Closed borders and restricted border entry during the Covid-19 pandemic led to a severe labour shortage in New Zealand.
On 27 July 2022, as part of the immigration rebalance plan, the New Zealand Government announced three new residence categories to make it easier for employers to attract & hire migrants in highly-skilled, hard-to-fill roles:
Immigration Minister Michael Wood has announced that the Government is keeping its promise of streamlining the immigration system to help relieve workforce shortage by providing significant humanitarian support.
This will benefit migrant workers who have skills in hard-to-find, nationally significant roles that New Zealand requires. The Straight to Residence pathway offers more certainty to some migrants like health practitioners, engineers, construction and infrastructure workers and IT professionals. It will also make it easier for New Zealand employers to easily attract and hire migrant workers in areas of skill shortage.
Skilled migrants on the Work to Residence and Highly Paid resident pathways will be able to apply for residence from 29 September 2023 only after they have obtained 24 months of acceptable work in New Zealand.
The details for the next three years of the Refugee Quota Programme have also been confirmed including the structure of the 2022-23 quota.
Michael Wood has stated‘’ The Refugee Quota Programme is a reflection of New Zealand’s international humanitarian commitments to protect people who are not able to return safely to their home country’’
The programme, which is back to its full capacity, will resettle 1,500 refugees each year. The proportion of places allocated to three out of four regions is being changed. The proportion of places for the Middle East and Africa has been increased from 15% to 20 % respectively.
The above changes have been made to ensure that the Refugee Quota Programme remains open to protecting the needs of the refugees coming into the country.
Get in touch with Immigration Advisors New Zealand Ltd, which provides up-to-date immigration information so you can consider opportunities and prepare yourself for the future. To know all the required procedures, contact us at [email protected] or call on +64 09 3790219.
Vandana Rai is a Senior Licensed Immigration Adviser and has built a reputation around her rare set of skills, which could be considered ideal for her legal profession.