New Zealand recently tightens visa rules amid near-record migration.

The modifications include of English language requirement for the use of the positions that need a low level of expertise, as well as the establishment of a minimum level of skills and work experience for the majority of employer work visas. Additionally, the maximum continuous stay for the majority of low-skilled positions will be cut from five years to three years by the organization.
 

"The Government is concentrating on attracting and keeping highly skilled migrants such as school teachers, where there is a skill shortage," stated Immigration Minister Erica Stanford in a statement. "The government is concentrating on attracting and keeping highly skilled migrants."
 

While this is going on, we need to make sure that people from New Zealand are given priority when it comes to jobs in areas where there is no scarcity of "People with the essential skills," she stated.

According to the statement, an almost unprecedented number of 173,000 persons moved to New Zealand in the previous year.

New Zealand, which has a population of around 5.1 million people, experienced a dramatic surge in the number of migrants since the end of the epidemic. This has raised fears that it is fueling inflation, which was already an issue in the previous year.

Neighboring Australia, which has also witnessed a significant increase in the number of migrants, has announced that it will cut its migrant intake in half over the course of the next two years.


Key modifications include:

• The implementation of English language requirements for migrants applying for low-skilled positions at levels 4 and 5
• Minimum skill and job experience criteria
• Employers wanting to fill level 4 and 5 posts must communicate with Work and Income before migrant approval.
• The maximum continuous stay for such positions will be decreased from five to three years.
• The franchisee accreditation category will also be eliminated, and organizations will be required to use standard, high-volume, or triangular employment accreditation methods when hiring overseas workers.

The proposed updates aim to improve the AEWV program by properly analyzing the local labor market and reducing displacement of New Zealand workers. Highlighted that many of the changes are not new, but rather a return to pre-pandemic standards that achieve a balance between commercial and national interests.