Based at St Mary's in Blenheim, Star of the Sea parish has gone without a permanent priest for over six months.

Their last priest was Father Michael McCabe who retired in January.

Praying for visas

In a December parish newsletter, McCabe said two missionaries had been appointed to assume pastoral responsibility for Star of the Sea.

He named Father Simione Volavola, originally from Fiji, and his assistant Father Tavita Lemusu, originally from Samoa.

McCabe said that Simione had ministered in the US state of Pennsylvania for 16 years and had American citizenship.

Christmas and New Year came and went without a sign of the pair.

In a January newsletter, McCabe asked his congregation to pray that the visa status situation would "be resolved soon".

"We are very aware that Star of the Sea parishioners have had to face this issue before, hence the need for prayer" he said.

They hadn't arrived by the time McCabe's retirement date had arrived.

Interim arrangements

An interim priest has taken McCabe's place and in May the Archdiocese of Wellington provided an update about his official replacements.

The parish is part of the Archdiocese of Wellington.

The archdiocesan office told parishioners it has little control over the visa application process "except for checking the credentials of the clergy and the congregations concerned.

"Even having done this, there can be hiccups.

"Sometimes in the countries of origin the detail required for a visa application is not easy to obtain quickly."

Visa issue

The Archdiocese has been assured that as soon as the visas are issued the two missionary priests would be able to assume pastoral responsibilities.

The archdiocesan office says the matter is in the hands of Immigration NZ.

As Immigration NZ is not permitted to discuss individual cases without privacy waivers, no information is available through that source.

Its website provides the following information:

• Non-residents can apply for a Religious Worker Work Visa if they have an offer of religious work from a religious organisation
• Religious Worker Resident Visas are available to those who had held a Religious Worker Work Visa for three years.

Source

• Stuff

The Asylum Seekers Support Trust (ASST), a charity relying on donations, provides assistance to approximately 400 asylum seekers across the country.

These individuals, including those previously detained in immigration facilities, are referred to ASST by Immigration New Zealand.

However, the government agency does not provide funding for their care, leaving the charity with limited resources to support the growing number of clients.

In May alone, ASST had 92 new clients who received nothing unless it was through the charity.

The wait time for asylum seekers to become refugees in Aotearoa is prolonged, averaging around 500 days.

Shockingly, some individuals have had to wait for five or six years for legal refugee recognition.

ASST provides accommodation at its Auckland hostel, food boxes and a weekly stipend of $40 to asylum seekers who are ineligible for social housing and lack a stable income.

Social workers are employed to assist clients with the visa process.

While Immigration New Zealand claims that asylum seekers can apply for work visas and receive a living allowance, the reality is different.

Out of the 16 asylum seekers residing at the Auckland hostel, nine are without visas and do not receive immigration allowances.

This dire situation has left many asylum seekers traumatised, confined to the hostel with no sense of purpose.

ASST's general manager described it as a broken system that fails to support those in need adequately.

A recent University of Auckland study highlighted the inequality of services available to different refugee subgroups and emphasised the importance of supporting asylum seekers during the legal review process.

Immigration New Zealand acknowledges that there is no formal referral process to ASST and states that they are not currently funded to provide financial support to the charity.

However, the government is exploring options to improve assistance for asylum seekers and convention refugees.

As asylum seekers continue to face prolonged waiting periods, insufficient financial resources and uncertain living conditions, the immediate need for assistance remains pressing.

Source

• Stuff

The raid involved Immigration and Police officials turning up at a family home and arresting the father at 5am in front of his four terrified children.

The cops were banging on the back and front doors, the parents were upstairs with their youngest child while the other four children were left cowering downstairs, the family's lawyer Soane Foliaki says.

"We do not want Immigration New Zealand acting in a way where they are re-traumatising our Pacific community," Carmel Sepuloni said.

The only justifiable reason she had seen for carrying such raids out would be in cases of threats to public safety, she added.

Immigration Minister Michael Wood followed Sepiloni's lead smartly, telling Immigration out-of-hours dawn raids must now be signed off by the head of Immigration.

"That should be a very, very rare event that has a high level of justification. For example, if it is the only way to ensure a safe operation and that should be signed off at a very high level within the organisation," Wood said.

"We want Immigration New Zealand to take into account fully the government's apology [two years ago] for the dawn raids and to reflect that in their operational policy."

Wood is still establishing the facts of the case, something Foliaki says he's already done.

"Is this a bad boy, who's a criminal, that we need to deport quickly? No, this person here has got a New Zealand family and we need to protect the family."

Government apology

It is just two years since the Ardern-led government apologised to the Pasifika community for the dawn raids characteristic of the 1970s.

It meant so much to so many. But now, some aren't sure it was genuine.

"It's really, really shocking. We thought this was over with the sincere apology from the Prime Minister two years ago," Foliaki says.

Tongan community leader Melino Maka remembers the sound of his aunt screaming as she was taken by police. He also remembers, and now questions, the apology.

"All these things are thrown out the window, you know, and it's an embarrassment for a Government."

Overstayer amnesty

Last month's raid wasn't a one-off.

Commentator Barry Soper says Immigration NZ has confirmed about 18 or 19 raids occurred between July last year and April this year, "outside of hours".

Wood's office confirmed the ethnic breakdown of these cases: 10 Chinese people, four Indians, two Tongans, one Samoan, one Malaysian and one Indonesian.

The Green Party is calling for an amnesty for overstayers. Wood is now considering this option.

At present, New Zealand has about 14,000 overstayers.

Source

• RNZ
• NZ Herald
• NewsHub

The orthopaedic house officer, who did not want his name used, was born in Iran and has dual Canadian citizenship as he moved there when he was 14.

He and his New Zealand fiancee are junior doctors in a North Island hospital.

The 17-month wait for a partnership visa is almost double the time other couples they know experienced, he said.

"I have never had any criminal records, never joined any armies, have been in school all my life until a few months ago when I graduated. I was still singled out for this process. Read more

Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon has sought answers from Immigration NZ and the Government over the treatment of these refugees after volunteers and advocates laid complaints.

Kahui Tu Kaha took over responsibility for settling refugees into the community in July after New Zealand Red Cross lost a tender for the contract. Read more

The war in Ukraine has forced nearly six million to flee the country and has displaced more than seven million internally.

New Zealand hung out the welcome mat in March, when the Government provided 4,000 special visas for family members of Ukrainians living here.

This visa allows Ukrainian-born New Zealand citizens and residents here to bring in members of their Ukrainian family whose lives are at risk because of Russia's war.

So far, the take-up has been poor.

A World Vision and Mahi survey found fewer than 160 people have arrived on the special visa because of barriers around the application process - just 14 per cent of eligible visas have been issued so far.

Immigration New Zealand says that, since the survey, an additional 34 people have arrived on the visa.

World Vision and Mahi want our Ukraine visa policy to be amended.

"The policy is not fit for purpose and needs to be amended urgently so that Ukrainian refugees, displaced people, families torn apart and particularly at-risk children can assess it and resettle in New Zealand where they can be free from conflict," says Rebekah Armstrong, World Vision's head of advocacy and justice.

Concern over the low number of applications for the special visa prompted World Vision and Mahi to conduct the survey.

The survey found that New Zealand's cost of living and housing, and the costs of flights are barriers preventing a third of potential applicants from applying.

The survey findings will be provided to the Minister of Immigration. Accompanying it will be a call to establish a humanitarian relocation support fund and settlement support to assist with accommodation, essentials and employment for those escaping Ukraine.

So many Ukrainians have left with nothing more than the clothes on their back, says one recent arrival, Valeriya Horyayeva (pictured), who was reunited with her mother in Nelson.

"They arrive in New Zealand with so little and have little support here, so it would be good to have more assistance for those who need it."

Older people especially need resettlement help, she says.

Mahi for Ukraine spokeswoman Kate Turska said Ukrainians here sponsoring families were put under severe financial pressure.

"It is up to the sponsor to feed, clothe and house everyone and pay for other costs such as healthcare," she says.

"It's a heartbreaking situation for sponsors to find themselves in, especially when many of their family members would meet the definition of a refugee."

Immigration NZ says it prioritises urgent visa applications from Ukrainian nationals.

As of June 7, INZ had received 882 sponsorship requests, 877 visa applications and had granted 729 visas under the 2022 Special Ukraine Visa category.

"Eligibility requires the sponsor to have been born in Ukraine or to hold or have held Ukrainian citizenship or permanent residence, and the applicant to be a normal resident of Ukraine, including Crimea, as of January 2022," INZ says.

"There are currently no plans to change the criteria."

Source

• NZ Herald

"We welcome this announcement in that it provides a shelter from the storms of war. It's a way out for vulnerable Ukrainians leaving a war zone and seeking to reunite with family members.

"This expanded category is probably the most effective way to provide asylum quickly to some people fleeing Ukraine who already have family settled in the community here to provide support" says Roger Ellis, Engagement Manager for Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand.

On Tuesday, the government announced a Special Ukraine Policy visa aimed at supporting 4000 family members of Ukrainian-born New Zealanders.

"We are pleased with the announcement and supportive of family reunification. It is in keeping with the biblical injunction to love our neighbours as ourselves" says Ellis.

"The government policy is aimed at the 1600 Ukrainians living here and enables them to bring family members here. They have to accommodate those family members who will get a two-year work visa and their children will be able to go to school. It's somewhat different to the UN refugees who are basically homeless with no relatives here and so need more help on arrival."

Ellis says Caritas's understanding is that the Ukrainian policy is a special humanitarian arrangement for family sponsorship which goes beyond the usual family immigration categories.

At present, Caritas Aotearoa NZ is helping its sister agency Caritas Ukraine in its work with displaced people in Ukraine, he says.

So far it has raised $78,000 to help Caritas Ukraine provide urgent food, water, shelter and other emergency supplies which are being offered to the 100,000-plus people it has assisted so far.

Ellis says it's estimated that more than 2.5 million people have fled their homes and are crossing the border to neighbouring countries.

Pros and cons of the new Ukraine policy

One of Caritas's reservations about the new policy is that there are many former refugee families in Aotearoa who have been waiting years for reunification with family members who have fled war, conflict and violence in other parts of the world, especially Africa and the Middle East.

He would like to see their need being met "in a timelier way".

Ellis notes resettlement as refugees through the UN refugee quota or through Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship would take some time (years, rather than months).

On TodayFM, Nai Jit Lam, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Deputy Regional Representative in Canberra says there is no need to temporarily relocate people here just yet.

"It really is difficult to say how this is going to go, in terms of the conflict," he says.

"The situation is very fluid, it's still evolving".

He suggests that supporting European countries who are helping Ukraine could have a flow-on effect. In his view help should focus more on those accepting refugees.

"The most crucial work that we are trying to do is to keep that access open, keeping humanitarian aid and assistance - the logistics of it".

The NZ Green Party immigration spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman sees this very differently however.

"Ukrainians here are saying something quite different to what we just heard from UNHCR which is actually there are quite a few people who do want to re-settle and, of course, go back if the situation allows," she says.

Source

• TodayFM
• Stuff
• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand (supplied)
• Image: RNZ

Stuff reports the 69-year-old grandmother, returning to her homeland is unthinkable at the moment, but her visa expires at the end of March.

Dragomyretska​ is worried she will be forced to leave.

She was in New Zealand when Covid-19 hit and while her visa expired in 2020, it was automatically extended three times because of Covid. She has since successfully applied twice for a visitor visa, but that expires soon.

If Dragomyretska was not allowed to stay in New Zealand, she would have to apply for refugee status from another country. Staying in New Zealand illegally was not an option for her.

"My life is here now. I have friends here," she said.

She has no close family in Ukraine.

Immigration NZ (INZ) is aware of this, so is encouraging anyone from Ukraine in New Zealand with a visa due to expire soon, to get in touch to discuss their options.

Border and visa operations general manager Nicola Hogg​ (pictured) says INZ realises these people may be unable to return immediately to their home country "due to circumstances beyond their control."

They may be able to apply for a further visa to enable them to stay, she says.

Each application would be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all relevant and available information.

Hogg says INZ will "be taking a pragmatic approach in these circumstances."

The National Party however says the Government needs to do much more to help Ukranians.

National's Immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford says her party is urging the Government to create a special humanitarian visa for immediate family members of Ukrainians who have settled in New Zealand.

"The situation in Ukraine is worsening by the day and Ukrainian Kiwis will be extremely worried about the safety of their family members back home," she says.

"This is something New Zealand can do now to support our Ukrainian Kiwis to bring their immediate family members here. There are approximately 1500 Ukrainians living in New Zealand, so this could benefit thousands of people in desperate situations.

"The Government should also fast-track existing visa applications for Ukrainians, as Australia has done.

"New Zealand's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine so far has been lacking compared to the rest of the global community. We urge the Government to make this a priority."

Source

• Stuff
• NZ National Party
• Image: Stuff

The case came to light in a recently-published decision from the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, which the woman, identified only as IP, appealed to after her bid was denied.

The tribunal heard IP, a 22-year-old citizen of the Philippines, gave birth to a daughter when she was 14. Read more