No Limit To Visitors

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31343, 13 April 1967, Page 1

No Limit To Visitors

(N.Z. Prejs Association) WELLINGTON, April 12. New Zealanders travelling to Britain as bona-fide visitors art not affected by the numerical restrictions of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act of 1962, according to a member of the British High Commission in Wellington. The First Secretary at the Commission, Mr J. E. A Miles, said today that there was no limit to the number of Commonwealth citizens allowed into Britain on working holidays. “The annual quota of 8500 employment vouchers for Commonwealth immigrants applies only to people wishing to take up permanent residence in Britain," he said. “Visitors are not even , required to obtain entry permits, though we recommend them for ease of entry. “Unless we think a person wishes to enter Britain for reasons other than those given, we do not refuse entry permits. “Some people enter on visitors’ permits and try to

remain indefinitely. This is something we have to prevent in fairness to those on the waiting list for employment vouchers." Mr Miles said a waiting list for employment vouchers was inevitable because the number of applicants far exceeded the annual quota. “Of the 8500 available, 1000 are reserved for Malta and the others are dispensed on a first come, first served

basis, with the proviso that no one country takes more than 15 per cent of the total,” he said. Ninety - five employment vouchers were issued to New Zealanders last year out of a total of 223 applications. The most recent figures available for the total number of New Zeaalnders to visit Britain are those of 1965, when nearly 24.000 entered the country. _______