Changes have been made to immigration instructions to ensure the Spain Working Holiday Scheme reopens with one extra year’s worth of places available (an extra 200 places) this year.
These changes are being made to implement the doubling of the caps for all capped working holiday schemes in 2022, as announced by the Government in August 2022. These changes are effective from 29 November 2022.
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Are you an immigrant seeking refuge in a new country? Beware of making false refugee claims, as you may end up like the woman convicted of immigration fraud in New Zealand. Her case highlights how serious consequences can await those who make fraudulent refugee applications. So if you're thinking of making a false claim, be sure to weigh the risks first.
This week, Nurul Syahirah Binti Noor Azman was found guilty of five counts of supplying false or misleading information under the Immigration Act for lodging fake refugee claims following an Immigration New Zealand (INZ) investigation in the Bay of Plenty in 2020. As per Karen Bishop, INZ Manager, some migrant workers in the horticulture industry were being encouraged to falsely claim refugee status for a fee of up to $600 per person, to obtain work visas and other privileges. Azman, whose case was heard in Auckland, is sent to be sentenced in February 2023. Although the exact details of her case are unclear, what is certain is that immigration fraud of this kind can have serious consequences. Not only does it put genuine refugees at risk of being denied entry based on suspicion, but it also sets a dangerous precedent in which people can feel entitled to lie and manipulate the system for their own gain. It also sets a poor example for those who consider engaging in illegal immigration activities, thereby creating an environment where acts of misconduct go unpunished. In light of this news, it's important that we stand against such fraudulent behaviour and demonstrate that honesty is always the preferred option when dealing with matters as important as immigration. Source: https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/11/23/woman-convicted-of-immigration-fraud-over-fake-refugee-claims/ There seems to be some confusion regarding the number of professions covered by INZ green list term "specialist physician". It has come to light that there may be an issue with the immigration policy, as most medical specialists would naturally fall under ‘straight-to-residence’ however, cardiologists and pediatricians do not appear on the list of jobs, nor on two-year work visas offered for nurses or mechanics.
Health Minister Andrew Little told RNZ on Wednesday that Immigration New Zealand had been confused about the number of professions covered by the green list term "specialist physician". "I think Immigration haven't understood some of the terms on the list that it is at the moment, so 'specialist physician' covers a whole range of specialist positions and I think they now understand what that means." Source: https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/11/19/confusion-over-specialist-physician-green-list-inclusion/ As per INZ, the green list specialist physician roles include allergists, sleep medicine and sexual health physicians and said advice had been put forth regarding the inclusion of additional specialist physician roles. Nothing was mentioned about misunderstanding the category. Those included are of the rarer medical specialities, so it’s interesting to know if there will be a great effect on the current workforce crisis. "I suspect that the differences between medical sub-specialists has escaped the eye of the immigration department. By only including physicians 'not elsewhere classified' - they have excluded the vast majority of consultant physicians from their programme. This has quite obvious ramifications, is discouraging specialists such as ourselves from applying to come to, or from staying in New Zealand." Tauranga hospital cardiologist Rob McIntosh and his wife Sarah Hartley, a consultant haematologist said. Source: https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/11/19/confusion-over-specialist-physician-green-list-inclusion/ This possible oversight comes as a surprise as there has been special media attention highlighting the healthcare workforce crisis in New Zealand. The government has been warned by many different people and organisations about the impending shortage of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Yet it appears that they have failed to take action to address this problem which is concerning, as the healthcare workforce crisis is only going to get worse in the years to come. Amendment Circular 2022-63Changes have been made to immigration instructions to prevent a person who could have been but was not included in a parent category application from being subsequently approved residence as a partner. These instructions are effective from 15 November 2022. The opportunity has also been taken to make some minor wording changes. Amendment Circular 2022-64Changes have been made to immigration instructions to allow employers hiring migrants under the capped sector agreements to submit one Job Check to hire workers both above and below median wage effective from 17 November 2022.
2021 Resident Visa to be Prioritized by INZImmigration New Zealand will prioritise processing of eligible 2021 Resident Visa applications from those separated from offshore partners and/or dependent children.
Prioritisation criteria Criteria for prioritisation includes:
Prioritisation process To be prioritized an email must be sent including the following details:
INZ restarts the selections of EOIs from today, 14 November, and selections are planned for every three months after that. INZ will select enough of these EOIs to approve 2,000 visas a year under the Parent Category. EOIs will be selected in date order, with the oldest EOIs selected first. EOIs submitted after 12 October go into a ballot and please note that 500 visas each year out of the 2,500 will be reserved for those EOIs. The Parent Category allows any New Zealand resident and citizen who has lived in the country for at least 3 years to sponsor their parent’s application for residence if they meet the sponsorship criteria. Selections for the Parent Resident Visa Category expressions of interest (EOIs) are restarting and the number of visas that can be granted each year has increased from 1,000 to 2,500. The income threshold required for sponsors has also been lowered. This means more people will be able to bring their parents to join them in New Zealand. INZ is lowering the income requirements for sponsors and allowing 2 adult children, rather than just an adult child and their partner, to combine their income to sponsor parents. A sponsor now needs to earn 1.5 times the New Zealand median wage rather than twice the median wage. This limit increases by half the median wage for each joint sponsor or additional parent. These new requirements apply to existing expressions of interest and those received from 12 October 2022. People with existing Expressions of Interest INZ will contact people who made an EOI to advise of the changes and to provide an opportunity to update or withdraw their EOI and to request a refund. People who withdrew their EOI after the previous income thresholds were announced for this visa category will be invited to resubmit their EOI. New Expressions of Interest INZ is moving to an online process for submitting EOIs in May 2023. From 12 October, new EOIs will be entered into a ballot. The first ballot will be held in August 2023. In total, 500 EOIs each year will be randomly selected from the ballot. EOIs stay in the ballot for 2 years, so people interested in the Parent Category may wish to submit their EOI closer to the first selection in August next year. EOIs that have not been selected from the ballot will expire after 2 years. The person will need to submit a new EOI and pay the fee to be entered into the ballot if they would like to be considered for future selection. EOI selection has been paused since 2016 to allow for a review of the Parent Category settings. It was set to restart in 2020, however, it was further paused due to the pandemic. Planning to apply for the Parent Resident Visa?Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) UpdateDue to unprecedented demand, INZ has extended the deadline for the submission of Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa (SMC) expressions interest (EOIs) claiming 160 points to 1300 (NZDT) this Friday 11 November 2022.
This allows those who may have experienced issues with the online process more time to submit their EOI. Changes to English language test requirements INZ has changed requirements to allow English language test results that are more than 2 years old to be submitted as evidence of an acceptable standard of English for residence applications. This applies to EOIs in the pool on or before 1300 (NZDT) 11 November 2022. Changes have also been made to enable people to continue to submit an EOI if they have booked an English language test or requested an NZQA assessment. Changes have been made to immigration instructions to implement sector agreements in Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV), Foreign Crew of Fishing Vessels, and Skilled Migrant Residence immigration instructions. Some of the change highlights are as follows: Acceptable employment Instructions have been amended to specify the wage threshold for five sectors – Care Workforce, Construction & Infrastructure, Meat Processing, Seafood and Seasonal Snow and Adventure Tourism. Annual caps apply to meat and seafood processing roles. Currency and conditions of Accredited Employer work visa The applicable stand-down periods for work as part of a sector agreement have been defined. An amendment has also been made to provide a limited exception to the rule that the remuneration approved as part of the Job Check must be the same as the remuneration offered to an AEWV applicant. Applications for work visas for foreign crew of fishing vessels The wage threshold for foreign fishing crew workers has been established in instructions, and an annual cap has been placed on foreign fishing crew workers. Immigration instructions have been created to establish a work to residence pathway for care workers. Exemptions to the median wage threshold The list of eligible occupations has been expanded to include more roles. All amendments take effect on and after 31 October 2022 EOI, NZQA assessments and English language tests, and Wage thresholdINZ is changing the expression of interest (EOI) form for the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) Resident Visa to give people more time to meet the visa requirements. This updated form is scheduled to be available from 8pm Thursday 3 November 2022.
NZQA assessments and English language tests Selections of EOIs for the SMC will resume on 9 November 2022. However, there is a delay for NZQA international qualification assessments and English language tests, so some people may not be able to receive their assessments or sit their tests before this date. Currently, you cannot submit an EOI if you do not have the assessment and test results. On the updated EOI form, people will be able to tell INZ if they are waiting on an NZQA assessment, test results or a booked test. If invited to apply for an SMC residence visa, they will need to upload their assessment or test results. INZ is also changing our requirements to submit a residence application to allow English language test results that are more than 2 years old as evidence of an acceptable standard of English. Wage threshold The SMC median wage threshold was recently increased from $27 per hour to $27.76 per hour. Those who meet the new pay threshold should update the information in their EOI as soon as possible. INZ may send invitations to apply for an SMC residence visa to people who met the previous requirements at the time they submitted an EOI. However, if you are invited to apply for residence, you will need to meet the new threshold. AEWV or Fishing Crew Work Category updatesNew sector agreements from 31 October allow some exemptions from the median wage requirements for migrants hired on an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) or a Fishing Crew Work Visa. The agreements cover the care workforce, construction and infrastructure, meat processing, seafood, and seasonal snow and adventure tourism sectors. They have been developed in consultation with sector bodies and unions, and tailored to each sector’s workforce needs and conditions. Each sector agreement includes various expectations for improvement, and progress on these will be taken into account in future decisions about their access to migrant workers below the median wage. To use sector agreements, employers just need to follow the normal Accredited Employer Work Visa or Fishing Crew Work Visa process. Hiring migrants on the AEWV Employers wishing to hire migrants on the AEWV can pay less than the median wage if the role they want to fill is on this list, noting that they must still meet the pay threshold in the relevant sector agreement. Stand-down periods Stand-down periods apply for some sectors. This means AEWV holders paid below the median wage must spend a set amount of time outside New Zealand before they can get another AEWV at below the median wage. When their visa expires, AEWV holders paid below the median wage can move onto another visa type or onto another AEWV paid at the median wage or higher. However, any further time spent in New Zealand will not count towards the stand-down period. Meat workers and seafood process workers will not be able to get another AEWV for work paid below the median wage until the following season. Median wage changes The median wage will change from February 2023. This will affect the wage threshold for construction and infrastructure, meat processing, onshore seafood processing and seasonal snow and adventure tourism sectors. Capped sectors Some sectors have a limit on the number of workers they can hire below the median wage each year. The cap for each sector is: Meat processing: 320 Foreign fishing crew: 940 (Approval in Principle applies) Seafood processing (onshore) 600 The Meat Industry Association (MIA) and Seafood New Zealand will allocate these caps. MIA and Seafood New Zealand will contact employers through industry channels with further information on getting a share of the cap. Migrants hired as foreign fishing crew will be covered by the Fishing Crew Work Visa, rather than the AEWV. |