OPINION: By stealth, on a Sunday afternoon, the Government erected a wall to keep low-skilled migrant workers out of New Zealand.
Changes to the Accredited Employer scheme took effect immediately they were announced on 7 April – an instant wall that low-skilled workers now need to climb.
The easiest way to explain these changes is to compare the rules before 7 April 2024 with the new rules which Minister of Immigration Erica Stanford introduced that day.
The changes affect low-skilled positions – that is, positions which are categorised as Skill Level 4 or 5 on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) database.
These are positions such as labourers, shop assistants and receptionists.
Before 7 April, employers could declare to INZ that no suitable New Zealanders were available to do the work on offer and then bring low-skilled workers with no qualifications or work experience to New Zealand on Accredited Employer work visas.
Before, low-skilled workers could be approved five-year work visas; now they can only be approved two-year visas, with a potential one-year extension later.
Three reasons.
Firstly, there has been fraud involving low-skilled jobs in particular.
Employers had been advertising fake jobs and were still being approved “job checks” by Immigration New Zealand, which accepted employers at their word that no New Zealanders were available to fill these positions.
Low-skilled workers from overseas have paid up to $35,000 for jobs in New Zealand, only to find that the jobs were fake. They borrowed money in their home countries to pay for those jobs.
My guess is that thousands of people are in similar circumstances. They will stay here to earn money to pay back what they owe.
Some will stay unlawfully and work for cash. Others will claim refugee status in order to be approved 12-month ‘open’ work visas, a recent trend that I have observed.
The second reason for the change? Many employers have only pretended to consider New Zealanders for the positions that they are offering – their real intention is to hire people from overseas.
Even when the jobs are real, New Zealand candidates are missing out.
The third reason is that there are just too many low-skilled migrant workers in New Zealand right now.
“Last year, 20,000 people went on the benefit – at the same time, we brought in 52,000 low-skilled workers,” Erica Stanford told Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report on 8 April, explaining the reasons for the changes.
Most of these 52,000 people are from countries like India and China where they can earn far less … how many of them will be willing to leave now that they are here?
In the meantime, genuine employers with real vacancies will suffer under the new regime.
Remember, while unemployment is sitting at 4%, there are still places in New Zealand where employers genuinely can’t find workers, skilled or otherwise.
While the Work & Income listing process is similar to the one used previously under the Essential Skills Work Visa regime, low-skilled visa approvals will now take about six months.
After advertising and listing positions with Work & Income for 21 days, employers will need to wait two months for INZ to approve their “job check” application, then wait a further three months for the migrant worker’s Accredited Employer work visa to be decided.
These INZ processing times also apply to higher-skilled positions such as carpenters, tilers and mechanics.
DISCLAIMER: This article does not constitute immigration advice. Individuals need to seek personal advice from a New Zealand licensed immigration adviser or lawyer to assess their unique situation. Ankur can be contacted at info@visamatters.co.nz.
+6499698472
info@visamatters.co.nz
