58725 (2025). Hon Phil Twyford to the Minister of Immigration

58725 (2025). Hon Phil Twyford to the Minister of Immigration: Has Immigration New Zealand modelled the impact of extending an ETA-based entry system to Pacific Island nationals?

Hon Erica Stanford: No specific modelling has been done and any specific consideration of visa free travel would be undertaken on a country-by-country basis using the framework agreed by Cabinet in 2015. However, I can advise the member that even with visa requirements in place, as a proportion of border arrivals, the rate of overstaying from most Pacific Island countries is higher than other countries. People from Pacific Island countries make up approximately 25% of overstayer numbers but less than 5% of border arrivals. As the member is aware, previous visa waiver arrangements with Pacific countries were ceased by Labour-led Governments. Specifically, the David Lange led Government in 1989 and the Helen Clark led Government in 2003. One of the reasons Labour-led Governments ceased previous visa waiver arrangements with Pacific Island nations is because of a significant proportion of the people who arrived on visa waiver not boarding their return flight to their home country. This Government has undertaken a range of immigration initiatives to reflect the importance of the Pacific relationship. This includes increasing Crown subsidies for visitor visas to keep the cost lower than other countries, extending the multi-entry visitor visa to two years, and introducing the new NZETA pathway from Australia for eligible visa types.