Labour promises visa-free travel for Pacific as overstayer rates rise

The Labour Party is promising visa-free travel to Aotearoa New Zealand for Pacific Islanders.

Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni said Pacific Island Forum countries would be allowed in on an NZeTA for three months at a time, like 61 other countries, if the government changes.

She told RNZ Pacific it was a long-overdue decision that recognises cross-border connections.

“We’re talking about seamless travel between Pacific countries and New Zealand … and a recognition of the cost and burden that the current system puts on New Zealand Pacific families,” Sepuloni said.

“Our relationship has matured enough for us to be able to move to a place that they have access to the same electronic system that 60 other countries have. It’s the right thing to do.”

It comes after New Zealand First promised a two-year clemency period for Pacific overstayers last week. Pacific Islanders’ share of the total overstayer population has increased this year, according to Immigration New Zealand (INZ).

In February, Winston Peters accepted a petition by Samoan activist Arthur Anae to make visa-free travel a reality. He said last week that it “possibly could happen in the future”.

“The first thing you’ve got to do is regularise what it means … you leave at the end of that specific time, or before,” he said.

“As I said in that speech months ago in the forecourt of Parliament: cousins don’t rip off cousins.”

The Green Party has also signalled its support for the visa waiver. National would not be drawn on its position, saying the party would announce its immigration policy in due course.

Visa overstayers in New Zealand have decreased over the year, but the share of Pacific Island visa overstayers has risen, according to INZ figures released Thursday.

INZ noted approximately 26 percent of overstayers were from Pacific Island countries, up from 25 percent last year. Meanwhile, the overall overstayer population is down 8.7 percent.

It is estimated out of an overstayer population of 19,153 currently in the country, 2541 are Tongan, and 1462 are Samoan.

Of arrivals on a temporary visa from June 2023 and 2026, 2.14 percent of Tongans overstayed, as did 1.25 percent of Samoans. These figures are well above the average of 0.13 percent for all arrivals.

According to INZ, no Pacific Island countries have been able to enter the country visa-free since 2003, when the waiver for Tuvaluans, i-Kiribati and Dei-Naoero (formerly Nauruans) was removed.

Before then, Tongans, Samoans and Fijians were kicked off the waiver in 1987, less than three months after being added, with more than 5200 arrivals, and fewer than half of those leaving once their visa expired.

Since then, INZ has regarded Pacific nationals as high-risk overstayers, despite the fact the US, China, India and the United Kingdom had overstayer numbers comparable to Tonga and Samoa – only their rates were lower because their total legal arrivals were higher.

When asked whether it would make overstaying more likely, Sepuloni said the policy announced on Thursday was not meant to address overstaying.

“The expectation is that the rules still apply … and our expectation is that people will follow them,” she said.

“By and large, our Pacific people follow the rules. It’s not like we have our people coming from the Pacific, and they are overwhelmingly choosing to break the rules. It’s the complete opposite, actually.”

As for NZ First’s clemency policy, Sepuloni said she thought it had not been thought through very carefully.

“I’ve dealt with a lot of immigration cases as an electorate MP, and there are always individual circumstances that don’t fit in a box.”

“It worries me that they’re saying they’ll give this two years clemency, and at that point, if you are not regulated, they will deport you, and you will never be allowed to come back.”

Despite the Labour policy more closely aligning with its stated goal, Anae said he was still backing New Zealand First.

“What New Zealand First has said is something that we’ve been raising for some time: the unfairness on the overstaying numbers,” Anae said.

“I’ve always treated [Labour] equally as everybody else … I think the problem that I’ve had with them is their lateness in making a statement.”

He said he felt as though there was momentum behind a political consensus on visa-free travel.

“What I’m thinking right now is this: we know Winston’s going to support us. Now we know Labour is there and I’m sure the Greens and Te Pāti Māori will support us, which means we have the numbers.”

He said for Pacific people seeking to attend weddings and funerals whose visas were not processed in time, or for those wrongly deported due to administrative errors by INZ, this could bring closure.

“We are asking for justice. We want to be treated equally as anybody else. Nothing more, just to be the same.”