51897 (2024). Hon Dr Duncan Webb to the Minister of Immigration

51897 (2024). Hon Dr Duncan Webb to the Minister of Immigration: When the new immigration fees come into force on 1 October how much of the fee for the Entrepreneur Work Visa for a person coming from the "Rest of World" is "to recover the costs of processing a visa" and how much is to "reflect the benefits received by people using immigration services" as stated on the immigration.govt.nz website?

Hon Erica Stanford: Until now, the immigration system has been heavily subsidised by taxpayers. The changes to immigration charges, which are made up of a fee and levy, from 1 October 2024 will shift costs from the Crown to those benefitting from the system, freeing up $563million over the next four years. Immigration fees have been set to recover the direct and indirect costs of processing each visa type, which includes processing, assessment and risk and verification activity. The immigration levy funds a broad range of activities including maintenance costs of the immigration system, managing immigration risk and compliance, the attraction of migrants and supporting migrant settlement. Levy rates for each visa type have been set to reflect a combination of the benefits that users of the system receive or the risks they create, and their ability to pay. For example, applicants for a temporary visa are charged a lower levy than applicants for a residence visa. I refer the member to the attached document for a a breakdown of fee and levy rates for each visa category, which is also available on the Immigration New Zealand website.