‘Few Refused Entry Permit'

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31236, 7 December 1966, Page 21

‘Few Refused Entry Permit '

(N.Z. Press Association-Copyright)

LONDON, December 6.

No young New Zealanders or Australians coming to Britain for a working holiday with their fares home and enough funds for a week will be refused admission, the Home Office said today.

Provided they had no Intention of settling permanently in Britain they would be allowed to stay for up to two years, a spokesman said. Entry permits were usually issued for six months or a year, but the spokesman emphasised It was up to the immigration officers at ports of

entry to decide how long each visitor could stay. “Every case is considered on its merits," he said. The number of people turned away was “a very small proportion” of those allowed in. In 1965, 79 were turned away, out of a total of more than 81,000 Australian visitors. No figures were available yet for 1966. The Home Office spokesman also said that young New Zealand and Australian visitors would have no difficulty extending their entry permits for “another six months or a year.” However, they must satisfy the British immigration authorities that they intended to return to their own country. If working, they must be able to show that they were only temporarily or irregularly employed. The spokesman was commenting on a complaint in Sydney by the New South Wales Agent-General to London, Mr Abram Landa, who said some young Australian visitors stood a fair chance of being turned out after three months.