Is Migrant Worker Exploitation Really What We Think It Is?
We hear a lot about migrant worker exploitation in New Zealand. Governments promise crackdowns. Ministers announce tougher penalties. Employers are named and shamed. The story we’re usually told is simple: a bad employer takes advantage of a vulnerable worker, and the solution is to punish the employer harder. But I think that story is far […]
The Colour of Risk: New Zealand’s Immigration System and the Ethnic Logic It Won’t Name
Nationality is how New Zealand’s immigration system talks about ethnicity. The data tells a different story. A familiar pattern plays out on migrant Facebook groups when people ask why they, or their family members, were declined visas to New Zealand. Most replies focus on policy clauses and technical requirements — often from immigration advisers and […]
When Protection Becomes Conditional: Refugee Law and New Zealand’s Immigration Amendments
The Immigration Minister has this month introduced a series of amendments to New Zealand’s immigration framework. Some are technical. Others are presented as necessary to protect the integrity of the system. But among them sits a proposal that deserves far closer attention than it has yet received. The amendment would allow refugee claims to be […]
The Skilled Migrant Changes and New Zealand’s “Permanent Temporary” Workforce
The government says its Skilled Migrant reforms will fix the system. But the deeper problem with New Zealand’s immigration model remains untouched. New changes to the Skilled Migrant Category promise improvements, but they also reveal a deeper problem: an immigration system that increasingly relies on migrant labour while denying many workers a realistic path to […]
Erica Stanford wants to flush out overstayers. Political thinkers have long warned about this playbook
Opinion: In recent public statements, immigration minister Erica Stanford has signalled that the government intends to introduce an amendment to the Immigration Act that would give immigration officers the power to demand identification from people they suspect may be breaching visa conditions. In promoting the proposal, the minister initially cited figures suggesting there were far […]
The moral basis for denying birthright citizenship
Is there a moral basis for denying children birthright citizenship[? Introduction On 1st January 2006 an amendment to New Zealand’s citizenship laws removed the rights of some children born in New Zealand to New Zealand citizenship, requiring instead that the child must have at least one parent either a New Zealand Citizen or New Zealand […]
Birthright Citizenship
WELLINGTON Immigration Policy and Law Change for children born in New Zealand without lawful Immigration Status I am writing to raise and highlight a matter of significant humanitarian concern for the rights of older children born in New Zealand from 2006 onwards to parents without lawful Immigration Status. Background On 25 April 2005 the New […]
Exploitation Submissions
Introduction I am a Barrister and Solicitor, based in Auckland, a principal of my own Law Firm, McClymont & Associates. I began working in the field of Immigration Law in July 1997, developing a niche field of expertise in Refugee claimants, many of whom were from Punjab in India, and in the General Skills Category, […]