Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has today announced that the remaining eight refugee resettlement locations will continue to be provided by the New Zealand Red Cross (NZRC).

New Zealand Red Cross are delighted to continue their work with resettling refugees in Palmerston North, Levin, Masterton, Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Dunedin, and Invercargill.

“We have a productive relationship with NZRC in providing resettlement services and we are pleased to have NZRC continuing to make a positive impact on the lives of refugees in Aotearoa New Zealand in these eight locations,” says INZ General Manager, Refugee and Migrant Services Fiona Whiteridge.

Last month, we announced three new refugee settlement location providers for Auckland, Hamilton, Christchurch, and a contract renewal for Ashburton and Timaru providers to provide settlement services to refugees from 1 July 2022.

Those providers are:

• Kāhui Tū Kaha (Auckland)
• Hamilton Multicultural Services Trust (Hamilton)
• Purapura Whetu Trust (Christchurch)
• Safer Mid Canterbury (Ashburton)
• Presbyterian Support South Canterbury (Timaru)

NZRC are pleased to be continuing with their resettlement services in the eight locations and respect the decision to bring a more diverse range of service providers to support the resettlement of refugees for Auckland, Hamilton, and Christchurch.

The new contracts begin on 1 July 2022, which will consequently mark the new changes to these contracts for all providers including an increase from 12 months to up to 24 months of settlement support for refugees, as well as an extension of assistance for families, and their sponsors, who have been approved to come to New Zealand under the ‘Refugee Family Support Category’ visa.

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