It appears that at some countries, people with visitor or work visas are being turned away at the border.
One of these countries is New Zealand, who are allegedly turning away people with visas at their border due to an increase in people seeking asylum.
New Zealand’s former Minister of Immigration, Tuariki Delamere, took to his Facebook account to share this, while including a list of the top 5 countries for asylum claimants. Malaysians is listed as the second largest group of asylum seekers in their country, with 229 people.
He wrote, “As many of you are aware, it appears that Immigration New Zealand are cracking down very hard at the border and turning back many people from certain countries who were granted either a visitor visa or a work visa. Immigration New Zealand has not provided any reason for why this is happening.”
“However, following my meeting with RSU (Refugee Status Unit) it is clear to me that the border turn backs are a result of the massive recent increase in people from certain countries claiming asylum.”
As at 1 October, 2023, the top 5 countries for asylum claimants on hand are:
- 374 from India
- 229 from Malaysia
- 226 from China
- 73 from Sri Lanka
- 52 from Pakistan
There is also 289 other asylum claimants from 53 other countries, making it a total of 1,243 current asylum claims on hand.
Due to this, New Zealand has tightened their borders, which has subsequently caused genuine and innocent travelers to be turned away.
“There is a massive cost to the New Zealand taxpayer to maintain and to process an asylum claimant as they cannot be charged by the New Zealand government for fees, for processing asylum applicants, for Tribunal hearings, for legal aid if they qualify, for health care, and for schooling children,”
“My best guess is that it costs the New Zealand government, and therefore the New Zealand taxpayer about $100,000 (RM280,159) over a 3-year period, which is about the average to process an asylum claim that loses all the way through to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal,” he added.
Have you experienced being turned away after reaching a foreign country, purely because our fellow Malaysians have jumped ship there?
Do feel free to share in the comment section.
Also read: WATCH: Australian Border Security Detects Heroin Hidden in Hoverboard Package From Malaysia
