New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Welcomes New Immigration Changes

Wendy Smith Chief Executive of the South Canterbury Chamber states that the new visa system must provide confidence and certainty to employers that suffer from a skills shortage in regions. Employers in the area can find it easy to bring many temporary workers in the country for filling up vacancies subsequent to the changes in work visas introduced by the Immigration Minister.

As many as six visa categories are replaced by a single temporary work visa to ensure doing the background and employment checks.  Some regional businesses were anxious to get the workers; and unemployment was very low (1.2 percent) in Mackenzie District.  The changes can benefit the business community.

In March, the Chamber submitted a request to Immigration New Zealand for the local community regarding the serious concerns over visas to migrant workers. The unemployment is below 2.6 percent in the Timaru District and there was a reliance on targeting supplementary workers. When these workers bring their families this also benefits communities and enables workers in settling easily. Also the children can attend local schools.

There is a fine forecast for the primary sector and several sectors like wool, meat, horticulture, seafood and dairy that offer economic benefits are not possible achieved without the cooperation of migrant workers on farms and plants. 

Moreover, getting rid of the occupational classification system in Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations Code to decide job skill levels is a sensible step because many businesses are at present operating in the dynamic labor market. These regions are vital for New Zealand and supporting these regions is significant for economic prosperity. The implementation of these changes will be in stages for managing a smooth transition to a new system. Furthermore based on the fresh regulations, the new visa will be simple and more responsive, besides not being complex and help 25,000 to 30,000 business establishments to get the needed workers and also fill up skills gaps. Finally these Migrants will serve as an essential part of workforce and do such jobs that local persons cannot do or are not agreeable to do. The changes will ease both migrants and employers.

The system will require that all employers take accreditation to hire foreign workers, and permit the employers a degree of certainty.

The visa application process will involve employers, jobs, and worker checks, sectoral agreements and a simple remuneration threshold that is aligned to median wages. Chambers will host road shows in November providing an opportunity to businesses to speed up the new policy and have a direct discussion with the INZ representatives. The stipulation in the new regulations asks employers already holding the accreditation to obtain work for residence visas and get the staff with a pay of $79,560 from October 7th.