New Zealand Enforces Strict Immigration Policies.

Wellington; May 2026: The New Zealand ACT Party has reiterated that the immigration rules need to be tightened, and is proposing a revamping of the immigration policies with a six-point plan including deporting serious offenders no matter how long they have been in the country. It would also include a $6 per day infrastructure surcharge on temporary work visas and a five-year welfare stand-down for all residence class visa holders.

ACT leader & Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said it will make the system work better for New Zealand, and rebuild confidence in immigration by restoring fairness and accountability, while adding further the country needs new migrants to grow and develop, but his proposed system would only welcome people if they share values of tolerance, freedom and democracy, and help build infrastructure and abide by the rules.

“Success requires a common set of expectations; respect our freedoms, uphold our democratic values, contribute to infrastructure, speak English, obey the law, and fill genuine gaps in the economy”, Seymour said, and has further asserted immigration had enriched New Zealand, and in less than 200 years the country had gone from a “series of isolated villages” to a network of modern cities.

“From those who arrived in open boats 700 years ago, to those who arrived at Auckland Airport this morning, our country has been built by people willing to make a journey to try and build something better”, said Seymour.

He said people were asking why something “doesn’t quite feel right with immigration”, and ACT believed their suspicions were correct. Seymour blamed previous administrators for letting a skilled-migration system become a “general-purpose labour tap. They have failed to enforce the rules they set. They have allowed infrastructure to fall further behind. And they have asked too little of people who want to benefit from the Kiwi character without supporting it. The rate of settlement has overwhelmed the ability to provide infrastructure”.

Seymour said his party’s policy would restore the “basic bargain” that New Zealand was built on. An immigration lawyer says the ACT Party is using xenophobic dog-whistle politics to appeal for votes with its new immigration policies. The party has proposed several new immigration policies, including cutting new migrants off from welfare, investigating overstayers and charging more for working visas.

Immigration lawyer Alistair McClyment said the changes around welfare were unnecessary, because most migrants came here with a job. “This whole policy announcement doesn’t really seem to be adding anything to the current immigration regime”, he said. “It just seems to be that ACT Party has seen the success that New Zealand First has had with xenophobic dog-whistle politics”.

New Zealand already had an Immigration compliance team that investigated overstayers, McClyment said. The policy to charge migrants more for visas didn’t make sense, because they usually came to the country to fill skill shortages. “It really makes it quite dangerous, because it does open up the possibility that these migrants are not going to have enough money to live and are going to then be more vulnerable to exploitation by bad employers”.

The six-point plan includes;

• Deporting serious offenders, “no matter how long they’ve been here”;
• Expire categories under Accredited Employer Work visas every year;
• Introduce a five-year welfare stand-down for all residence class visa holders;
• Introduce a $6 per day infrastructure surcharge on temporary work visas, on top of existing charges;
• Extend basic English language requirements to all work visa types;
• Establish a dedicated overstayer enforcement unit within Immigration New Zealand.

Team Maverick.