PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are the second largest group of people seeking asylum in New Zealand, according to a former immigration minister there.
In a Facebook post, Tuariki Delamere said the latest statistics showed that Indian nationals were number one in terms of foreign nationals seeking asylum in New Zealand, with 374 applications as of Oct 1.
This was followed by 229 applicants from Malaysia and 226 applicants from China.
There were 73 applications from Sri Lanka and 52 from Pakistan. The remaining 289 asylum seekers this year were from a total of 53 other countries.
Delamere, who was the New Zealand immigration minister from 1996 to 1999, said there are currently a total of 1,243 asylum seekers in the country.
“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 on fees for processing asylum applications, tribunal hearings, legal aid, healthcare, and for their children’s schooling,” he said.
“My best guess is that it costs the New Zealand government, and therefore the New Zealand taxpayer, about $100,000 (RM280,000) over a three-year period. This is about the average cost to process an asylum seeker’s claim all the way through to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal.”
Delamere also said Immigration New Zealand (INZ) received 164 asylum applications in September, a 713% increase from the 23 applicants it received in September 2022.
He said INZ has been “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.
INZ had, however, not provided any reason for why they were turning back the people.
“However, following my meeting with INZ’s refugee status unit, it is clear to me that the border turnbacks are a result of the massive recent increase in people from certain countries, who were seeking asylum,” he said.
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