The Government has announced a 6 month extension to the following visas for people in New Zealand to help fill continued labour shortages:
- Essential Skills Visa
- Work to Residence Visa
- Special and Skilled work visas for China, Indonesia, South Korea, Philippines and Vietnam
- Special category work visas for Japanese Interpreters and Thai Chefs
- Employer-specific work visas granted under section 61 of the Immigration Act 2009.
- Fishing Crew Visa
- Religious Worker Visa
- Silver Fern Practical Experience Visa
- Visas of partners and dependent children of the eligible employer-assisted visa holders will also be extended.
Visa expiry date
If you are in New Zealand on 1 January 2021 and the current expiry date of your visa is between 1 January 2021 and 30 June 2021 (inclusive), it will be extended by 6 months.
The 6 month extension of a Fishing Crew Visa will apply if the holder is in New Zealand or offshore and the current expiry date of the visa is between 1 January 2021 and 30 June 2021 (inclusive).
Visa extension confirmation
A further email will be sent by March 2021 to confirm your new visa expiry date. We will use the most recent email address that you provided to us. Please do not contact INZ to check your expiry date before this time, because specific details will not be available until our systems are updated.
From March 2021 you can confirm your visa expiry date by checking the Visa Verification Service on our website.
Employers can use VisaView to ensure employees have the right to work in New Zealand
NOTE OF CAUTION
Please note that when we advised INZ that in some instances the work visas were extended in error they advised and confirmed that it is a "known issue". INZ states verbally;
"I do apologise that your client’s have received an email explaining they are eligible for an extension when they may not be. This is a known issue and has been raised internally to ensure this does not happen again in future."
We therefroe srongly suggest that you please check if your visa has indeed been extended.
