A Syrian refugee family at the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre in south Auckland. (file photo) Photo: 123RF
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) says it has not paused the processing of visa applications or refugee and protection claims from Syrian nationals.
A number of countries, mostly in Europe, announced they were halting refugee applications for Syrians within a few days of President Bashar al-Assad being toppled by rebel fighters.
INZ's manager of immigration (international and humanitarian) policy Sam Foley said it was still filling the 100 refugee places allocated for Syrian nationals this financial year.
"At this time, INZ has not paused processing of visa applications or refugee and protection claims from Syrian nationals," he said.
The situation in Syria was being monitored closely, Foley said.
Decisions on the allocation of the 200 places for resettlement from large-scale refugee emergencies within New Zealand's refugee quota were made annually by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Immigration.
For 2024/25, ministers had agreed that of these 200 places, 100 places would be allocated to refugees from Syria.
Under current quota settings, and in addition to the large-scale refugee emergencies allocation, Syrian refugees were resettled as part of the Middle East and Africa allocation.
This was 20 percent of New Zealand's total annual quota of 1500 places.
Ministers would decide on the allocation of the 200 refugee places for 2025/26 in the first half of next year, as per the usual process, Foley said.
To be considered for resettlement in New Zealand, a refugee must be found by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to have priority protection needs requiring resettlement in a safe third country and be referred for consideration according to established international guidelines, Foley said.
"As part of this assessment, UNHCR will assess whether they can return to their country of origin," he said.
UNHCR was also responsible for identifying global resettlement needs and priorities on an annual basis.
According to 2018 census data, there were more than 800 Syrian nationals in New Zealand.
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