Immigration dept blamed for firm’s imminent move to Oz

The owner of a motel software business says New Zealand’s immigration policy is forcing him to move to Australia – taking his intellectual property with him.

Greg Cromack purchased the G4 accommodation software package from its Queenstown-based developers earlier this year, shortly after returning from Eritrea where he had been working on infrastructure projects.

Since then he has been working on upgrading the G4 software and preparing a marketing campaign for its nationwide re-launch.

His upgrades to the software include enabling the script to display in Mandarin, which he says could open up huge opportunities for New Zealand’s tourism market in China, particularly due to the free trade deal.

However, his Eritrean wife Saba Cromack has been unable to get into New Zealand, even though Australia’s Immigration Department has already given her a residency visa.

“The Australian Immigration Department even flew a consultant over to Eritrea to talk to her,” he says.

The problem is a rule that requires the couple to have been living together for 12 months before she can get into the New Zealand, a rule that doesn’t exist in Australia.

But Eritrea’s own restrictive immigration policies have forced Mr Cromack back to New Zealand, leaving him unable to complete the “living together” requirement with his wife still stuck in her home country.