Kia ora,

On behalf of Hon Kris Faafoi, thank you for your email. 

While the Minister considers all correspondence to be important, and all
messages are carefully read and considered, it is not always possible to
personally reply to all emails.  As such, the following guidelines apply:

·        Invitations and meeting requests will be processed as soon as
possible and a staff member will be in contact with you in due course

·        All media queries will be responded to by a staff member

·        Requests for official information will be managed in accordance
with the provisions of the Official Information Act 1982, which may
include transfer to a more relevant Minister or agency

·        If your email falls outside of the Minister’s portfolio
responsibilities, expresses a personal view, or is copied to multiple
Members of Parliament, then your opinion will be noted and your
correspondence may be transferred to another office, or there may be no
further response to you

Thank you for the taking the time to write.

Nga mihi,

Office of Hon Kris Faafoi

Minister of Justice, Minister of Immigration, Minister for Broadcasting
and Media

Private Bag 18041 | Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand

Authorised by Hon Kris Faafoi MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6011

 

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Dear Peter

On behalf of Hon Kris Faafoi, Minister for Broadcasting and Media, Minister of Immigration, and Minister of Jusitce, I acknowledge receipt of your email requesting information under Section 12 of the Official Information Act 1982.

Your request was received in this Office on 3 March 2021 and will be responded to under the provisions of the Official Information Act.

Yours sincerely

Office of Hon Kris Faafoi
Minister for Broadcasting and Media, Minister of Immigration, Minister of Justice
Executive Wing | Private Bag 18041 | Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand

Authorised by Hon Kris Faafoi MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6011

Disclaimer: Please note information about meetings or events related to the Minister’s portfolios will be proactively released (this does not include personal or constituency matters). For each meeting in scope, the summary would list: date, time (start and finish), brief description, location, who the meeting was with, and the portfolio. If you attend a meeting with the Minister on behalf of an organisation, the name of the organisation will be released. If you are a senior staff member at an organisation, or meet with the Minister in your personal capacity, your name may also be released. The location of the meeting will be released, unless it is a private residence. The proactive release will be consistent with the provisions in the Official Information Act, including privacy considerations. Under the Privacy Act 1993 you have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong. If you’d like to ask for a copy of your information, or to have it corrected, or are concerned about the release of your information in the meeting disclosure, please contact the sender. You can read more about the proactive release policy at https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas...

Disclaimer: The information in this email (including attachments) is confidential and may be legally privileged. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this email, please notify the author by replying to this email and destroy the message. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure, copying or distribution is prohibited and may be unlawful.

-----Original Message-----
From: Zhuopin Han [mailto:[FOI #14837 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, 3 March 2021 9:35 PM
To: K Faafoi (MIN) <[Kris Faafoi request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - What is New Zealand government’s plan about these open work visa holders stuck overseas due to border closure?

Dear Kris Faafoi, Minister of Immigration,

Since border closure, many valid New Zealand open work visa holders have been stuck overseas and many of them are desperate to go back to New Zealand.

As of now, almost a year has gone by, New Zealand government has not publicly given out any plan on how they are going to deal with this. These overseas open work visa holders are totally dependent on the decision or plan from New Zealand so that they can either wait for border reopening or go for other options about their life. Many of these people have seen their open work visas expired during this period of time while they can not do anything about it. This has caused deep frustration to them.
According to the visa requirement, the open work visa is available for those who have studied toward a certain qualification in New Zealand for as least a year. This means these open work visa holders have invested huge amount of time and money so that they can get the visa. The visa gives the holders the rights to stay in New Zealand.

But what is happening is the New Zealand government is silent about this. When many open work visa holders overseas are struggling with their lives in home country, they have to see their visa expired with deep frustration and hear nothing from New Zealand government. Their rights have been totally undermined.
Therefore, I am here to request the Minister of Immigration to give out the following information,

1.What is New Zealand government’s plan about these open work visa holders stuck overseas due to border closure? Is the New Zealand government going to extend these open work visa by a certain length of time or what?

2.Since the border closure, how many open work visa holders stuck overseas (excluding those who were able to get back to New Zealand under border exceptions) have their open work visa expired as of now?

I look forward to your reply. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,
Peter Han

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This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #14837 email]

Is [Kris Faafoi request email] the wrong address for Official Information requests to Kris Faafoi? If so, please contact us using this form:
https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

________________________________

hide quoted sections

Dear Peter

 

I refer to your official information request, which was received by this
office on 3 March 2021.

 

1.What is New Zealand government’s plan about these open work visa holders
stuck overseas due to border closure? Is the New Zealand government going
to extend these open work visa by a certain length of time or what?

 

2.Since the border closure, how many open work visa holders stuck overseas
(excluding those who were able to get back to New Zealand under border
exceptions) have their open work visa expired as of now?

 

Parts 2 of your request needs further clarification. This part is likely
to be refused under section 18(f) of the Act, as the information cannot be
made available without substantial collation or research. There are a
number of visa types that carry open work rights and it is not possible to
identify which offshore visa holders are ‘stuck’ and actually wanting to
return to NZ versus those who did not intend to return. . Can you confirm
if there is a particular category of work visa holders with open work
conditions that you are seeking information about?  

Please note any clarification or amendment of a request is considered to
be a new request for the purpose of calculating the maximum statutory
timeframe for response (see section [15(1AA) of the Act).

 

Kind regards

 

Hannah O’Brien

Private Secretary (Ministerial Servicing)

Immigration

Workplace Relations and Safety

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Zhuopin Han
[[1]mailto:[FOI #14837 email]]
Sent: Wednesday, 3 March 2021 9:35 PM
To: K Faafoi (MIN) <[2][Kris Faafoi request email]>
Subject: Official Information request - What is New Zealand government’s
plan about these open work visa holders stuck overseas due to border
closure?

 

Dear Kris Faafoi, Minister of Immigration,

 

Since border closure, many valid New Zealand open work visa holders have
been stuck overseas and many of them are desperate to go back to New
Zealand.

 

As of now, almost a year has gone by, New Zealand government has not
publicly given out any plan on how they are going to deal with this. These
overseas open work visa holders are totally dependent on the decision or
plan from New Zealand so that they can either wait for border reopening or
go for other options about their life. Many of these people have seen
their open work visas expired during this period of time while they can
not do anything about it. This has caused deep frustration to them.

According to the visa requirement, the open work visa is available for
those who have studied toward a certain qualification in New Zealand for
as least a year. This means these open work visa holders have invested
huge amount of time and money so that they can get the visa. The visa
gives the holders the rights to stay in New Zealand.

 

But what is happening is the New Zealand government is silent about this.
When many open work visa holders overseas are struggling with their lives
in home country, they have to see their visa expired with deep frustration
and hear nothing from New Zealand government. Their rights have been
totally undermined.

Therefore, I am here to request the Minister of Immigration to give out
the following information,

 

1.What is New Zealand government’s plan about these open work visa holders
stuck overseas due to border closure? Is the New Zealand government going
to extend these open work visa by a certain length of time or what?

 

2.Since the border closure, how many open work visa holders stuck overseas
(excluding those who were able to get back to New Zealand under border
exceptions) have their open work visa expired as of now?

 

I look forward to your reply. Thank you.

 

Yours faithfully,

Peter Han

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[3][FOI #14837 email]

 

Is [4][Kris Faafoi request email] the wrong address for Official
Information requests to Kris Faafoi? If so, please contact us using this
form:

[5]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[6]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #14837 email]
2. mailto:[Kris Faafoi request email]
3. mailto:[FOI #14837 email]
4. mailto:[Kris Faafoi request email]
5. https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
6. https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

hide quoted sections

Dear Peter

 

Please find attached the response to your Official Information Act request

 

Ngâ mihi

 

Office of Hon Kris Faafoi MP

Minister of Broadcasting, Minister of Justice, Minister of Immigration.

Private Bag 18041 | Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand

 

Authorised by Hon Kris Faafoi MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6011

 

Email disclaimer:

Please note information about meetings related to the Ministers’
portfolios will be proactively released (this does not include personal or
constituency matters). For each meeting in scope, the summary would list:
date, time (start and finish), brief description, location, who the
meeting was with, and the portfolio. If you attend a meeting with the
Minister on behalf of an organisation, the name of the organisation will
be released. If you are a senior staff member at an organisation, or meet
with the Minister in your personal capacity, your name may also be
released. The location of the meeting will be released, unless it is a
private residence. The proactive release will be consistent with the
provisions in the Official Information Act, including privacy
considerations. Under the Privacy Act 1993 you have the right to ask for a
copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to
be corrected if you think it is wrong. If you’d like to ask for a copy of
your information, or to have it corrected, or are concerned about the
release of your information in the meeting disclosure, please contact the
sender. You can read more about the proactive release policy at
[1]https://www.dia.govt.nz/Proactive-Releas...

 

Please note that any acceptance of an invitation is conditional upon leave
being granted.

 

This email communication is confidential between the sender and the
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Please notify the sender immediately and erase all copies of the message
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References

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