Labour is looking to take politics out of immigration cases and speed up the appeals process by creating a specialist ombudsman.
Launching Labour's immigration policy today, immigration spokeswoman Ruth Dyson announced plans to establish an Immigration Ombudsman.
Ms Dyson said there was obvious stress on people facing possible deportation, and having a specific ombudsman would hasten the process of appeals and outstanding cases.
The position would not override the minister, who would maintain the right to the final veto, but would reduce the number of cases going before them.
"It's an area of vulnerability for a minister. They come under huge political pressure,'' she told APNZ.
"The minister making decisions about immigration cases tries to do so on a very fair basis, but, in effect, they're making decisions about exceptions to policy rather than what the policy should be.''
The party also planned to develop a national plan for refugee resettlement, and to ensure New Zealand was meeting its refugee quota.
A central focus of the policy was matching the labour and immigration strategies to ensure skill gaps could be filled by those coming from overseas, but Ms Dyson said ensuring New Zealanders did not miss out on jobs was a primary consideration.
The party also said it would reverse the Government's policy changes to visa requirements for temporary entertainment industry workers that cut out industry-led labour market testing.
