New Zealand’s Refugee Protection Policy/Programme Rachel Demas Immigration Manager Refugee 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 Factsheets DVDs

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