New Zealand Border will be completely open for migrant workers, businesses, education and tourism from 31 July 2022.
The NZ Government has revealed a major gesture to open the borders last week. It's almost the final stage to open the borders completely which could bring back the border settings similar to the pre-covid level, indeed with many significant changes.
Prepone of the border opening date was done by accounting for many factors such as the economic recovery, immediate skill shortage in New Zealand, Tourism recovery, Hospitality industry recovery etc.
The government hopes this news could give enough preparation time for the airline and cruise ship companies. Previously the country has opened its borders to various classes of migrants and cohorts of students. According to the data, nearly 30000 critical workers and 5000 students were able to enter the country utilising these border exceptions. The Government has also announced new rebalanced immigration settings which will help businesses access the key skills they need while ensuring wages and working conditions are improved for everyone. Visa extensions are offered for around 20,000 migrants already in New Zealand to ensure skilled workers stay in the country.
It is evident that the country prioritises giving job support to New Zealanders by developing the skills but meanwhile welcomes and extends stay for highly skilled migrants to fill the most demanding positions. As the result, a New Green list has been released. The migrants under this category will be provided with a streamlined pathway to residency. The list features 85 hard to fill roles including construction engineering, trades, health workers and tech.
The Government has decided to temporarily exempt tourism and hospitality businesses from paying the median wage to recruit migrants on an Accredited Employer Work Visa into most roles. Instead, a lower wage threshold of $25 per hour will be required until April 2023. This follows the recent $27 per hour border exception that was granted around certain snow season roles to help the sector prepare for winter tourists.
It is expected that the 'rebalanced immigration system' will be simpler, reducing categories, bringing more online accessibility and streamlining application processes for businesses.
The Green List:
The Green List will help employers to hire migrants for specified high-skilled, hard-to-fill occupations, with guaranteed residence pathways for eligible people. New Green List that includes over 85 hard to fill roles created to attract and retain high-skilled workers to fill skill shortages
Eligible migrants working in these occupations will have clear pathways to the residence, either through a direct to residence application or after working in New Zealand depending on the role. Their partners will have open work rights. Both residence pathways will be limited to migrants 55 years or younger which is aligned with the Skilled Migrant Category requirements.
Read more about the list
Study to work to residency :
The government is bringing major changes to the post-study work setting to discourage the higher volume of residency based movement in the education industry.
➤Students in non-degree level courses will get a post-study work visa only if their qualification is relevant to that of Green list.
➤For degree-level and other eligible international students, the length of time they can work after their studies will mirror the time they study in New Zealand. Currently, some students can work for up to three years after just 30 weeks of study.
➤Masters and PhD students will retain the right to work in New Zealand for up to three years after their studies
➤Students will also not be able to apply for a second post-study visa in New Zealand.
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