Results for New Zealand immigration

New short term job opportunities in construction in New Zealand opened up for Tongans this week, when a recruitment team interviewed local applicants for a program starting in September.

In January this year, there were 2,381 Tongan overstayers living in New Zealand according to recently published estimates from the New Zealand Government’s Immigration Department.

Immigration New Zealand will announce the results of those who registered in a ballot for immigration to New Zealand, next Monday, 16 June.

Tongan seasonal workers under the New Zealand Recognised Seasonal Employers program are affected by the NZ immigration minister's recent decision to hold Tongan visa applications that require police clearances. A first group of 35 workers who were due to leave for New Zealand on Monday remain on stand-by in Nuku'alofa. Another 120 workers who are scheduled to leave over the next two weeks in the height of the harvest season will also be affected by the new rule.

Steve Cantlon, the Service Manager of the New Zealand Immigration Service in Suva, Fiji, and Nicola Ngawati, the Policy Officer of the Pacific Division, Wellington, New Zealand arrived in Tonga on July 1 for a one day visit.

Waiting for visas to New Zealand, the queue of people outside the New Zealand Immigration Service Offices, in Nuku'alofa, starts building up early in the morning during the countdown days to Christmas.