A warning that employers will feel the pain of thousands of visa applications being cancelled.

Immigration New Zealand says it's legally unable to process about 50-thousand applications from mainly overseas visitors, students and workers.

They've been sitting in the system for a year and will now be refunded.

Immigration lawyer Alistair McClymont told Mike Hosking it's a shambles.

“Well a cataclysmic mess would be very generous to this government, it’s a lot worse than this and it’s going to have some very adverse consequences down the line, particularly for employers.”

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