New Zealand visas were issued to a group of 36 Tongan seasonal workers under the New Zealand Recognised Seasonal Employers program, and they left Tonga on Thursday February 21, after their police records were re-checked and cleared by Immigration New Zealand and Tonga Police.

The group that were scheduled to depart on Monday, February 18 had remained on stand-by in Nuku'alofa after the NZ Immigration Minister announced a hold-up on some visa applications that required police clearances.

Meleoni Uera Deputy CEO for the Employment Division at the Ministry of Internal Affairs said the group of 36 workers boarded their flight last night, with four to leave today, Friday, February 22.

"We had received their visas once Immigration New Zealand and Tonga's Ministry of Police confirmed their police records had been re-checked and cleared. The rest of our groups are not affected and are set to travel as originally planned," she said.

A second group of 51 is scheduled to leavie on Monday, February 25. All visa processing was going smoothly despite the hiccup at the beginning of the week, she said.

" This is the peak time for our New Zealand market and the timing happened to affect the first group."

She said there was no hold up experienced by their Tongan seasonal workers to Australia and some groups would start leaving for Australia in two weeks time.

Clearances

NZ Immigration Minister Hon. Michael Woodhouse announced on February 19, that visas requiring police clearances would be held until Immigration New Zealand was satisfied with the integrity of the police clearances process.