Immigration

Jennifer Butcher’s article in the December issue of NZTECHO regarding funding from the NZ Film Commission, or rather the lack of it for the Techos’ Guild in contrast to other industry groups, did not provoke as much response directly to us as we might have expected; although I’m told there was a bit of comment on sets around town…

But one point did emerge from chats with various people: there appears to be a fairly widespread misconception out there that the work we do in regard to immigration, dealing with applications for LONO’S (Letters of Non-Objection to the granting of temporary work permits for people coming to work as crew in NZ) is somehow a “revenue-raising area of responsibility,” an income generator for the Techos.

This is Not the Case!

Immigration is not a source of income for us. The fees we are permitted to charge by the Immigration Service cover our costs in dealing with work permit applications and no more – we are not allowed to charge more than cost recovery. In fact, the immigration work we do is still a cost to us, as opposed to a revenue-raiser, in that, taking up as much time as it does – some weeks, 40% or more of Fritha’s time! – it actually prevents us doing many of the things that we dream of and desperately want to do, both for our members and for the wider industry.

Things that Film Commish funding would enable us to achieve – things that would supplement and complement all the great stuff that WIFT and the SDG do, up-skilling workshops being just one example. Another: faster and more comprehensive updating of documents like the Safety Code of Practice, so long overdue… And much more! So why do we do the LONO work? Because we believe that an essential reason for our existence is to protect and nurture opportunities for Kiwis in the screen production industry. The extremely good relationship that we have developed over time with Immigration NZ (as the service is now known), as well as ensuring that Kiwi crew people are used wherever possible, has made a considerable difference, we believe, to the increasing perception overseas that Kiwi crew people are as good (or even better than) any others in the World!

Editor.