Dunedin Multi-Ethnic Council president Paul Gourlie made that point yesterday after a meeting of a working group within the council's 13-strong executive.
Concerns about the need for more Immigration New Zealand office support in Dunedin and growing pressures facing overseas tertiary students studying in the city were discussed.
A Dunedin proposal about the need to strengthen support from Immigration New Zealand, by not closing other offices and by reopening the Dunedin office, will be discussed at a national meeting of the New Zealand Federation of Multicultural Councils in Wellington on Saturday.
Having overseas students studying in Dunedin had long brought important cultural, educational and economic benefits to the city, Mr Gourlie said.
But overseas students were faced growing anxieties, and extended support for them was needed, including by having the Dunedin office reopened.
New Zealand had long prided itself on its ''sense of fair play'', including for ''anybody we're looking after''.
It was difficult for some students, whose first language was often not English, to understand some complex immigration requirements without direct face-to-face contact with someone who could explain what was needed. And immigration applications could be subject to potentially lengthy delays if one small piece of paperwork had accidentally not been provided in a postal application.
Operating without a local office was ''just not who were are as New Zealanders.''
''There's a more humane way,'' Mr Gourlie emphasised.
Further immigration inquiry desk cuts were planned in central Auckland, and elsewhere, and it was planned to close the inquiries office in Christchurch late this year.
Ways of improving support for Dunedin international tertiary students and overseas immigrants will be discussed at a community meeting to be organised by the council in the city on November 27.
Mr Gourlie said the council recently helped with two cases involving students from the Middle East.
In one case, a student's visa was expiring a month before his final examinations at the University of Otago,.
In the other case, another student faced problems with trying to switch studies from Otago to Massey University.
There was considerable goodwill in many quarters in the city to provide support for overseas students, and both Dunedin North MP Dr David Clark and National List MP Michael Woodhouse had already both played a positive role in helping overseas students achieve their immigration needs, he said.
