Originally Posted by
SlyDigits
The only thing that is fair is what INZ decides to be fair. I understand that people here have put in money and time, and their lives and livelihoods depend on this immigration decision and process, but the truth is simple: INZ has to look out for what is best for New Zealand, and not for its applicants.
And what is best for New Zealand is decided by those who are in charge of those offices and ministries. If they feel that higher income-employees and doctors, nurses, teachers and other skills that are essential for the smooth functioning of society are more important than chefs or marketers or sales people or nuclear engineers - then that is what it is.
If, tomorrow, they decide that "left-handed, optometrists who speak Japanese" are the only occupation that they want to award SMC visas to, then they CAN!
You are, of course, free to feel that it is unfair and you are also free to try and contact INZ or contact lawyers but I hope you realise that the reality is - it does not matter what you or I feel!
The only thing that matters is the truth and the truth is, INZ are free to determine their criteria.
Also, is not entirely true!
They have never said that "applicants not falling under special criteria, despite being over 160 points" are NEVER going to be given their due process or will NEVER be considered for the Visa.
You will get your chance in front of a Case Officer, but it will just take longer to get there. They have made it clear that there is a subset of applicants that they would want more than others - because they will benefit the country or economy more. The others will just have to wait a little bit longer - that's all!
A lot of countries/cities are doing this - Venice is banning day-tourists who come in by cruise/train, crowd the streets but go back to their cruise ship to eat/sleep - essentially not contributing to the local economy but crowding the streets for people who might want to come and stay there - thus driving them away with crowds. Amsterdam has stopped all its tourism ads and the US is actively handing out green cards only to those who are contributing positively to the economy.
Again, some people are already on-shore and for them, this is harder on them. However, because they are on-shore, they also have more means at their disposal in terms of contacting local MPs or lawyers and what not (I am assuming here - could be 100% wrong about it!).
People like me, who are offshore, have no choice but to wait in line for as long as INZ want me to - or step out of it and leave. From the looks of things, I will probably have to leave - my Canada application might just come through earlier and if it does, I am going to go there and forget about this application. And by the way, we got an invite to apply from a province looking for tech-employees so we jumped the queue over there because a new queue for a special category of people was formed next to it!
People generally have a hard time with "these are the rules - deal with it!" type of moments but these are the rules and you have to deal with it.
Truth is harsh and not what we want to hear because it makes us uncomfortable, but it nevertheless remains the truth. Every applicant is not equal and we just have to accept it!