Immigration Law Changes
Changes to Immigration law are expected to be in place by 1 July; all of which should make those of you involved in hiring staff on work visas a little easier.
- Companies bringing in labour and hiring them out to the construction sector will be required to be accredited and will then have both a much quicker visa process and the ability to obtain visas up to 3 years, despite being contracting.
- Where people are in lower skill-level positions they are currently often only able to get 12 month visas. In the construction sector this is expected to be changed to enable 3 year visas.
- Migrants on Essential Skill visas are currently tied to a particular employer. This will be relaxed but any new employer will need to ensure they employ the worker in the same occupation they were approved for - and this may prove challenging.
In the meantime, if you are potentially recruiting someone on a visa make sure you check out up front if Immigration NZ require you to get a letter from the Canterbury Employment Hub - this takes 2 weeks.