affected by retrospective application of rule changes.

About $2 billion would be taken out of the economy as a result of tightened rules governing immigration and overseas investment.

It was not simply a case of imposing an unrealistically tough language requirement on applications that had been in the pipeline for some time, he said.

The new rules also restricted job search visas for general skills applicants to those on the ever-changing occupational shortages list.

"This will exclude a very high percentage of those who lodged applications in good faith before the rules were suddenly altered," he said.

Highly restrictive criteria on granting of long-term business visas severely impacted on the ability of migrants to run successful businesses in New Zealand, he said.

Retrospective imposition of the rules was contrary to the principles of fairness and justice, he said.

Many applicants had put their lives on hold for months to go through the complex and expensive process of preparing for emigration, he said.

"It's absolutely shameful for a publicly funded body to then turn round and say 'we've changed our mind' to people who may already have left their jobs and sold their homes on the realistic expectation of a new life in New Zealand," he said.

"What sort of message does that give the world about our humanity or sense of responsibility?"

The association did not stand to gain financially if court action succeeded, Mr Milnes said.

"We cannot ignore the fate of thousands of people left in limbo by bureaucratic whim," he said.

"Nor, as New Zealanders, can we ignore so flagrant an abuse of power by a branch of our country's government."

- NZPA

Herald feature: Immigration