Pacific Quota Registrations Open

Pacific Quota Registrations Open

Citizens of Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Fiji are encouraged to register for the Samoan Quota and Pacific Access Category ballots. The registration opens on Friday, 1 April and closes at 4.00 pm on Friday, 29 April.

Immigration Instructions recognise the special relationship between New Zealand and Samoa, and the Pacific Access Category countries of Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Fiji. Each year, up to 1,100 Samoan citizens, 250 Tongan and Fijian citizens and 75 I-Kiribati and Tuvaluan citizens are selected by ballot to be considered for the grant of residence in New Zealand.

Eligible citizens of these five countries must be aged between 18 and 45 to register under the ballot. The successful registrants selected from the ballot process will have until 10 March 2017 to lodge their resident visa applications; the principal applicant must also have an acceptable job offer from a New Zealand employer.

Those submitting registrations are reminded to make sure that they have the required forms and necessary documents. Only one ballot registration form is needed for each family. Photocopies of birth certificates must also be provided for everyone named on the registration form.

Immigration New Zealand will contact each registrant via a mobile text message or email to acknowledge receipt of their registration form including their Client Registration Number. Registrants will need to hold on to this number to check the status of their registration after the ballots are drawn on 10 June 2016.

Registering for the Samoan Quota is free but there is a NZ$75 registration fee for the Pacific Access Category. This fee is reduced to NZ$30 for those who have registered in a previous year. An additional service fee of FJD$19 is payable for Fijian and I-Kiribati citizens registering in Fiji and an additional fee of AUD$12 is payable for I-Kiribati citizens registering in Kiribati.

Ballot registration forms and guides can be downloaded from http://www.immigration.govt.nz/ Limited numbers of forms and guides will also be available at the Immigration New Zealand offices in Suva, Nuku’alofa and Apia.

ENDS

© Scoop Media