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November 10, 2022
Pacific bias sparks call for visa waiver
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On November 10, 2022
Download AudioGreens co-leader Marama Davidson says the Immigration Service’s treatment of Pasifika visitors reflects its racist assumptions.
Half of all visitor applications denied by immigration officials were from Pasifika, leading to calls for Pacific Island nations to be addled to the list of countries on the visa waiver scheme.
Ms Davidson says officials seem to assume the island tourists will overstay and become a drain on the system.
“We want to see a visa waiver for our Pasifika whanaunga. These are our Pacific relations and they in our minds should be able to come here and see their whanau whenever they need to and we need to remove those racist assumptions completely from our immigration system because then all that is happening is you are just upholding basically the privilege of being wealthy,” she says.
Ms Davidson says the Greens wrote to the Immigration Minister in May asking for visa waivers.
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