Elections, Votes & Visas
The countdown is on - in nine months time, the New Zealand voting population will be heading to polling booths, to cast their vote for who gets a shot at running the country for the following three years. As the campaigning starts to heat up, immigration will play an ever increasing role in each parties policy positions.
Immigration is almost always a headline issue in election season, given it sits right at the crossroads of workforce needs, housing and infrastructure pressure, international education, and the simple reality that New Zealand relies on migrants more than the general public sometimes like to admit. Elections have a habit of bringing those details to light, both positively and negatively.
For migrants, planning their future here, or employers planning their workforce needs in to the future, the big question is usually the same: what might change, and should I be worried? The short answer is, there is no need to panic - but it is still worth paying attention to what the various parties might be looking to offer (or take away as the case may be). This is made more complex by the fact that it wont be one single party at the podium and so competing interests and perspectives on immigration policy will be a factor (and usually mean some negotiations on how the rules will shape up).
In this weeks article, we take a practical (and as politically neutral as we can be) look at where the major parties tend to sit on immigration, why really big change is probably quite unlikely and the underlying needs for New Zealand that generally leads to us needing the same kinds of migrants, regardless of what election promises might be rolled out.
Why Elections Matter.
A change in Government means a change in political approach to how most things operate and while our major political parties have similar views on some things, they can differ on many others - immigration being one of them. That then means that each election cycle brings the potential for those policy settings and operational matters within the New Zealand immigration space, to change direction.
We see this each and every election period, particularly when the New Zealand voting public decide that the current crowd aren’t up to the task and decide to bring in those on the opposition benches. In the run up to that potential change, parties roll out their plans for the future of our immigration system, usually promoting something different to that which the existing Government has in place.
Politics & Visas
Immigration is a political process, as each political party has it’s own take on how our immigration should operate.
Immigration is also a very topical thing around elections, because it feeds in to almost everything else we do. On the one hand it is crucial to our economic future, given we persistently need skills and capital, and we have certain obligations when it comes to meeting our social immigration needs. Immigration plays a key role in being able to deliver infrastructure, provide key services and to grow the economy.
On the other hand, immigration is also discussed in a more contentious manner - are we bringing the right people in, are we too reliant on migrant labour and what impacts will an increase in people have on our critical infrastructure and services. Political parties of different stripes and flavours play on both of these angles, although most tend to lean more in one direction than the other. Both of our major parties understand the importance of immigration but have different ideas as to how to achieve the right balance. Some of our minor parties have a more conservative view and would like to see fewer people coming in or for us to have much more restrictive settings.
The election cycle is important, in so far as it is a period where change can happen and obviously that can be unsettling for many applicants. If you are planning a move here, you want to know that the process you start with, is the one that you will finish with and any whiff of a potential change in that plan, can lead people to pushing pause on any major commitments.
However when you understand the position of most of our major political parties, and the underlying fundamental role that immigration plays in all aspects of New Zealand’s existence, you start to appreciate how big or small of an impact any change might have, and also the limitations that politicians have in the degree of change they can bring.
Party Positions.
To be fair, it is hard to pin down any major political party in New Zealand as having a hard and fast policy on immigration, and that is largely because they understand that immigration needs to meet our current and longer term goals as a country and those goals are often in flux. Having one approach to immigration that never changes and takes an extreme view is unlikely to work that well. There are of course some more definitive views from smaller parties, but those are often ironed out when the final coalition of parties is created to form the Government.
However over time you can see where these parties tend to lean in terms of their overall approach to immigration and we have provided a bit of a snapshot in the summary below (not all parties, but just the ones that make up the key votes). To try and give a slightly more objective opinion and by way of disclaimer, I sought an overview from ChatGPT, which, apart from the recent implosion of the Green Party and the Māori Party is not too far off how I would view it.
Green, Amber, Red
Our key political parties have varying views on immigration, although most appreciate it is a necessity, given the size of our population and economy.
National - Managed immigration approach aimed at keeping numbers sustainable; make system workable for business.
Labour - Generally moderate / balanced - supports immigration to meet economic needs while regulating numbers and conditions; policies often focus on targeted visa categories and family reunification.
NZ First - Restrictive and nationalist-leaning - favour reducing levels of immigration and emphasising integration and “Kiwi values.”
Act - Pro-simplification and business-friendly immigration stance - policy goals to make NZ attractive for skilled migrants and employers.
The Māori Party - No major standalone immigration platform publicly detailed - focuses more on Māori wellbeing and systemic issues; past approaches included withdrawing earlier curbs and apologising for harmful immigration narratives.
Green Party - Human-rights and inclusion focused - emphasises dignity and fairness for migrants, family reunification, refugees, and pathways to residency.
Considering that we operate an MMP electoral system, the Government party is going to consist of one of the major players (National or Labour) and then a potential mixture of smaller parties to make up the difference. Currently we have National, Act and NZ first. That then means the different approaches to immigration have to be negotiated across the parties before policy is delivered. Generally however the major party takes the lead in that approach, giving way where needed on usually pretty minor policy details, to one or more of the smaller parties.
What Could Change?
What might change, obviously depends on whether the Government changes and in what form. In theory it could go one of many different ways. A new Government or coalition, with Labour at the helm could see greater change, than the existing coalition or at least the existing major party (National) retaining control. Even if we keep the status quo a change in Minister could occur (personally I hope that doesn’t happen as the current Minister is really good) and that could bring a change in approach, although usually a much lesser desire to change.
New Governments, or rather a new coalition of political parties will want to bring their own spin to the process and this almost always consists of undoing or reversing the previous Governments approaches - not always in a big way and usually never that quickly. Immigration is something that is a hot topic to discuss, particularly around election times, but a much slower thing to change in practice.
Predicting Change
A change in Government doesn’t always translate in to an immediate change in immigration rules, which are often much longer term projects.
If we look at the current Government who took over from Labour in the previous election, their changes have been fairly slow and steady. There have been lots of them, but they have taken almost the full election term to realise.
National, having negotiated their key policies with ACT and NZ first have introduced new Visas Parent Boost and BIV), adding more options, updated existing policies successfully (Active Investor Visa) revised the SMC system to open more opportunities for applicants (coming in August 2026) and taken a bit of a sledge-hammer to the AEWV system to try and tidy that all up. Much of what they have done over the last two years of their three year term has been cleaning house, fixing gaps in the previous policy or adding new options. They haven’t removed anything or slowed anything down, despite having NZ first as their immigration hand-brake.
So if we do see a change to Labour and whoever might work with them (or they decide to work with), any change that they bring would be slow to materialise and unlikely to radically change the landscape. In the lead up to the election National is likely to promote more of the same, e.g. continuing down the path they have already set, which ties in with last years announcement of major changes to the SMC system taking place only a few months before the election. Labour will release its version of the future of immigration as the election warms up, but I am not expecting anything earth-shattering and there is a good reason as to why.
The underlying issues that New Zealand has in respect to our immigration system, don’t change when or if the Government does. We need skilled, employable people and those who can bring capital investment - alongside this we have certain social obligations that mean we need a fairly consistent set of family based policies. Given the size of our population, our ability to produce and train skills in what is still a very well utilised labour market, our immigration needs are pretty consistent.
I can attest to this over more than two decades of experience in the industry - policies come and go, things change, rules are updated and tweaked, but what we want and try to attract remains very consistent. Where things do tend to change more, is in the lower skilled, temporary migration, but our skilled applicants all fall within the same profile. When we had previous major changes to our SMC system, the clients I was working with at the time all remained eligible, except for a very small number who were on the margins to begin with. Our recent SMC announcements, will make the whole process quicker, easier and available to more people. The pathway might have changed and the process might appear different, but the end result is still very attainable.
Cast Your Vote - For NZ.
For some potential migrants, the news of an upcoming election can create a lot of fear, anxiety and even a bit of panic. Change is inevitable and it is also inevitably worrying for someone contemplating a new life in a new country and the complex process that entails. This is made more prominent for those who have to accumulate work experience in NZ before qualifying - if you start down that path, having invested the time, energy and money, what happens if the rules change smack, bang in the middle.
While no one can rule that possibility out of course, my years of experience tell me that good quality skilled migrants, will always have a viable pathway. You might have to turn left rather than right, along that path but the end goal will still be in sight. The trick of course is to know whether you have to turn left or right, or turn at all, and having someone walking the path with you becomes crucial.
Any change whether it be in the policy or the political system can be unnerving but that shouldn’t put you off embarking on the process. If you are considering the big move and NZ is one of the options, then a vote for NZ could be the best decision you ever make.
Until next week!
