The Australian government has lowered the bar for New Zealanders who have applied for permanent residency.
Under changes announced by the home affairs department, New Zealanders who applied on or before 10 December for a subclass 189 visa will no longer face hurdles related to income, period of residence and health conditions.
The move, enacted by regulation, will help clear a backlog of about 11,500 applications, slashing wait times from two years down to six months or less.
The chair of Oz Kiwi, Joanne Cox, which represents New Zealanders in Australia, said she was hopeful the new streamlined system would be expanded to ease the process of obtaining permanency for up to 300,000 New Zealanders.
In July the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, promised to announce improved pathways to citizenship and permanent residency by Anzac Day 2023, declaring his government didn’t “want people to be temporary residents forever”.
The Australian government has temporarily paused new applications for 189 visas while it considers “future migration and citizenship pathways for New Zealand citizens in Australia, reflecting the close ties between our two nations”, according to the home affairs department website.
This means that during the period of the pause, from December to July 2023, all existing applications will be finalised. This is a fast track that acknowledges “that this group of New Zealand citizens are long-term residents of Australia, have been working here and contributing to Australia’s economic recovery during the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Conditions, such as the income threshold of $53,900 and the bar on people with certain medical conditions gaining permanent residency, will be waived.
New Zealanders will be able access the benefits of permanent residency more quickly, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme, social security payments and automatic acquisition of Australian citizenship at birth for their children born in Australia.
Cox said the existing system was “unfair”, allowing freedom of movement between Australia and New Zealand but then subjecting New Zealanders to the same conditions as other applicants for permanent residency.
Cox said the conditions on the 189 visa, such as medical checks, were “nonsensical” for those who were already “eligible for Medicare and paid the Medicare levy”.
“At the moment, we say we can ‘permanently reside’ in Australia rather than be ‘permanent residents’,” she said.
“It’s all good … until something goes wrong. If you have an issue like a disabled child or if you’ve committed a crime that makes you eligible for deportation, then it’s not all sunshine and roses.”
Cox said a cohort of up to 300,000 New Zealanders lacked a “pathway to permanency” due to changes made by the Howard government in 2001, and the limits on the 189 visa which acted as a “screening tool” barring those on lower incomes.
Then there are wait times, with only half of applications finalised within 21 months.
“We’re aware of people who applied in November 2020 and Jan 2021 who are still waiting to be approved for their 189,” she said.
“Those people should already be citizens now, they’ve already done their one year of residency … but they were stuck in this backlog.”
According to the regulation’s explanatory statement, the measure would “support workers from New Zealand living and working in Australia on a permanent visa to support economic recovery.
“Applicants are still required to meet public interest criteria, including those relating to character, national security and Australian values.”
