E-Migration NZ - Sth Is Div

13/10/2022

There have been a few updates in the past week. Most of the announcements have been positive, which is a nice change.

The announcements started with two changes for the Accredited Employer Work Visa process.

- From 18 October 2022, Chefs will no longer be required to meet specific qualification requirements. They are once again able to substitute the qualification for a minimum of 3 years work experience. This is great news for those of you who hoping for a pathway to residence as a Chef.

- From 27 February 2023, the median wage will increase from $27.76/hr to $29.66/hr. The applicable wages for occupations eligible for exceptions (such as the Care Workforce) will also increase.

The recent announcements confirmed the good news that the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) and the Parent Category would be re-opening in November 2022.

- EOIs for SMC can now be be submitted with the first draw due on 9 November 2022. This draw will have a minimum points requirement of 160.

The next EOI selection will be on 18 January 2023. For this draw and, applicants must score a minimum of 180 points, which can be quite a difficult number to obtain unless you have both qualifications AND work experience.

- EOIs for the Parent Category can be submitted using the paper process. From May 2023, this process will move to an online process. The first draw will be in August 2023. The draws will be ballots, as opposed to the queue order.

For an assessment on your eligibility for SMC, Parent Category or any other type of visas, feel free to contact one of our Licensed Immigration Advisers and we will be happy to help.

11/05/2022

As many of you may have heard, there has been an announcement today from the government.

According to this announcement, all Essential Skills, Post-Study and Partner of a New Zealander work visa holders, which were due to expire between 9 May 2022 and 31 December 2022 will be extended by two years. The 2 years begins at the end of your current visa.

For example, if you hold a Post-Study Work visa which was due to expire on 11 November 2022, your visa now expires on 11 November 2024.

Essential Skills Work Visa holders whose visas were due to expire between 9 May 2022 and 31 December 2022 are now considered to be on 'open' work visas. This means you are now no longer restricted by the employment conditions on your current Essential Skills Work Visa.

Work to Residence visa holders whose visas were due to expire between 9 May 2022 and 31 December 2022 have been issued 6 month extensions. The 6 months is added on to the end of your current visa expiry date.

There were issues with some visas not updating with the last visa extensions from the government in 2019/2020. So we suggest that you check your visa conditions with the Visa View system before making any changes to your current situations.

INZ have indicated that people affected by this will receive emails by the end of May 2022 and that these records should be updated in their system by 25 May 2022.

The aim of these extensions is to allow employers a smoother transition in to the new Accredited Employer Work Visa policy, due to begin on 4 July 2022.

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss these changes in more details, please feel free to contact one of our Licensed Immigration Advisers and we will be happy to assist.

25/11/2021

It has been confirmed by Immigration New Zealand that applicants for the 2021 Residence Visa will not have to apply for further temporary visas to ensure they remain lawful in the country during their residence process.

If your temporary visa is due to expire during the application process, applicants will automatically be issued an Interim Visa of up to 12 months in length. This will allow applicants to remain in NZ and continue working while Immigration process their 2021 Residence Visa application.

PLEASE NOTE - you are not able to apply for any type of visa while you hold an Interim Visa. This means that if for any reason your residence application was declined or withdrawn, you would have to either leave New Zealand or request a visa under Section 61 of the Immigration Act 2009.

You will also be unable to change employment conditions while on an Interim Visa.

As such, if you believe you may wish to change employers during the process or if there is any risk in your 2021 Residence Visa application (such as character or health issues), we suggest applying for new temporary visas, rather than relying on the Interim Visas.

01/10/2021

As you may all have heard, Immigration New Zealand have announced a new 2021 Resident Visa which will open from 1 December 2021.

This new pathway will giver certainty to up to 165,000 visa holders in New Zealand.

To be eligible, you must have met the criteria by 29 September 2021. You must have held one of the 14 selected visa types, be in NZ and meet one of the following criteria:

- You have lived in NZ for 3+ years (821 days between 29 September 2018 and 29 September 2021)

or

- You earn at or above $27/hr

or

- You work in a role on a scarce list (refer INZ URL attached)

Those who are not eligible include Partnership Work Visa holders, Students, Visitors, Working Holiday Visa holders and Season Workers.

Police Certificates and Medical Certificates will only be required in certain circumstances.

There is no English Language requirement.

There is no age limit.

Those who have residence applications lodged with INZ or have an EOI in the pool and have a child aged 17 years or older, can apply from 1 December 2021.

Everyone else can apply from 1 March 2022.

The category closes on 31 July 2022.

Please refer to the INZ URL below which includes an eligibility checker as well as the 'scarce list' of occupations.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch and one of our advisers will be happy to help you plan your pathway forward.

Some work visa holders currently in New Zealand as well as some critical purpose visitor visa holders may be eligible to apply for residence under the new residence category – the 2021 Resident Visa.

15/07/2021

Big news coming from the Minister's desk this morning. Here is a summary:

- From Monday 19 July 2021, Essential Skills Work Visa holders paid below the median rate ($27/hr) will be able to receive 24 month visas instead of 12 months visas. This only relates to new applications. If you currently hold a 12 month work visa, it appears your visa will not automatically be extended a further 12 months.

- Three year Essential Skills Work Visas will remain at three years in length.

- Advertising is only required when a vacancy is being filled. So if you are applying to change either your position, employer or location, advertising will be required. If you are applying for the same position, employer and location, advertising is NOT required.

- The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme has been delayed to mid-2022. This means employers do not need to be accredited by 1 November 2021. This also means that Work to Residence pathways will remain open until mid-2022.

Here is the link to the Minister's announcement:

Two year Essential Skills visa to provide certainty to at least 18,000 visa holders

06/07/2021

Refunds for Offshore Applications:

INZ have today announced that all offshore applications where entry requirements are unlikely to be met will be lapsed or returned to the applicant.

This will affect approximately 50,000 applications such as General Visitor Visas, Essential Skills Work Visas and Student Visas.

Anyone who applied for a visa whilst offshore BEFORE 10 August 2020, will have their application lapsed and refunded.

Anyone who applied for a visa offshore AFTER 10 August 2020, will have their application returned and refunded.

Lapsed and returned applications do not count as declines, so this will not affect any future applications.

There are exclusions to this announcement, with applications based on a relationship (partner or dependent child) able to remain in the queue with INZ. Those who have applied under any of the Covid-19 border exception policies are also unaffected by this announcement.

If you are entitled to a refund, you do not need to apply for this. INZ will automatically refund the visa fee to the credit card used with the application. INZ will email each individual applicant, or their representative over the coming months to confirm this.

If you have any questions or wish to confirm if this announcement relates to you or someone you know, please get in touch or refer to the following link to the INZ website:

Immigration New Zealand will be refunding application fees and levies for temporary visa applications that cannot be processed due to New Zealand’s current border restrictions.

05/07/2021

INZ have announced an extension to the suspension of offshore applications through to 6 February 2022.

This means that, unless someone meets the Covid-19 Border Entry Requirements, they will unfortunately not be able to apply for a New Zealand visa from outside of the country until February 2022.

01/07/2021

In response to some of the rumours relating to upcoming INZ changes and processing times, we will be making updates on our page more regularly, to ensure our followers are up to date and correctly informed of everything relating to Immigration NZ.

SMC Residence Processing Times:

- INZ have confirmed recently that they are processing residence applications from September/October 2019. Some applications from November 2019 have been processed, but most applications from November 2019 onward are yet to be allocated.

Essential Skills Work Visas:

- As most of you will be aware, the median wage rate is increasing on 19 July 2021 from $25.50/hr to $27/hr. As this is now 2 weeks away, if you wish to obtain a 3 year work visa with the payrate of $25.50/hr, your employer must begin their advertising today or tomorrow at the very latest.

EOI Selections:

- Unfortunately there are still no updates from INZ as to when the EOI selections for either the SMC or Parent Category will resume. With the median wage rate increasing to $27/hr from 19 July 2021, any active EOIs will need to be amended to meet this increased rate or they risk being lapsed by INZ.

If you have any questions, or would like clarification on anything, feel free to get in touch with Simon, Peter or Nick and we will be happy to help.

25/06/2020

A queue of 32,000 people waiting for residency has moved forwards only 10 days in almost a year. An immigration adviser Erin Goodhue told RNZ reporter Gill Bonnett, that those most concerned are those who have lost their job or fear that might happen during the wait.