Mideast visa-free status reviewed

The Government is reviewing the visa-free status of Middle Eastern countries amid increased concerns about security threats from the region.

Immigration Minister David Cunliffe revealed the rethink during a select committee yesterday, where he was grilled about how deported pilot Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali was able to get into the country.

Ali was born in Yemeni, but was a resident of Saudi Arabia and was deported there on May 30 because of his links to the September 11 terrorists.

He entered New Zealand on a student visa and did not come through the visa-free arrangement.

But when asked about the robustness of immigration procedures, Mr Cunliffe told Parliament's foreign affairs, defence and trade select committee yesterday "there was a wave of making countries visa-free in the 1990s which include a number of Arab countries, which I think I'm prepared to say we're having a bit of a look at in the new security environment".

A total of 53 countries have the visa-free status.

Mr Cunliffe told the Herald later the visa status of all countries was under constant watch "but I think there's a lot of public interest in the Middle East at the moment.

"We're making no statements about where those thoughts might come out or the timeframe but of course we are looking at those issues".

Asked if the Middle Eastern countries' visa status was under particular scrutiny, he said: "I think that's the area of highest public interest at the moment but, as I say, we keep the visa-free status under review at all times.

"Visa-free status in general terms is designed to facilitate the low-cost movement of low-risk visitors and migrants and in any country there's always a trade-off to be considered between the facilitation objective and the border security objective.

"It's an appropriate time to give general thought to those matters."

He said " there is no review because of the Ali incident", noting he hadn't come from a visa-free country.

The president of the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, Javed Khan, said the comments appeared to be a "knee-jerk response from the Government" to the Ali case.

"It will be unfortunate if it happens because the Government has a very good reputation among Muslim countries and I understand there has been a lot of progress made in terms of trade and other relationships.

"If the Government goes back and starts introducing restrictions on entry, that may have some impact on other matters, trade and other things."

Mr Khan was among several Muslim leaders who met Mr Cunliffe last week to express their communities' concerns they were being unfairly targeted at borders.

Green immigration spokesman Keith Locke said there did appear to be inconsistencies in terms of which countries got the visa-free status.

Israel got it, for example, and the Palestinians did not.

National immigration spokesman Lockwood Smith said "more important than the visa-free status is that our Immigration Service has an accurate database and an accurate methodology for detecting people who are at serious risk to New Zealand".

Ali slipped through the system with a visa "so we've got to be very careful not to let the minister divert our attention from the real issues ... the inept decision-making processes of his department."

He had "no problem" with reviewing the visa-free status of those countries.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Helen Clark said speculation that New Zealand First leader Winston Peters had been given the information which led to Ali being deported had "no credence".