Overstayers flee Crackdown

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 7, 29 September 1977, Page 1

Overstayers flee Crackdown

The recent immigration crackdown on overstayers in Auckland has led to an! back to the islands but to North Island’s provincial cities. And increasing numbers dfeTqngans Samoans and Fijians are overstaying their visas to avoid economic hardships back hortftF

Most overstayers agree that it is worth the risk as there is little chance of getting another visa for New Zealand once they have returned home. Members of the Polynesian community helping overstayers say New Zealand immigration authorities in the islands refuse visas to relations of overstayers in New Zealand. “If you have a relative in New Zealand who is overstaying, you’re not allowed to go to New Zealand until he returns,” says one helper. Very few of the 1669 overstayers told to leave New Zealand have left. One source says the numbers returning may not have even reached 100 and adds that the estimate of 2000 people overstaying one month visas so far this year is a conservative one. People are willing to face the risk of immigration clampdowns as an alternative to economic hardship back in the islands.

ling to take the risk of being caught alright,” says a Tongan immigration advisor. Another says just about all who come to New Zealand on a one month visa overstay and thousands more are waiting in the islands for visas, so if a person returns within the one month it’s impossible for him to get back. “The present permit system doesn’t give a person

“For an overstayer who is working in New Zealand to support his wife and five children back home, he’s wil-

much chance and actually encourages people to overstay. The Department of Labour just can’t accept that all those visitors are working and not just visiting. “The permit system is no good. People would still come if the permit was five days or five years.” He adds that in the case of Tonga overpopulation is a big reasonfor people wanting

to migrate to New Zealand. “Last year’s census showed that Tonga’s population increase was the fifth highest in the world, that means in two years there will be 100,000 people living tn 269 square miles. It’s a battle for survival in Tonga so who would want to go back to the lower socio-economic level there once they’ve come to New Zealand?”