Auckland (Kanwalpreet Pannu) - New Zealand has opened its borders for visitors, international students, and temporary visa holders with valid visas to return. Still, it doesn't change anything for thousands of migrants who were overseas when New Zealand closed its borders in March 2020 and whose visas expired.
These migrants are badly affected, and their stories are heartbreaking and emotional. The most common comments we hear from them are, "We don't know what to do", "We don't understand why it happened to us", "We have invested tens of thousands of dollars on education in New Zealand and post-study work visa is our right to work in New Zealand" and "it is not our fault".
These left-over migrants, if not able to return to New Zealand, will have to restart their life from scratch under financial and social pressure.
On 30 September 2021, the Minister of Immigration, Kris Faafoi, announced the 2021 Resident Visa, a one-off, simplified pathway to residence for around 165,000 migrants currently in New Zealand. The primary condition of this criterion is, "To be eligible, the principal applicant must have been in New Zealand on 29 September 2021 and must hold or have applied for (and subsequently be granted) one of the eligible work visas."
The overseas stuck migrants say that they missed a golden opportunity to gain residency when it was not their fault for not being in the country.
At the same time, many onshore temporary visa holders have also missed this opportunity of gaining residency because they do not meet the primary condition of the criterion even though they meet the other requirements. Therefore, many feel ignored and disadvantaged.
The Federation of Aotearoa Migrants (FAM) is having a May Day March of Migrants at 2:00 PM Sunday, May 1, 2022, at Aotea Square Auckland Central.
FAM's motto is 'Let us unite to demand justice for migrants'. Their demands are: Bring back all migrants stranded offshore; Extend Resident Visa 2021 to those excluded; Re-unite separated families and provide amnesty to overstayers.