New Zealand's long-standing problem of overstayers seems to have defied numerous attempts at solution.
These have ranged from the infamous "dawn raids" of the 1970s to - as recently as last August - amnesties in exchange for the names of other illegal migrants.
None of these measures seems to have worked for very long, and there are now an estimated 17,000 overstayers in this country, most of whom of necessity lead lives as far from any connection with state agencies as is possible: data matching, which is now extremely diversified among departments, has seen to that.
The greatest number of overstayers are from the Pacific Islands and Asia.
As at the end of August last year, there were known to be 4198 Samoans, 2312 Chinese nationals, 2294 Tongans, 695 Malaysians, 620 Indians and 573 South Koreans.
Of course, expelling overstayers without a merciful consideration of all their circumstances is by no means desirable in a country that claims to pride itself on its human rights.
Many overstayers have lived here for years, have started families, businesses and taken a keen interest in community life.
In general terms, someone expelled from this country is not allowed to return for five years, but if family circumstances are taken into account and there are no special matters to consider - such as a criminal record - there should not be sanctions against their return on a lawful basis providing they have voluntarily admitted their illegal status.
There are plenty of reported admissions, too, from overstayers who do not want to stay in New Zealand because their "unofficial" life is too hard; their labour is exploited by employers and their status by landlords.
But they do not admit to the authorities in fear that they will be "blacklisted" and their passports marked, meaning they may be unable to visit other countries.
Another factor which must be taken into account as the Government evolves improvements to deal with this (among many other immigration problems) is the exploitation of people by racketeers, both overseas-based (who falsely promise residency status for large fees) and locals (offering "visas" that are patently fake).
The latest example of a scheme operating outside the immigration rules involves a Maori who has been offering Pacific Island overstayers adoption into his "hapu", or family, for $500.
Overstayers have paid their money in the belief that this will give them automatic residency.
It will not.
Fortunately, the sorry free-for-all that has been the immigration consultancy business may be coming to an end since, in an effort to clean it up, immigration consultants were from the beginning of May required to gain a licence to practise.
The Government has declared it is taking a hard line with overstayers and it could hardly responsibly do otherwise if it is to prevent an illegal growth industry getting bigger.
But should anyone believe it? It is debatable, especially when the Minister, Jonathan Coleman, is reported to consider overstayers are not a priority for the department as they involve a mere 0.8% of migrants.
New Zealand is not such a large country, or with such a large population, that greater efforts cannot be made to ensure that the holders of temporary visas - be they work permits, visitor's visas, or work-to-residence visas - are held to their requirements.
Even a system requiring such people to report their whereabouts to the police on a regular basis, such as is done in many countries, would be better than nothing at all, and while the cost of compliance might be greater, whatever happened to "user pays"?Confidence in the immigration service has been battered by recent events - according to the National Party's immigration policy for last year's election it had reached "an all-time low" - and a thorough revision is required in every arm, something the Government has promised to undertake.
And, like crime, the issue is of critical import, but like crime it is also easily held hostage to volatile emotion rather than rational debate; therein lies the risk of it being trivialised.
The problem of overstayers should not be cast aside as being of "minor" importance.
As we have said before, entry to New Zealand should be a great privilege for visitor and residency applicant alike; it is Dr Coleman's duty to ensure it - and that includes ensuring the overstayers now in the country are identified and their circumstances dealt with promptly, and that far more reliable methods of preventing the problem recurring are introduced and enforced.
