Some of the thousands of youth trapped by two-year-long delays in the residency visa application process, unable to work or study, are listening without hope or expectation Government rules changes being announced this week.
Aucklander Kayleigh Roffe, 21, spent last week the same way she did the week before, and the month before. Actually, pretty much every day in Kayleigh Roffe’s life has been spent the same way over the past four years. Doing virtually nothing.
“There is only so much television or movies you can watch,” Kayleigh Roffe says.
This hasn’t been her choice. If Kayleigh had it her way, she would be knee-deep in university assignments studying to become a chartered accountant, just like her parents.
She and her family spoke out ahead of a speech by Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi, in which he is to outline policy changes to prioritise high-skilled migrants, in a bid to improve productivity and address skills shortages. He will set the scene for an immigration reset, which includes enticing high-level investment investors who can create jobs that fast track the economy's recovery, post-Covid.
But there is little optimism that it will help those already here and stuck in limbo.
Kayleigh, along with younger sister Chevaunne and parents Glenn and Leilah Roffe moved to New Zealand from South Africa in 2014.
The wait times for residency visa applications have always been unpredictable and long, but since 2018 it seems processing times have drastically increased, taking up to two years.
Glenn Roffe says the family would probably have had their residency by now had his role not been disestablished in late 2015.
The redundancy meant the family, who were in New Zealand on Glenn’s visa, had to wait for him to get another visa to live in the country. Just weeks before the Roffes were due to leave the country, in early 2016 Glenn got a five-year essential skills visa for his family. After the points system changed in 2016, Leilah started the process of getting a work to residence visa to have another crack at giving the family a permanent future in New Zealand.
In November last year Leilah was eligible to apply for residency, after completing two years on the work to residence visa.
But in March this year, Glenn’s visa expired which meant Kayleigh and Chevaunne were no longer dependent on his visa.
Glenn is now on an open work visa linked to Leilah’s work to residence visa, Chevaunne is in the process of being approved to become a dependent child under her mother’s visa, but Kayleigh, who is legally an adult, has to be on her own visitor's visa which expires in October.
“It's difficult to be in that situation where you feel all alone and it feels like I'm not wanted in this place I call home," Kayleigh says. “Most of us have been here for years, I've been here for seven years. We don't want to leave, there is no where we can go.” – Kayleigh Roffe
Leilah Roffe says she was hoping her daughters could be included under her visa despite their age, as they were still financially dependent on their parents.
Under immigration rules, applicants younger than 24 years who are single, don’t have any children of their own and rely on an adult for financial support can be considered “dependent children”.
The rules also don't permit Kayleigh and Chevaunne to work in New Zealand or study without paying international fees. Advice received from immigration advisors, and immigration call centres is to not volunteer or intern either.
“I can’t apply for residency as an individual because I don’t have any work experience or money,” Kayleigh Roffe says. "My application wouldn’t be successful even if I tried."
The family's spent at least $34,000 on their residency applications.
The Roffes aren’t alone
Heleen Donnolly, a single mother of three, has been on the residency waitlist for 18 months and her essential skills visa is due to expire in July.
Donnolly says she could get another six months extension, but the prolong uncertainty has been difficult on her family.
She moved to Auckland in 2017 from South Africa working three jobs to get by. But in order to get an essential skills visa and qualify for points she had to move to Kerikeri.
Two of her children, Luc, 23 and Bebe, 18, are in New Zealand, but her third daughter, Irie was stuck in South Africa as she can work and study there.
Luc is on a visitor visa, while Bebe under her mother's visa. But both have not able to work or study without paying international fees while waiting for an answer from Immigration New Zealand on their future in this country.
Donnolly says she's hoping her family will be reunited soon.
“I’ll be very shocked if my residency isn’t approved. It would be thousands of dollars and hours gone for nothing.
“We moved here for a better life, it's scary having my daughter living in South Africa all alone. We don’t want to be living in different parts of the world. We want to be together as a family again.”
Donnolly is also pleading for her children to be able to work or study while waiting.
There are numerous families in similar situations and at least a hundred dependent children unable to work according to new resident Anna Burghardt, founder of Facebook group Migrants NZ.
Burghardt, originally from Germany, moved here from Australia five years ago on a working holiday visa. Here she met her partner who moved to New Zealand nine years ago from Ireland as a skilled construction worker to help rebuild Christchurch after the earthquakes.
Burghardt says when the couple applied for their residency in May 2019, they were told processing would take about nine months, but it wasn't until January this year that she and her partner became residents.
During her long 20 month wait, Burghardt set up the Facebook page and in less than a year the page has had more than 35,000 members join with a majority stuck in the long queue.
Burghardt says the delay caused great financial and mental stress on the couple, which is why she is still campaigning to have these delays removed despite getting her residency earlier this year.
"Those 20 months of uncertainty were hard enough for me to still be involved in this.
"Emotionally, mentally I was drained. You just can't fully settle because you don't know."
As residency applicants are required to be in the country after lodging their expression of interest, the long delays made Burghardt more anxious about any emergency trips back to Germany or Ireland in case something were to happen to family there.
"Especially when Covid was raging in those countries, we were worried that if something were to happen to our family overseas about whether we would have to give up our lives in New Zealand, uproot our child or ignore our parents."
"I think the issue is that New Zealanders have no idea about what the immigration system is like in their own country. Even the Minister doesn't seem to really know,” Burghardt says.
Ombudsman's findings into Immigration NZ complaints
Some immigration rules and criteria have also been changing covertly.
Last month the chief ombudsman told Immigration NZ to apologise for an unofficial policy of prioritising highly-paid residence applicants to jump the queue.
Immigration advisor Erin Goodhue says Immigration NZ only addressed the criteria once migrants filed complaints to the government watchdog in early 2020.
Between July 2018 and 23 February 2020 informal rules not communicated publicly, prioritised skilled migrants earning a salary of $106,080, as well as government jobs or roles that needed occupational registration (including real estate agents).
In February 2021, Immigration NZ made these rules official. It says that, as at May 10, 2021 there were 13,257 people awaiting a response on the residency applications.
The agency says residence applications take longer to process than other visa types as there is more at stake and there is greater scrutiny of each application and in some cases may require more detailed assessments, which can add to overall processing times and available capacity.
Immigration New Zealand is also resourced in line with the Government's New Zealand Residence Programme which expired on December 31, 2019. While the agency waits for the Government to make a decision on the new quota, it has been processing applications at the same volume and with the same level of resourcing.
The programme ran for 18 months from July 1, 2018 until December 31, 2019 and included a planning range of 50,000 to 60,000 approvals for residency.
On Monday Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi is expected to set the scene for New Zealand's immigration reset, which includes enticing high-level investment investors.
These include changes to immigration policies that will attract high skilled migrants to help propel economic recovery post Covid.
He won't be making any announcements on the residency programme expectations, however.
Faafoi told Newsroom last week officers are currently processing "non-priority onshore" residency applications from August 2019.
Priority applications are being allocated to officers within two weeks of submission.
She says with the expression of interest residency pool being closed, immigration officers should have more time to process residency applications.
Immigration New Zealand was continuing to take expression of interest application fees although it had stopped processing them.
National MP Erica Stanford has publicly criticised immigration’s long delays and criticised the agency for a lack of transparency.
Stanford says the backlog of cases and a reduction in applicants being processed has led to officers making up informal rules to get through the list.
"Meanwhile thousands of children are left to rot."
Faafoi says the long wait times are the result of high demand.
“Residence visa approval is not a guarantee and families and young adults should factor the wait time for visa decisions into their decision making when applying,” Faafoi says.
At this rate families like the Roffes and Donnolly’s won’t have their cases looked at until next year.
The Roffes would have spent six years in the queue with goal posts shifting.
“There are families not going to the doctor in the fear this might impact their residency applications.” – Erica Stanford, National
Faafoi says the youth stuck in the queue have options, including applying for their residency.
But Stanford says this is unrealistic, as the chances of applicants without qualifications or money getting residency were slim.
“Immigration NZ is highly unlikely to grant a work visa to an 18 year old with little education and no experience,” Stanford says. “Any job these young people would get would be labour market tested, low skilled and only qualify them for a six month visa. It’s almost completely impossible for an 18 year old in this situation to get residence on their own.”
Goodhue says with Faafoi being granted special powers until 2023, he should do the “right thing” and at least allow youth stuck in the queue to be able to work or study.
Burghardt says a large number of migrants are afraid to speak up fearing the impact it would have on the outcome of their visa application.
Youth Minister Priyanca Radhakrishnan’s office said in a statement while she is aware broadly of delays with residency visa applications preceding Covid and has raised this with the previous immigration minister, she is not aware of the dozens of youth waiting in queue.
Stanford says the long wait times without reasonable explanations are unacceptable. “There are families not going to the doctor in the fear this might impact their residency applications.”
Stanford has called on Faafoi to have the backlog of cases cleared. “Officers who were processing 1.5 cases a day on average are processing one case per week,” she says.
Kayleigh Roffe says having nothing to do has taken a toll on her mental health, but she’s trying to stay positive, because she didn’t want her health to tarnish her application for residency.
As for Kayleigh Roffe and dozens of young adults like her, their future in New Zealand is uncertain. Moving back to South Africa alone is out of the question for Kayleigh Roffe, especially with no family there she can live with.
In a bid to keep her spirits up, she is offering support to other youth in a similar situation as hers to talk.
“It's difficult to be in that situation where you feel all alone and it feels like I'm not wanted in this place I call home," Kayleigh says. “Most of us have been here for years, I've been here for seven years. We don't want to leave, there is no where we can go.”
