Vuniwaqa Bola-Bari
SUVA (The Fiji Times/ Radio New Zealand International/ Pacific Media Watch): More Fijians want to travel abroad after New Zealand Immigration has received close to 9000 registrations lodged in the Fiji Pacific Access Category ballot 2015.
The ballot allows for a number of citizens from Fiji, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tonga (including their partners and dependent children) to settle in New Zealand each year.
The number of citizens allowed from Fiji is 250, but in April alone the applications received reached nearly 40 times over the threshold.
The Pacific Access Category is run by ballot where Pacific Islanders can only apply for residence under the category if their registration is drawn from the ballot.
It is the first time Fijians have been allowed to apply for a residence visa since the military coup of 2006 and immigration adviser Russell Page said it was not surprising that the interest was high.
"It could be a natural bottleneck or build-up caused by the fact that Fijians have been excluded from that category for quite some time since Mr Bainimarama came into power."
Page said parents and siblings found it harder to get residence in New Zealand than in the past, so the ballot offered a chance for people who were not eligible for other visas.
Difficult hurdle
But he said successful applicants faced the difficult hurdle of finding employment before can they could take up their chance at residence.
Immigration New Zealand published the list of successful applications on Friday, a week after the Pacific Access Category Ballot draw took place.
But Radio New Zealand International reported an over-subscribed immigration ballot had left Fijian applicants with a less than 3 percentt chance of a place in the draw to come to New Zealand.
The chances were so slim that an immigration adviser suggested a new category should be created for islanders already working in the country.
Atesh Narayan, of Auckland South Immigration Consultants, said some people have been complaining it was a money-making scheme with little chance of a return for prospective immigrants.
He said many applicants would not reach the job, language and health requirements to gain residence and their places were not passed onto people who missed out in the ballot.
"If a person does not get a job offer within the eight months period, then he just misses his place and those people who miss out will have to pay $30 and do it again next year."
Narayan said a specific number of the places should go to New Zealand-based Fijians who already have good skills, jobs and are well-settled.
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Pacific Media Watch
