Plans to make it easier and faster for skilled workers, students and visitors to acquire visas were yesterday welcomed at an Immigration New Zealand update in Queenstown.
Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman outlined bureaucracy-cutting plans to entice valuable immigrants and visitors to the country to members of the Queenstown business community at the Crown Plaza yesterday.
These included faster visa processing, multiple-entry visas for Chinese citizens and the possibility of simplified medical and police checks for those applying for visa extensions while still in the country.
"What we are really trying to do is take a sensible risk-based approach and see how much, in terms of process and bureaucracy, we can remove from the whole system," he said.
Tourism alone brought $9.5 billion to the economy last year, with a further $2.3 billion coming from export education, a sector Mr Coleman said could be doubled over the next five to seven years.
Chinese tourism, in particular, is booming, with 131,000 visitors in the year to June 2011 - an increase of 25% year on year.
Chinese students accounted for a quarter of international students.
With increased flights from China, where a new tourism and immigration branch opened this month, as much bureaucracy as possible was being removed, Mr Coleman said.
"We've told our immigration officers up there that they need to start issuing multiple-entry visas to Chinese visitors, so they have to go through the process once and then can come here as often as they like."
Chinese visitors featured strongly in the clientele at New Zealand casinos, but because of lengthy visa applications often opted instead to travel to Australia on short-notice trips, he said.
When approached, Queenstown Resort College chief executive Charlie Phillips said he was impressed with the initiative, and hoped it would put tertiary institutions on an even footing.
"If they are serious about trying to turn the $2.3 billion into $5 billion they need to make the times shorter and the visas a little bit simpler. In Australia, it takes two days and here it takes up to six weeks."
Queenstown Chamber of Commerce chairman Alistair Porter, also present, commended Mr Coleman's proposals.
Responding to a question about the costs of health and police checks for extending visas, Mr Coleman said he thought "far less extensive health screening" was necessary.
As of three months ago, the extension of police certificates had been allowed in certain cases, he said.
In Queenstown work visas were processed within 28 days on average, which Mr Coleman said "is still not good enough".
"Nationally, the target is 90% of work visas within 25 days. Within a year's time, we're going to make that 90% within 20 days, and the goal, in time, is going to be 100% within 20 days."
