Refugees in New Zealand have two main pathways for gaining protection in the country. Asylum seekers may seek protection after arrival in New Zealand (either as refugees or protected persons). Refugees may also be resettled from offshore through New Zealand's Refugee Quota Programme. In 2017/18 a community sponsorship pathway was trialled, extended from 2021.
A refugee who is resettled into New Zealand is granted permanent residency and may apply for citizenship. Much of the discussion in recent years has focussed on whether the annual United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) resettlement quota is adequate, focussed on the most vulnerable and on the outcomes for refugees coming through this system. New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world that receive more quota refugees than asylum applications. The resettlement process is primarily managed by Immigration New Zealand, who contract out settlement services to numerous community organisations including New Zealand Red Cross.
History of refugees in New Zealand Even before the 1951 United Nations Convention was being adopted by member states, New Zealand accepted refugees.
Those granted refugee status prior to the UNHCR Convention were
1100 German Jewish refugees, during the 1930s 837 Polish refugees, mostly children, who arrived in 1944 4,500 refugees from Europe, between 1949 and 1952
New Zealand acceded to the UNHCR Convention in 1960, and refugee policy is based on the obligations that flow from that, namely to offer protection to refugees. The text is currently set out in the Sixth Schedule of the Immigration Act 1987. The Immigration Act is not a description of policy, but rather a framework for assessing and determining claims made by people in New Zealand seeking refugee status. The 1987 Act formalised an annual resettlement quota of 800 places, which was decreased to 750 places in 1997.
Those granted refugee status post the signing of the UNHCR Convention were:
Approximately 1,100 Hungarian refugees following the1956 Hungarian revolution In 1965, 80 Russian Christians belonging to the Old Believers religious group Around 125 Czechoslovaks from the 1968 Prague uprising 244 Asians fleeing Uganda during president Idi Amin’s expulsion of Asians in the 1970s 354 Chileans fleeing the government of General Pinochet from 1974-1981 335 Soviet Jews, 292 Poles, and 507 Eastern European refugees fleeing Soviet control from 1974-1991 Those fleeing wars in Vietnam, including 5,200 Cambodians, 4,500 Vietnamese, and 1,200 Laotians between 1977 and 1993 Baha'i refugees fleeing the Iran-Iraq war in 1979 and from 1987-1989 Burma, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s Since 2000, Burundi, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Bhutan Colombian refugees since 2008. Syrian refugees from 2014.Ann Beaglehole (2013) Refuge New Zealand: a nation's response to refugees and asylum seekers, University of Otago Press: Dunedin
In 2009, the incoming National government moved to a focus on refugees in the Asia-Pacific region which substantially decreased the number of refugees coming from both the Middle East and Africa. New Zealand now restricts quota refugees from both the Middle East and African unless (a) they already have family in New Zealand, (b) they are part of an emergency quota outside of the annual intake or (c) refugees from this region are able to register with the UNHCR outside of the Middle East and Africa. These restrictions have led to prominent advocates comparing New Zealand's policies to the "Muslim Ban" of Donald Trump.
After the Mosque attacks in Christchurch in 2019, attention turned to the coalition government's continued restrictions on African and Middle Eastern refugees. Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway described the policy as "the very definition of discrimination" and indicated the policy would be reviewed. Both the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the Foreign Minister Winston Peters questioned whether the policy was racist, but also indicated the policy - as well as the broader make-up of the quota - was under review.
In early October 2019, the Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway announced that the Labour-led coalition government would be scrapping the discriminatory requirement that African and Middle Eastern refugee applicants already have relatives who were residing in New Zealand. While the African and Middle Eastern regions had their refugee allocation quota increased from 14% to 15%, the Government would still continues its focus on the Asia-Pacific region, which is allocated 50% on the annual refugee quota. This change followed criticism of the Government's refugee resettlement policy by refugee advocates Guled Mire and Murdoch Stephens, petition from World Vision, and comments from Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon.
On 16 May 2020, the Green Party's immigration spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman announced that the Government will be doubling the cap on New Zealands' family reunification scheme from 300 to 600 over the next three years under a new NZ$21 million funding boost. For the first time in the programme's history, funding would go towards the programme that would take away some of the burden on sponsoring families.
In mid-March 2022, the New Zealand Government introduced a two-year work visa programme allowing New Zealand citizens and residents of Ukrainian descent to sponsor Ukrainian family members seeking to shelter in New Zealand following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. This "Special Ukraine Policy" aims to bring over 4,000 Ukrainians to New Zealand and comes with work and study rights.
On 24 March 2022, the New Zealand and Australian Governments agreed to accept 450 asylum seekers over a three year period from the Nauru Regional Processing Centre and those temporarily in Australia for "processing." Refugees being resettled in New Zealand will have to go through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) process and meet the criteria for NZ's refugee quota requirements. The Morrison government had decided to accept a 2012 deal between former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard for New Zealand to accept several asylum seekers who had travelled to Australia by sea. Subsequent Australian governments had reneged on New Zealand's offer due to concerns that it would encourage more asylum seekers to travel by boat to Australia and that former asylum seekers could enter Australia via New Zealand.
The refugee quota (resettlement) Historically in New Zealand, the largest number of refugees have arrived through the quota refugee system. New Zealand is still one of a handful of countries that takes the majority of their refugees through a quota system."Refugee resettlement and activism in New Zealand", M Stephens, Forced Migration Review, 27 February, #54 Each year, New Zealand accepts approximately 1,500 refugees as part of an agreement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). These people have been assessed as refugees with a high need of protection by UNHCR and referred to New Zealand, based on the regional allocations decided every three years by the government. Since 2020, the top countries for refugee quota arrivals have been Syria, Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Pakistan.
The quota is set every three years, with the next decision due to be made and implemented in July 2025. Included within the current quota are places for women at risk (>150), medical/disabled (<75), large scale crisis response (200 - used for Syrians in 2022/23), which are decided year by year, and emergency protection (100) cases. The rest of the cases are general humanitarian In doing so the country offers some preferential places for those who are already marginalised and vulnerable, and for whom it is the most difficult to find resettlement locations. For this New Zealand had gained international respect for its humanitarianism.Refugee Quota Branch Arrivals by Category, Age and Gender p.10 Refugees who have been resettled can apply to sponsor relatives to join them, though those being sponsored need not be refugees themselves and there is a significant backlog of places across both Tier One and Tier Two of this Refugee Family Support Category.
Settlement locations
Those refugees arriving under the UNHCR quota, arrive in Auckland in groups of about 180, and stay for the first six weeks at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre. They are offered a programme of residential and employment orientation, and then move off to one of the seven major resettlement areas, Auckland (restricted to family connected cases in 2016), Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and, Invercargill. To accommodate the increased refugee quota in 2020 and the pressure in other regions, five more regions – Levin, Masterton, Blenheim, Timaru and Ashburton – were added as resettlement locations.
Asylum seekers who apply for refugee status on shore are usually allowed to live in the community, with none being placed in prison or detention since a report and inquiry in 2021. During the first year of resettlement, the government provides quota refugees basic housing, employment and health services. If they are found to be genuine refugees they will be granted residence, then they are technically able to access Social welfare in New Zealand and the same benefits provided by the state as any permanent resident. In practice, however, accessing these services is a slow and difficult process.
Double The Quota campaign In June 2013 Doing Our Bit, a small Wellington-based charitable trust led by Murdoch Stephens launched the Double The Quota campaign. The campaign had two goals: to double the number of refugees welcomed through the annual resettlement quota from 750 to 1500 and to double the funding for resettlement services. The campaign justified this increase based on population growth since the quota was set at 800 places in 1987, and a sharp decrease in the number of asylum seekers accepted from 2001 onwards. They argued that the quota had not increased for three decades, that Australia welcomed five times as many refugees per capita as New Zealand, and that New Zealand ranked around 90th in the world at hosting refugees per capita.
Prior to the 2014 election only the Green Party and United Future had policies on increasing the quota. The National party had a policy of decreasing the quota to 500 places in 2002 but this policy was not continued, nor implemented when they gained power in 2008. At the 2014 election the Labour party indicated they would support raising the quota to 1,000.
In early 2015 Amnesty International joined the call to double the quota. The public awakening to the refugee crisis in August of that year led to doubling the quota becoming a popular argument for how New Zealand should respond, gaining support from mayors, churches, other NGOs, the National Party's youth wing, and media commentators. Public pressure saw the government agree to admit 600 additional Syrian refugees, with 150 places also set aside from within the quota for Syrians. They also said they would consider increasing the quota at the triennial review due in 2016.
A broad-based campaign ran in the first six months of 2016 to encourage the government to double the quota. While it was ultimately unsuccessful in that goal, the government did set in place an increase of the quota to 1,000 places for July 2018. More importantly, United Future, Labour and the Greens all took on a policy of doubling the quota.