New Zealand’s Refugee Protection Policy/Programme

Rachel DemasImmigration ManagerRefugee Quota Branch

Refugee Protection Policy/Programme

• New Zealand's refugee protection policies consist of:

Refugee Quota Policy Refugee Family Support Category Approved Convention Refugees Afghan Interpreters

• It is an important part of New Zealand’s contribution to the international protection of refugees and their families

• Designed to ensure that New Zealand can respond effectively to humanitarian situations and that support services are available to meet the specific needs of these individuals

2013-14 Statistics

• Refugee Quota : TARGET MET:750 refugees resettled during 2013-14 FY

• Refugee Family Support Category: TARGET EXCEEDED: Target of 450 ITA’s to be issued & the policy allows 300 residency places a year

113 (457 nominees) ITA’s issued 334 residency approvals (84 Tier One / 250 Tier Two)

• Convention Refugee: no cap or target 69 individuals approved (24% of total decisions made by RSB) 53 individuals approved (33% of total decisions made by IPT)

• Afghan Interpreters: 31 resettled and participated in the Refugee Reception Programme

2013-14 Statistics Cont’d

Total number of individuals approved under the NZ’s refugee protection

policies:

1,237

Refugee Quota Policy

• In 2013 Cabinet agreed to a rolling three-year Refugee Quota

• 2013/14 • 2014/15 • 2015/16

• Annual quota of 750 (+/- 10%) mandated refugees & family reunification individuals

• This has enabled a more strategic approach to planning and service delivery

Refugee Quota 2013-2014 Statistics

• 750 refugees resettled

• Asia/Pacific Region: 62%

• Middle East: 16%

• Americas: 19%

• Africa: 3%

Emergency Caseload

• Emergency priority cases (up to 35 per year): Individual UNHCR-referred Mandated refugees that require

emergency resettlement 30 individuals were resettled under emergency priority over 2013/14

financial year

• Large scale refugee crisis places: 50 per year: Refugees who require emergency resettlement from large-scale

refugee crisis situations – for example Syrian situation UNHCR requested INZ consider Syrian refugees for 2013-14 & 2014-15

years UNHCR will refer to INZ Syrian nationals who are refugees in Egypt

Enhanced Settlement Information

• Quota Refugees:Off Shore Interview (Settlement

segment)Regional Settlement Location FactsheetsDVDs

Overview of Proposed Composition for Year Two of Three-year Quota Plan

[2014-15]

• Asia-Pacific: 55%• Middle East: 10%• Africa: 7%• Americas: 15%• Large-scale Refugee Crisis: 13%

2014-15 Proposed Intake Composition

• 6 Intakes of 125 individuals/annually• Approximate numbers per nationality, country of

asylum, language and settlement location planned • Information shared with stakeholders to enable

better preparation and planning• Pipeline – healthy pipeline of approved refugees

allows for a more considered refugee arrival system in consultation with relevant stakeholders