Thousands of migrants face visa uncertainty as NewZealand government pushes firms to hire locally.

Employers in New Zealand risk losing their accreditation to hire overseas workers if they fail to prove they are genuinely trying to recruit unemployed locals first, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has warned.

RNZ reports that with thousands of migrant workers’ visas set to expire in the coming months, many were issued after the pandemic under three-year limits, the government says businesses must prioritise New Zealand jobseekers, particularly for lower-skilled roles.

Stanford, as per RNZ, told the Association for Migration and Investment’s annual conference that unemployment has risen by 20,000 since accredited employer work visas were introduced in 2022. Yet more than one in six employers seeking to hire migrants had either not engaged with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) or had fallen short on advertising requirements.

(Source RNZ)