Wellington, June 27 -- New Zealand Foreign Minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has criticised the New Zealand National Party-led government over reported changes to immigration settings linked to the New Zealand-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), claiming the new changes in policy would impose stricter entry norms on Indian citizens compared to nationals from other FTA partner countries.

In a post on X on Thursday, Peters alleged that the government had made an "abrupt change of course" by introducing immigration changes that "target Indians and Indians alone".

"For six months, we have been warning that the India-New Zealand FTA would, under current policy settings, mean open slather immigration from India to New Zealand...