Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill

You can read the Committee’s report and recommended changes to the Bill on the New Zealand Legislation website.

Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill(external link) — New Zealand Legislation

Overview of the Bill’s proposed amendments:

A brief description of each proposed amendment is provided below.

Proposed amendments to deportation liability

The Bill proposed 5 amendments to the deportation liability framework by:

• Extending potential deportation liability up to 20 years after a residence class visa was first held, for serious criminal offending where an individual is sentenced to imprisonment of 10 years’ or more.
• Extending the lower ‘tiers’ of the deportation liability framework for residence class visa holders, so deportation liability is a more likely outcome for lower-level criminal offending, as follows:
  
  • for offending punishable by 3 months’ imprisonment or more, the deportation liability window extends from 2 years to 5 years after residence is first held
  • for offending punishable by 2 years’ imprisonment or more, the deportation liability window extends from 5 years to 10 years after residence is first held.
  • for offending resulting in a sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment or more, deportation liability is extended from 10 years to 15 years.
• Setting out factors, including the severity of the crime and the impact on the victim/s, that the Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) must consider when determining appeals against deportation liability.
• Making minor changes to clarify existing deportation liability settings around false and misleading information, historical offending, when deportation liability resets after extended periods overseas, and visas granted unlawfully under the Act.
• Enabling victims of serious offences to submit on their offender’s deportation proceedings, regardless of whether the offence against them directly triggered the migrant’s liability for deportation.

Proposed amendments relating to migrant exploitation and non-compliant employers

The Bill proposed 3 amendments to the settings for managing migrant exploitation and non-compliant employers by:

• Increasing the maximum sentence for migrant exploitation offending, from 7 to 10 years’ imprisonment.
• Extending the time that MBIE has to issue infringement notices (fines) for certain employer infringement offences.
• Introducing new infringement offences. They cover:
  
  • employers having provided incorrect and /or incomplete information, and
  • employers failing to provide employment-related documents when requested under section 277 of the Act.

Proposed amendments relating to appeal rights and more efficient compliance activity

The Bill proposed 3 amendments to appeal rights and more efficient compliance activity by:

• Making it easier for an immigration officer to request identifying information when they have good cause to suspect someone may be unlawfully in New Zealand or breaching their visa conditions.
• Removing the right to appeal against deportation on humanitarian grounds to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) for temporary class visa holders who commit a crime, and for all visitor visa holders.
• Enabling holders of deemed entry permission to enter New Zealand to be turned around at the border where appropriate (for instances due to smuggling drugs or other contraband).

Proposed amendments to strengthen the integrity of the refugee and protection system

The Bill proposed 9 amendments to the refugee and protection system by:

• Changing decision-making around Residence and Reporting Requirements Agreements (RRRAs) from being at the “absolute discretion” to the “discretion” of immigration officers.
  • This change would implement the final legislative recommendation of Victoria Casey KQ’s review of the immigration system:

• Removing the ability of a claimant for asylum or protected person status to apply for other visa types, while they remain in New Zealand, if they withdraw their asylum claim.
• Enabling a Refugee and Protection Officer to determine an asylum claim without further information where the claimant has failed to engage with the biometric process without good reason.
• Providing that, where a claimant has acted otherwise than in good faith but has a genuine protection need, the Refugee and Protection Officer may refuse to consider the refugee claim, but must consider the protection claim. It will also enable the Immigration and Protection Tribunal to make a decision on the substance of the claim where the claimant has acted in bad faith.
• Providing the Immigration and Protection Tribunal with jurisdiction to consider acts of bad faith that occur at any point.
• Lifting the threshold for bringing late appeals to the Immigration Protection Tribunal.
• Allowing the Immigration and Protection Tribunal to decline an appeal against a decline of a second or subsequent claim on the grounds that the claimant’s circumstances have not significantly changed.
• Enabling people who commit serious non-political crimes between entry to New Zealand and status determination to be excluded from refugee status (but not protection status).
• Creating an authorisation to accept a claimant-initiated withdrawal of a refugee and protection claim.

Proposed amendments to improve the operation of the wider immigration system

The Bill proposed 5 amendments to the operation of the wider immigration system by:

• Allowing residence class visa applicants to benefit when visa settings change after they have submitted an application.
• Enabling the electronic service of deportation liability notices where a physical address cannot be located.
• Making it easier for immigration information to be shared with other agencies in support of their functions, aligning the Act with other comparable systems, and enhance privacy protections.
• Making it clear that the Act enables the use of immigration information for digital credentials.
• Clarifying the use of the power at section 58(6) of the Act to decline a residence application, where the application includes false, misleading or withheld information.

Proactively released documents

Go to all Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill proactive releases