4668 (2025). Hon Phil Twyford to the Minister of Immigration

4668 (2025). Hon Phil Twyford to the Minister of Immigration: Does she stand by her statement that asking potential Active Investor Plus visa holders to pass an English test “doesn't really say, "Welcome to New Zealand"”, if so, does requiring other visa holders pass an English test also not really say “welcome to New Zealand”?

Hon Erica Stanford: No. Under the previous Government's AEWV settings we saw a significant increase in claims of migrant exploitation from lower skilled workers. Exploitation, in part, enabled by many of those workers not being able to speak English and therefore not able to do important things like seek help and understand their employment rights. Requiring lower skilled workers to have some English language speaking ability acts as a protective mechanism. I note that higher skilled workers who are less vulnerable to exploitation are not required to pass an English language test. I also note that multimillionaire investors are not generally vulnerable to migrant exploitation. I am informed that, as far as they are aware, MBIE has never received a complaint of exploitation from a person on an investor visa.