Issue 51 May 2021
Kia ora koutou and welcome to the May edition of Bridging the Gap. I’m Helen Crabb, the Interpreter Coordinator for MBIE.
On this page
The information in this newsletter was accurate at the time it was sent in May 2021.
For up-to-date information about COVID-19, visit the Unite against COVID-19 website.
Unite against COVID-19 (external link)— Te Whatu Ora — Health New Zealand
Language Assistance Services Programme update
As you know, as part of the cross-government Language Assistance Services Programme, MBIE is introducing changes to improve face-to-face interpreting services delivery across government.
A panel of professional Language Services Providers with nationwide coverage will be formed and segmented by language, geographical location/s and speciality. The panel of service providers will provide face-to-face interpreting services between English and a wide range of other languages, including New Zealand Sign Language and Te Reo Māori.
The Language Assistance Project team will announce the Language Service Providers that will form the Face to Face Interpreting panel in the next few months.
In the meantime, the team will publish a Language Assistance Services Newsletter starting in mid-May.
Sign up to receive the newsletter(external link)
New standards and certification requirements
As part of the Language Assistance Services Programme a new standards and certification framework for language practitioners working across the public sector, the NAATI framework, will come into effect from 2024.
From 2024 NAATI certification will be a prerequisite for working as community language interpreters in the public sector. At this stage NAATI does not apply to Te Reo Māori or New Zealand Sign Language.
Review of the processes and procedures for making refugee and protection status determinations
The processes and procedures for making refugee and protection status determinations have been finalised.
The new processes and procedures are on the Immigration website.
Information for asylum seekers(external link) — Immigration
This includes a detailed Practice Note setting out procedural expectations of all participants.
Refugee Status Unit: Practice note(external link) — Immigration
The guides for claimants in a number of languages are also being updated.
Claiming refugee and protection status in New Zealand(external link) — Immigration
In particular, interpreters will be interested in the new standard interview times.
Interviews at the RSU in Auckland are normally set down for two consecutive half-days. The second half-day may be shorter or dispensed with, if the interview is completed on the first day. Interviews are normally held from 9.30am to 1.00pm and 1.15pm to 4.45pm, with breaks.
Immigration update
Refugee Quota Programme – Covid 19 Update
New Zealand’s Refugee Quota Programme has resumed and the first group of 35 quota refugees arrived in New Zealand in February. They were the first of a few similar sized cohorts to arrive. In total around 210 quota refugees will arrive in the 2020/2021 year, plus 51 under the emergency category.
Refugees who arrive in New Zealand under the Refugee Quota Programme are granted Permanent Residence status in New Zealand. They will undertake the usual Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) process but will not pay MIQ fees.
During the managed isolation stay, Ministry of Health COVID-19 infection control measures and processes, and the COVID-19 testing regime will be in place.
Onsite daily support covering health, psychosocial, and wellbeing is available for all people to access while in managed isolation.
Refugees will also receive offsite (virtual) pastoral care and welfare support including access to specialised mental health care and psychosocial support through the INZ refugee quota programme and health staff based at Te Āhuru Mōwai o Aotearoa (Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre).
Information in relevant refugee languages will be provided including COVID-19-related health and safety information, settlement information and educational supports via self-learning packs.
Refugee Status Unit
The Refugee Status Unit is continuing to process claims for refugee status.
The COVID-19 pandemic and New Zealand’s lockdown and border restrictions have had an impact on decision processing times and overall refugee and asylum claim numbers. As at the end of April 2021, 390 claims have been received for the 2020/2021 year and there were 634 claims on hand.
So as you can see, there is still plenty of work in the refugee status area!
Border and Visa Operations
The New Zealand border is currently closed to almost all travellers to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
A ‘travel bubble’ has just been announced for quarantine-free travel from Australia and the Cook Islands, although as you will have heard, travel from some areas (eg West Australia) has been restricted again due to a further outbreak of COVID-19.
Restrictions on travel from very high risk countries have been announced. Only NZ citizens and their immediate family may travel here from Brazil, India, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea.
COVID-19 border changes(external link) — Immigration
New home for Interpreter reference resources
Interpreters have their own resource page on the Mnistry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) website which has many useful tools, such as immigration and refugee related terminology.
The url to use is https://www.mbie.govt.nz/interpreters-online-toolkit
Rare languages
Recently we have been searching for interpreters in:
Mongolian- Kiribati
- Tokelauan
- Nuiean
- Malay
- Kinyarwanda
- Rohingya
- Tigrinya
- Turkish
- Tongan
- Samoan
- Bengali
- Tamil (Sri Lankan)
- Burmese, Kayah and Chin
- Cambodian/Khmer
- Fijian
- Te Reo Māori
- Ndebele
- Pashto
- Somali
- Swahili
- Tagalog
- Luganda
- Igbo
- Amharic
If you know anyone who interprets one of these, or another rare language, please ask them to get in touch with me. We have over 100 languages on our list, but it’s still not enough!
This year we needed interpreters in 35 different languages, ranging from Arabic and Mandarin to Mongolian and Malay. Thank you all for your contribution!
Glossaries
Refugee claims based on a person’s religion or beliefs are common. The terms used by some religious groups can be unfamiliar, or carry a special meaning.
To help with your preparation for these types of interviews we have added some new glossaries to the Interpreters’ page. These glossaries include Falun Gong and Church of Almighty God which is specifically for interpreters of Chinese languages.
Church of Almighty God glossary
If you feel there are any other areas that would benefit from a glossary being created please let us know.
View all the glossaries available
Also on the Interpreteres page, under ‘Further self-study’, you can find feedback from our interpreter dilemma training.
Contact details
You can contact me by phone or email:
Helen: (09) 928 2227 or email: helen.crabb@mbie.govt.nz(external link)
If you need to call me urgently, please call as soon as possible on my mobile 027 245-7942. For routine enquiries, please call the office number or email me as above.
If you need urgent help, or to cancel an interpreting appointment at RSU at the last minute, please call the Refugee Status Unit: (09) 928 2236, or email rsu@mbie.govt.nz.