Dear Minister,
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!I want to congratulate you on becoming the Immigration Minister, one of the most deserving MP to do so as you represent one of the most diverse electorates of New Zealand, putting you in a position of truly understanding the issues and hardships faced by migrants.
I want to bring up a few issues that have been brought up with me frequently to your notice that you may already be aware of.
Firstly, I would like to mention the issues and hardships faced by the people stuck overseas because of the COVID-19 restrictions. These people had gone overseas from New Zealand for valid reasons and could not return due to travel restrictions imposed by the New Zealand government. The same issue has also been raised via the New Zealand parliamentary petitions process; here is the live link to the petition; https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/petitions/document/PET_118539/petition-of-migrants-united-council-inc-automatically
I had the opportunity to meet the petitioner and some of the adversely affected families during my last visit to India earlier this year.
They are truly going through a challenging time and suffer from anxiety and heavy financial constraints, causing a profound impact on their mental well-being.
I request that you consider granting them a visa to return to complete their education or on the conditions of their previous access when they left New Zealand.
The second issue I want to raise with you is Immigration Policy.
Changes were made to the INZ Policy in November 2018 to enable the partners to enter New Zealand in the cases of culturally arranged marriage.
I contend that after the changes were made to the clause in the INZ policy and added, “…..facilitation of the initial selection of the persons to be married, are made by persons who are not parties to the marriage….”. See the attached provisions.
These provisions are unwarranted as this prohibits partners whose friends may have introduced or were childhood friends, had met at school/university, selected through the marriage sites for prospective partners etc. do not come under the culturally arranged marriage policy.
Most cultural marriages in the Indian traditional marriages are entered and finally decided with the consent and blessings of the parents.
The clause added in the INZ Instructions at V3.35 prevents choices made by the partners from selecting their prospective partners.
The New Zealand government brought the INZ policy changes in November 2018. After that, the Indian community members raised concerns about enabling partners’ to travel immediately after the marriage without having to satisfy the INZ policy requirement of living together.
Marriage is still cultural, irrespective of how they choose the partner. It allows the partners to enter New Zealand and satisfy the requirement of living together. That is why a General Visitors Visa is issued as an exception to the policy.
Those parties can not make the addition of the clause on selecting a partner to the marriage illogical and superfluous.
I request you reconsider this clause so people can get their partner/spouse with them as soon as possible to New Zealand and start their married life without any time apart.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards,
Ngā mini nui
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi
Mobile +6421631566
