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NEWS
A variety of immigration, business and general news articles taken from New Zealand newspapers, websites and other sources (sources are mentioned at the bottom of each article) and selected by Terra Nova Consultancy Ltd. It may assist the reader being more or less up-to-date what is happening in Aotearoa, "the Land of the Long White Cloud". Happy reading, enjoy ... and if you have any questions on these updates - please contact us...
Newest article always on top.
17/07/2021 - Government immigration reset blows up in its face
OPINION: It is easy to pull the rug out from under thousands of migrant workers, but nobody ever tells you the carpet might just bounce back and hit you in the face.
The country is now overwhelmed by a wave of economic capacity issues most of which are linked in some way to severely reduced migration and border flows.
Which is why, after scrambling to let migrants know they are not welcome the Government is frantically moving in the opposite direction.
If you were a migrant and feeling angry about how things have gone since lockdown you might take a strange sort of comfort in the way inflation has spiked, job vacancy advertisements have soared, job re-training budgets have proven woefully inadequate to the task of retraining people, and employers have been unable to fill vacancies.
New Zealand Initiative chief economist Eric Crampton has long been a critic of the Government’s policies on immigration and understands why it did not move quicker to extend visas for a longer period of time in March, when everyone was predicting a 1930s-style economic depression.
The somewhat self-defeating part is how the Government did not change tack in August when it became clear the economy was roaring back.
“The Government at that point should have re-assessed and should have given everyone who was here legally in March a much longer-term visa,” he says.
“Another option that we could have been considering ... was just granting residency to everybody that we had done poorly by.”
Crampton says short-term visa extensions for migrants left them scrambling with no idea of what they might be allowed to do long-term.
Which made it harder for them to find jobs because employers were reluctant to take on people who, on paper, might have to leave the country in six months.
On Friday the Government reset its immigration reset from less than eight weeks prior. Although it insists the original reset is still happening (by that it means the second mention of the word ‘reset’ in this paragraph, in case you lost track).
Instead of booting low wage migrants out of the country, or trading them in for a wealthier “high value” breed, workers earning below median wage will now be eligible for two-year working visas.
These visas will still be linked to a single employer and the move will probably postpone uptake of the Government’s accredited employer work visa scheme too. Not a bad thing since some employers seem to think the new accreditation scheme will give them even more power over their migrant “meat”.
The Government tightened the screws on these workers last year when it started renewing their visas in short six- month increments at a time when they were at their most powerless.
What were they going to do? Back then no vaccine had been approved in the United States and flights were few and far between. Even if you caught one, any place worth flying to was probably still in lockdown. The only rational decision was to suck it up, live with the uncertainty, and await a new press release from the immigration minister (first Iain Lees-Galloway then Kris Faafoi) every few months.
It was a last-minute pattern repeated right across a host of visa types including for working holiday visa holders, and it was even worse for people with real aspirations to live here long-term.
The irony is the country seems to have gained nothing from having treated all these different types of migrant workers so badly.
Migrant Workers Association president Anu Kaloti says many migrant workers simply left for other countries as opportunities overseas came up.
“All the people who live in this land must be looked after equally well. So to pit migrants and New Zealanders against each other has been totally the wrong stance.”
The essential skills work visa numbers quoted in the Government’s press release hardly seem likely to topple the entire country into low wage subjugation, and it makes you wonder what the fuss was about.
This decision that many have been calling for will benefit just 18,000 work visa holders while a streamlined process attached to it will help 57,000.
So how about we flip this whole equation around. Rather than looking at this as a way to scare migrants with little to no benefit how about we think of it as an opportunity to sort these problems out with little cost to the economy.
Managed isolation statistics reveal we have been filling up fewer than 250 rooms a day in recent times, which puts us right back to where we were at the beginning of the pandemic in terms of economic constraints.
With such low numbers of people coming through the border it is debatable whether we still need a labour market test for migrant workers preventing them readily filling up workforce gaps.
The labour market test was meant for a time when globalisation was unconstrained and employers could more easily tap into migrant workers overseas. It is a headache to administer, which makes it a dubious priority with Immigration New Zealand’s resources so obviously stretched.
Then there are changes we could make for more permanent migrants. The Cabinet ramping up the planning range for residency applications would be a good start as would doing something with people who have put in expressions of interest for residency.
This would prevent us having to bring more workers through the border to plug the gap.
More importantly we could use this as an opportunity to tackle a major element in the immigration mess we have been reluctant to address.
The root cause of exploitation: visas attached to a single employer.
As Crampton says: “The best protection that workers can ever have in the first instance isn’t the whole set of labour market legislation that still has a lot of process costs on either side of it.”
“It’s having recourse to lots of potential employers who might prefer to bid you away from your current job.”
Source: Stuff, Dileepa Fonseka
16/07/2021 - Thousands of foreign workers allowed to stay in NZ as essential skills visas extended
At least 18,000 visa holders are set to benefit following the Government's decision to extend the duration of some essential skills visas and streamline the application process amid ongoing border closures.
The maximum duration of essential skills visas for jobs paid below the median wage will temporarily increase from 12 months to 24 from Monday. The maximum duration of essential skills visas for jobs paid above the median wage remains at three years.
16/07/2021 - Breaking News - Excellent changes!!
Essential skills work visa changes
From 19 July, Essential Skills Visa holders will be able to apply for a longer visa to remain in their current role.
The Government has decided to extend the maximum duration of an Essential Skills Visa for a job paid below the median wage from 12 to 24 months.
The duration of Essential Skills visas for roles paid the median wage or above will still be up to three years
Application process simplified
From 19 July 2021 until 28 August 2021, applicants need to apply using a paper-based form on the INZ website. From 30 August 2021 applicants will be able to apply online instead.
Employers who are retaining migrant workers in the same roles will not have to prove there are no New Zealanders available. Employers will still need to undergo a labour market test for vacant roles or where your worker will change the region they work for you in.
Applicants remaining in the same role will not need to include an employment agreement with their new Essential Skills visa application.
Applicants will not be required to provide medical and police certificates, if these were previously supplied with a visa application.
These measures will make it easier for employers to retain their current migrant workforce.
These changes to requirements will apply up to the middle of next year. An update will be provided as soon as an exact date is confirmed.
Fees unchanged
The fee for the new visa will remain $440, plus the Immigration Levy of $55.
Accredited Employer Work Visa temporarily deferred
The introduction of the AEWV, previously scheduled for 1 November 2021, will be temporarily deferred to the middle of next year.
INZ will keep stakeholders updated on the progress of the AEWV.
Updated Skills Match Report
Ahead of the introduction of the Accredited Employer Work Visa system, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is changing its process for testing our labour market to more effectively prioritise New Zealand jobseekers.
The updated Skills Match Report is available from 19 July 2021.
Updating the Skills Match Report ahead of the wider reforms next year will allow employers time to adapt to the new format.
Source: INZ
07/07/2021 - Breaking News - INZ will issue refunds for 50,000 visa applications
On July 7th Immigration New Zealand announces that it will be refunding over 50,000 visa applicants for visas that have not been able to be processed because of Covid restrictions.
INZ will refund application fees and levies for applications being lapsed. INZ will also refund and return temporary visa applications received from people outside New Zealand after 10 August 2020, when offshore applications were suspended.
Read more: 07/07/2021 - Breaking News - INZ will issue refunds for 50,000 visa applications
22/06/2021 ‘On the edge’: Are New Zealand’s tough immigration rules harming the economy?
Critics say failing to allow family members to join skilled workers will undermine post-pandemic recovery
In February 2020, Craig Hurn, 53, temporarily left his wife and daughter in Cape Town to scope out the job market in New Zealand. After beating six other candidates for one job, he secured an essential skills visa and began preparing to move his family over.
“We saw Craig’s CV and we thought, ‘Oh my God, he can walk into the job,’” says his employer, who struggled to find any workers with the highly specialised qualifications to fill the position.
Read more: 22/06/2021 ‘On the edge’: Are New Zealand’s tough immigration rules harming the economy?
07/07/2021 - Government lets just 15 family members of highly skilled migrants enter New Zealand, despite exemption to reunite them
Watch: The Government promised to reunite some broken families.
The Government has blocked the overwhelming majority of highly skilled migrant workers from bringing their families to New Zealand.
Despite creating a special exemption designed to reunite them, just 15 family members have been approved.
05/07/2021 - NZ border exemptions: Visas approved for 14 wealthy investors
Immigration New Zealand has so far approved visas for 14 wealthy investors under two new border exemptions opened in May.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment expects 220 wealthy individuals will arrive over the next year, bringing hundreds of millions in direct investment, job creation and skills.
Immigration New Zealand said only one investor had so far arrived in the country but this was expected because the exemptions were relatively new.
Read more: 05/07/2021 - NZ border exemptions: Visas approved for 14 wealthy investors
24/06/2021 - Singapore preparing road map for living with Covid-19
SINGAPORE - Singapore will prepare its population to deal with Covid-19 as part of their daily lives and people will be able to work, travel and shop without quarantines and lockdowns, even with the coronavirus in their midst.
With enough people vaccinated, Covid-19 will be managed like other endemic diseases such as the common flu and hand, foot and mouth disease, said the three co-chairmen of the Government's multi-ministry task force on Covid-19 as they outlined plans for Singapore to transition to a new normal.
Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong and Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said in an article published in The Straits Times on Thursday (June 24) that the priority in the next few months will be to prepare Singapore for life with Covid-19 as a recurring, controllable disease.
Read more: 24/06/2021 - Singapore preparing road map for living with Covid-19
28/06/2021 - The pool is overflowing: The skilled migrant residence programme is badly broken
OPINION: The skilled migrant residence programme is badly broken and Government seems powerless to fix it.
Tens of thousands of people, working in New Zealand in highly skilled jobs, await processing of their residence visas, having filed their applications before March 2020.
Many thousands more await selection from the skilled migrant “pool”.
Selection and invitations ceased temporarily in March 2020. The pool continues to attract expressions of interest (EIO) as Government never stopped allowing them to be filed
25/06/2021- Breaking News - Suspension visa processing extended
Immigration New Zealand has suspended visa processing for most individuals who are outside New Zealand, unless they meet the strict border exception criteria or are currently in a COVID-19 quarantine-free travel zone.
The Government has extended the suspension to 6 February 2022. The suspension can be lifted if the border restrictions change.
Immigration New Zealand will continue to process visas for those who are not subject to the COVID-19 border restrictions, and for those who have been granted a border exception.
Source: INZ
10/06/2021 - Breaking News - Visa extensions provide certainty to employers and 10,000 visa holders
Changes to onshore visas will provide employers and visa holders with more certainty, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi has announced.
Around 10,000 Working Holiday visas and Supplementary Seasonal Employment (SSE) work visas due to expire between 21 June 2021 and 31 December 2021 will be extended for another six months to help manage ongoing labour shortages while New Zealand’s COVID-19 border restrictions remain in place.
SSE visa holders will also be given open work rights, allowing them to work in any sector.
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