Migrant News Jan 2018

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“I have a passion
for helping others.”
“I’m not focused
on any one culture,
I’m doing the whole
bit, which is a lot
harder to do.
By MEL FERNANDEZ
INVERCARGILL - A
Filipino mother of three
in Southland is adding a
new twist to the meaning
of the term ‘bayanihan
spirit’ by 'doing the whole
bit' when it comes to
lending a helping hand.
It is well known that
Filipinos have a strong
urge to help their kababayan
(fellow countrymen),
but Meggy Barlett-
McBride takes this passion
for helping others to
a whole new level.
“Since 2009 it’s always
been in me that I like to
help others. I think we all
have that attitude - when
others need help, we
help.”
Having an altruistic
personality, she does not
discriminate when it
comes to choosing who to
help. She goes out of her
way to help newcomers
from every corner of the
world.
Some would find it
challenging having to
interact with people from
diverse cultural backgrounds,
but Meggy, who
has been a tireless volunteer
in the migrant community
for many years,
takes it all in her stride.
“I’m not focused on any
one culture, I’m doing the
whole bit, which is a lot
harder to do. You have to
understand their culture;
you have to understand
how they react to you and
all that.”
She joined the Southland
Multicultural Council
in 2013, as it was the
first point of call for new
migrants to the city. She
was elected its President
two years ago.
In recognition of her
volunteer efforts and
commitment to the
migrant community she
was recently named The
Southland Times Southlander
of the Year.
The paper honours a
Southlander each year
“who stands out by the
work they do, how they
treat people and the passion
they have for living
in the south”.
How did it all start for
Meggy? Well, she migrated
to New Zealand from
Cebu 12 years ago at the
age of 19.
“As I didn’t really
know anyone at that time
I felt isolated,” she
recalls. “That was a
struggle that I had to deal
with personally, because
in the Philippines we
knew everyone in the
neighbourhood.”
Fortunately for Meggy,
her Kiwi husband was
there to provide some
support. “But when he
died there was a gap. We
migrants don’t have family
members that we can
cling onto in times of
need. I experienced that
and I didn’t want other
migrants to feel helpless.”
Finding a job is yet
another challenge for new
arrivals. “In my case,
being a mother is a fulltime
job, but in order to
support my family I needed
a source of income.
“I studied Beauty Therapy
Level 5 and opened a
beauty salon – ‘Meggy’s
Beauty Room’. This was
my first job in New
Meggy Barlett-McBride
Zealand.”
New Kiwis also face
other challenges. “Transport
is a problem in
Invercargill,” notes Meggy.
Then there is the language
issue. “We Filipino
migrants speak English,
but we are not used to
using it all the time. So
some of us do have trouble
conversing with others.
But it is getting easier
for me.”
How does Meggy juggle
family and work responsibilities
with her passion
to help people? “Volunteer
work does take a lot
of my time. It cuts into
my family and work time.
I have 3 children and they
sometimes become the
second priority. I don’t
really complain because
it’s in my nature to help
people and if I can’t help
I feel guilty.”
What is life like for a
migrant in Southland?
“Compared to when I
first came here, Kiwis are
more accepting of
migrants. 10 years ago
there were not many
migrants here in Southland.
As more people
started arriving the local
community became more
accepting of the migrants
than before.”
According to Meggy
there has been a sharp
increase in the number of
Filipinos coming down
south. Over 1,000 have
settled in Southland and
there are 100 Pinoys in
Invercargill.
“Some are studying at
the Southern Institute of
Technology. There are
quite a few working in
dairy farms and the
health sector - nurses and
caregivers. Some work in
the industrial sector like
in welding; others are
absorbed into administrative
roles, banking and
so on. There are a couple
of Pinoy doctors with
their own practices over
here.”
To make them feel at
home, ethnic businesses
have sprouted up in the
main centres. For example,
a Pilipino and Asian
Store has opened in
Invercargill, as well as
two Filipino cafes –
Goldelights and Kababayan
Eatery.
Volunteers in the community
have strived to
create a welcoming
atmosphere by putting on
a number of ethnic
events.
The Filipino Society
holds an Independence
Day event each year. A
bigger event is the
Multicultural Race Relations
Day organised by
the Multicultural Council.
“More than 3,000 people
turn up for this
event,” says Meggy.
At the end of the day,
you may come to the conclusion
that volunteers
like Meggy are different
from most people -
because they love helping
people so much. “I can’t
help everyone,” admits
Meggy, “but I do what I
can to ease their struggle
so that they can cope with
the obstacles they are
going to face.”

P a g e 0 2 w w w . m i g r a n t n e w s . n z I M i g r a n t N e w s : W e l c o m e t o N e w Z e a l a n d E x p o I Migrant Job Board
Dr Hashem Slaimankhel
Suicide bomber
kills peaceful
community leader
KABUL, Afghanistan -
Police paid tribute to Dr
Hashem Slaimankhel,
the Kiwi community
leader who was killed
last month while travelling
in Afghanistan.
Dr Slaimankhel was
among at least 100 people
known to have died
when a suicide bomber
drove an ambulance into
a crowded Kabul street.
Police staff worked
closely with Dr Slaimankhel
through interfaith
events, family harm
initiatives and refugee
resettlement activities,
noting his warmth and
generosity toward members
of all communities.
Assistant Commissioner
Wally Haumaha
said that Dr Slaimankhel
was a strong advocate
for former refugees and
ethnic communities.
“I join with the local
community in mourning
the loss of a dedicated
and deeply respected
community leader,” said
Wally.
“I and others within
the Police will remember
Dr Slaimankhel as a
peaceful and hard-working
man, who was committed
to helping others
to settle and thrive in
New Zealand.”
Dr Slaimankhel, of
Auckland, trained as a
doctor in Afghanistan
and arrived in New
Zealand as a refugee in
the late 1980s.
He was an elder of the
New Zealand Muslim
Association's Shura
Committee and chairman
of the Umma Trust,
which provides social
and community services
for refugee and migrant
communities. He was
previously chairman of
the Afghan Association
of New Zealand.
Dr Slaimankhel had
been visiting family in
Afghanistan and was due
back in New Zealand at
the end of January.
“His relationship with
the Police’s MÇori
Pacific and Ethnic
Services and Ethnic
Liaison Officers extended
for 15 years and Dr
Slaimankhel was a greatly
valued and appreciated
community partner,”
said Wally.
“His commitment to
family violence prevention
has changed lives
and helped make our
country a safer place.”
Photo credit: NZ Police
HUTT MULTICULTURAL FESTIVAL
AND HOLI FESTIVAL 2018
3 March 2018
11am - 3pm
Venue: Naenae Community Hall
39 Treadwel Street
Naenae, Lower Hutt
Food, Arts and Crafts, Air Castle for kids
All welcome!
New approach
to sponsoring
refugees launched
WELLINGTON - Four
community-based organisations
will be the first in New
Zealand to sponsor refugees
under a ground-breaking
new approach, says
Immigration Minister Iain
Lees-Galloway.
The refugees are planned
to arrive here by June 2018.
Caritas Aotearoa New
Zealand (Wellington),
Gleniti Baptist Church
(Timaru), South West
Baptist Church (Christchurch)
and the Society of
St Vincent de Paul
(Nelson) have been chosen
by Immigration New
Zealand (INZ) to become
approved sponsors for the
pilot of the Community
Organisation Refugee
Sponsorship Category.
“This new approach will
help bring communities
together, so they can feel
involved in supporting
refugees to settle into New
It will be easier for the
building industry to find the
workers it needs to help
address New Zealand’s
housing shortfall, with seven
building-related occupations
being added to the
Immediate Skill Shortage
List (ISSL), Immigration
Minister Iain Lees-Galloway
announced recently.
“The Government will
build 100,000 affordable
homes over the next 10
years and the construction
industry needs skilled workers
to achieve this,” Mr
Lees-Galloway says.
“The Government will
always ensure that where a
genuine skill gap exists our
immigration system will
support employers to get the
people they need.
“Adding these seven
building-related occupations
to the ISSL will make it easier
for employers to get the
people they require, including
migrants, to deliver the
homes this country needs.
“Employing skilled migrants
will meet the immediate
demand for people with
the skills required to rapidly
increase the number of houses
in New Zealand. In the
near future KiwiBuild will
be a catalyst for more young
New Zealanders to work in
the construction industry.”
Employers whose occupations
are on the ISSL and the
Long Term Skill Shortage
List (LTSSL) do not need to
go through the labour market
process and do not need
to prove they cannot find a
New Zealander for the job.
A total of 34 occupations
have been reviewed this
year. In addition to the seven
building-related occupations
three motor industry-related
professions are being added
to the ISSL, as well as midwives
and accountants. Five
occupations are being
removed from the ISSL and
five from the LTSSL.
The removal and addition
of occupations is the result
of extensive consultation
with industry groups, other
stakeholders and relevant
government agencies, alongside
analysis of economic,
labour market and immigration
data.
“I want to emphasise that
employers wanting to bring
in migrant workers for occupations
not listed on the
ISSL or LTSSL can still do
so, as long as they can show
they’ve genuinely searched
for suitably qualified and
trained New Zealand workers,”
says Mr Lees-
Galloway.
Zealand life,” Mr Lees-
Galloway says.
“With this grassroots
approach come positive
social, economic and cultural
benefits, both for the
community and the resettled
refugees.”
The four organisations
will help 25 refugees to settle
into their communities;
the services they will provide
will include: the provision
of furnished housing,
helping them navigate their
community and the services
they need (such as enrolling
in GPs and schooling),
English language classes,
and support towards paid
employment and self-sufficiency.
Mr Lees-Galloway says
the sponsored refugees will
participate in a tailored twoweek
reception programme
at the Mangere Refugee
Resettlement Centre prior
to settling in the communities
with the settlement support
provided by their
approved community organisation
sponsor.
“The Community Organisation
Refugee Sponsorship
Category is only one of the
ways this Government is
committed to supporting
some of the world’s most
vulnerable people to rebuild
their lives and thrive in New
Zealand. This is in addition
to and complements our
existing refugee quota.”
An evaluation of the pilot
programme will be undertaken
by the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and
Employment and completed
by December 2018.
The evaluation will be
used to inform any future
implementation of the new
category.
Building occupations added to skill shortage list
“I also want to signal that
New Zealanders will be
given every opportunity to
get work and better opportunities
to train and learn
through our Fees Free initiative,
so future reviews of the
skill shortage lists will be
carried out with a view to
reducing the number of
occupations listed.
“The Government is committed
to matching skilled
migrant workers with the
industries and regions that
need them, by strengthening
the labour market test for
work visas and making the
skill shortage lists more
focused on regional needs.
“MBIE officials will be
providing me further advice
on how to achieve this commitment
ahead of the next
review, which is due to
begin in April next year.”
The latest changes are
detailed on the INZ website
here. The revised lists will
come into effect in February
2018.

w w w . m i g r a n t n e w s . n z I M i g r a n t N e w s : W e l c o m e t o N e w Z e a l a n d E x p o I Migrant Job Board
P a g e 0 3
Tightening of rules puts brakes on the
‘back door’ immigration upsurge
AUCKLAND - It’s official
- the ‘back door’
immigration pathway
used by a large number of
lower-qualified international
students to gain residence
in New Zealand
rather than for study purposes
is now a ‘no go’
zone.
The Labour-led government
has kept its election
promise to improve
the integrity of the immigration
system by cracking
down on this anomaly.
As a consequence student
visa applications have
been plummeting.
Radio New Zealand
reports that the number
STUDENT VISA
APPLICATIONS
PLUMMET
of study visa applications
lodged with Immigration
New Zealand in India
plummeted last year, as
did the proportion of
failed applications.
Quoting figures provided
by Immigration New
Zealand, RNZ reports
that the agency's India
staff considered 9429
study visa applications in
2017, down from 16,380 in
2016 and 25,977 in 2015.
They approved 6425 of
the Indian applications
and declined 3004, at a
decline rate of 32 percent,
down from more than 50
percent in 2015 and 2016.
In the Philippines 1148
applicants were approved
last year and 397, or 26
percent, were refused.
Immigration turned
down 368 applications
from applicants in Nepal,
52 percent of the total it
received, while in Sri
Lanka it approved 552
applications and refused
257, or 32 percent.
In Vietnam, 960 applications
were approved
and 296, or 24 percent,
were refused.
In China, 7327 applications
were approved and
542 were declined, for a
decline rate of 7 percent.
The media is rife with
reports of international
B Y M E L F E R N A N D E Z
students who focus on residency
rather than study
being more open to potential
exploitation from an
employer.
"This is
leaving
them open
to accepting
arrangements
to
buy job
offers, and
thus become
a
party to
immigration
fraud,
in order to
gain residence,"
reports the
New Zealand
Herald,
quoting
officials
advising
the government
on
immigration
policy.
T h e
Labour
Party’s fact
sheet on ‘Making immigration
work for New
Zealand’, issued in June
last year, may provide an
insight to the way forward.
“In recent years there
has been a substantial
increase in low-level study
and reports of sham
courses being used as a
route to work and eventual
residency.
“Many stories have
emerged of people being
exploited, both in their
home countries and in
New Zealand, by people
offering study as a back
door to residency.
“Labour is focused on
our international education
system delivering
high-quality education
that delivers a real return
for New Zealand and does
not put unnecessary pressure
on our infrastructure.
Quality education must
stand on its own merits.”
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P a g e 0 4 w w w . m i g r a n t n e w s . n z I M i g r a n t N e w s : W e l c o m e t o N e w Z e a l a n d E x p o I Migrant Job Board
Rental crisis - time for action?
RENTAL MARKET CRISIS LOOMING, SAYS PROPERTY INSTITUTE
Following a 100% ‘hit
rate’ on its housing market
predictions for 2017 –
the Property Institute has
now released its predictions
for 2018.
According to the
Institute CEO, Ashley
Church, the cost of renting
will replace the price
of housing as the #1 housing
issue in 2018 – and the
housing polices of the new
Government, combined
with uncertainty around
housing investment over
the next few years, will
‘scare’ some property
investors out of the market
- creating a growing
crisis with the number of
dwellings available for
rental.
The full list of predictions
are as follows:
Some Property Investors
will abandon the
market and the impact of
this, on the availability of
rentals, will start to
become a problem in the
second half of 2018.
“The cycles of property
investment are largely
predictable – there are
always a number of less
experienced property
investors who panic, and
sell, when a market flattens
- or who decide not to
invest further during
downturns. This means
that an increasing number
of rentals will convert
to owner occupied
dwellings – putting pressure
on the rental market
at a time when the
demand for housing
(rental and owner occupied)
is already acute.
This trend is already
noticeable in the dramatic
reduction in new investor
mortgages observed in
the Monthly Property
Institute/Valocity
Regional Trends reports
in the latter half of 2017.”
The cost of renting will
continue to rise and this
will replace the cost of
housing as the number
one housing issue in 2018.
“While it’s normal to
see rent increases in the
period following a property
boom – the environment
in which they will
take place in 2018 will be
made worse as a result of
the combined effect of
unusually high inward
migration (which has
exacerbated rental demand),
loan to value
restrictions (which have
closed investors out of the
market) and Labour’s
plans for Capital Gains
taxes, ring-fenced tax
losses and significant new
compliance costs (which
will cause many property
investors to increase rents
to offset new costs - real or
feared). As a result, we’re
in for big rent increases in
some parts of the country
over the next couple of
years – with those
increases already showing
up in the Property
Institute Regional Insights
Report.”
House prices will continue
to flatten throughout
2018 – but there will
be no ‘crash’ in property
prices.
“The latest Property
Institute/Valocity Regional
Insights report shows
that median house price
growth across the country
is down to 0.6% year by
year. This is consistent
with the end of a property
cycle and overall prices
(particularly in Auckland)
will now ‘see-saw’
between small increases
and small decreases
throughout 2018. There
will be isolated exceptions
to this trend (both up and
down) around the country
– but the much hyped
‘property crash’ isn’t
going to happen. We also
note that the latest
Property Institute/ Valocity
data shows expensive
houses continuing to sell
and holding up the median
house price numbers –
and we don’t see that
trend changing much.”
Longer term Mortgage
interest rates will continue
to rise. Expect further
increases of up to 0.5% or
more.
“As was the case in
2017, the general consensus
is that interest rates
are on their way up –
partly because of uncertainty
around international
events and partly
because NZ banks will
need to pay more to
attract diminishing investment
funds from kiwi
depositors.
Expect to see little
change in six-month to
two-year mortgage rates
– but a jump of up to
0.5% (or more) in longer
term rates as banks try
and woo borrowers into
shorter terms in anticipation
of further increases
in the cost of funding over
the next two or three
years.”
New home construction
in Auckland will slowly
increase – but most of it
will be for owner occupiers.
“Depending on your
source, Auckland either
needs 40,000 new homes
‘right now’ or 10,000 per
year for the foreseeable
future. Either way, the
market will continue to
make further progress on
this target in 2018 but will
still fall a long way short
of the number of
dwellings required to ‘fix’
the shortage. These houses
will be built through a
combination of Government
building initiatives
and private sector construction
of apartments
and free-standing homes.
Most of these dwellings
will end up in the hands of
owner occupiers, with
very few becoming rentals
for the reasons outlined
in the previous predictions.”
The Loan-to-Value
rules will be further
relaxed.
“The cyclic flattening in
house prices will give the
Reserve Bank the confidence
to further relax the
LVR deposit rules on
Investors and also to give
relief to Home Buyers in
2018. The LVR for
Investors will drop to
30% during 2018 – while
the LVR for Home Buyers
will either be dropped to
10% or 15% (although
this may be limited to First
Home Buyers) or the
‘speed limit’ (the extent to
which trading banks can
have clients who exceed
this limit) will be significantly
increased.”
Property Institute/Valocity
Regional Insights
Report.
Meanwhile – the New
Zealand housing market
has continued to maintain
a holding pattern, according
to the latest results of
the Property Institute
/Valocity Regional Insights
report.
According to the report,
the median sales price
across New Zealand
strengthened marginally
to $503k in December (up
from $483k in November),
while sales volumes
nationwide continued to
go down with 4,942 properties
sold in December
2017 – a 44% drop from
the same period last year.
Mr Church also notes
that, according to the
Valocity data, first home
buyers are still accounting
for around 28% of all
new mortgages across the
country – while ‘refinanciers’
now represent
22% of all new lending.
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