A dairy farm owner and former employer of migrant workers
says workers from overseas should have a return ticket home
before being granted work visas in New Zealand.
Mid Canterbury farming leader Dean McConnell said New Zealand
was "soft" in this regard.
International immigration protocols in many other countries
required applicants for work permits to have their fare home
already paid.
New Zealand did not, he said.
Mr McConnell emphasised his views were not aimed at any
particular group or ethnicity.
It was more a comment on the New Zealand system, which could
burden taxpayers with fares unfairly.
"I have been concerned at reports in the last two to three
weeks that because of layoffs caused by the recession
Immigration has said to the worker: `well, you haven't got a
job now so you are required to go home'.
"But the worker didn't have the ability to buy a ticket to
get home.
"Now in other countries when a worker applies for a work
permit they are required to own a ticket out of the country
before they get in," Mr McConnell said.
He said if the taxpayer had to pay the displaced worker's
fare home it placed an unfair burden on this country.
Immigration New Zealand does not list a pre-paid airfare home
as a requirement of entry for foreign workers.
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