New Government Immigration Policy Outlook

Now that the dust has settled and the New Zealand coalition government made up from Labour, New Zealand First and the Green Party has been confirmed we can start looking ahead to see how government policies will shape our country over the next three years. In terms of immigration we were not sure how policy would be shaped with potential influence from New Zealand First and the Greens Party however Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister-elect, said: "You'll see Labour's policy remains absolutely unchanged as a result of these negotiations."

So what was Labour’s Immigration policy going into these elections? The three main areas that they are looking to shape policy through is to:

• Ensure that businesses are able to get genuinely skilled migrants when they need them. This will include introducing an Exceptional Skills Visa for highly skilled or talented people and introducing a KiwiBuild Visa for residential construction firms who train a local when they hire a worker from overseas.

 

• Strengthen the Labour Market Test for work visas so they are not being used for jobs Kiwis can do, and make our skills shortage lists more regional so migrants coming in under them can only live and work in areas where there is a genuine skills shortage.

 

• Require courses for international students to be high-quality, remove the ability to work for international students in low-level courses except where the work is approved as part of their study, and remove the ability to get a work visa without a job for those who have completed study below university level.​​

​Visa Category	Change​	Consequence
​Student Visa	Limiting visas and ability to work for low value courses ​	A fall of 6,000-10,000 ​
Post Study Work Visa - Open	Remove work visas without a job offer for lower level qualification graduates ​	A fall of around 9,000-12,000 ​
Work Visas ​	​Regionalise the occupation list and ensure that employers hire Kiwis first	​A fall of around 5,000-8,000

In total, these changes are estimated to reduce net migration by 20,000-30,000.

We are currently awaiting exact policy as to how these changes are to be implemented and once these are announced we will be updating our news blog. There is no time frame as to when this will happen however changes can come into effect quickly so if you are in a situation where you have the potential to apply for residency or work visas you may wish to get your application in sooner than later just in case you are affected by any future changes. People on valid visas when the changes come in will not be impacted however future visa applications will fall under the new policy once announced.

A detailed outline of the Labour Immigration Policy can be found here: http://www.labour.org.nz/immigration

If you need us to take the stress out of your visa application and ensure you get in before the changes be sure to visit us at www.easyvisa.co.nz ​