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NZ IS FULLY OPENING IN JULY WITH A NEW WORK VISA!

NZ borders

The borders are currently OPEN to certain visa holders. For internationals, this is currently the Working Holiday and Critical Purpose Visa - both allow you to work for an initial 12 months.

There are NO isolation requirements when you arrive in NZ!

The current benefits of the Critical Purpose Visa over the Working Holiday is that you can accept a permanent role (rather than a 12 months fixed term on the Working Holiday).

The borders are going to fully open to other Work Visa holders in JULY, the Critical Purpose Visa will finish and there are due to be some CHANGES.


NZ Upcoming Visa Changes


Essential Skills Visa to be replaced with Accredited Work Visa


The Essential Skills Visa has previously been the most popular initial work visa, allowing you to work for up to 3 years.

This is going to be replaced with the Accredited Work Visa from July (when the borders fully open).

Key points from the immigration NZ website links below:


Working Holiday Visas will remain an option for those that are eligible.


In the past we have normally seen a preference from employers that PT/SLT/OT’s are on work visas (previously the Essential Skills soon to be Work Accredited) rather than the Working Holiday Visa/WHV.


However, there will now be more fees associated with the Work Accredited Visas so we may now see some employers keen to start you on Working Holiday Visas if eligible - this is all very new so let’s see what happens later this year!


We feel it is best to wait until the interview stage to apply for your visa so that you can see what visa our partners would prefer and not close any doors!


Gaining Residency

If you are in NZ on a Critical Purpose Visa, you may be eligible for the one off fast tracked residency visa (the deadline to apply is the 31st July).

As this is not points tested, it can be a much easier route to gain residency than the Skilled Migrant Resident Visa.

There is more information on this link:

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/already-have-a-visa/one-off-residence-visa/2021-resident-visa-eligibility


The Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa - this is a points tested visa which has been suspended through the pandemic,

There is more information about this on this link: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/apply-for-a-visa/about-visa/skilled-migrant-category-resident-visa


Green list Occupations (SLT/PT/OT) not included but could be interesting for those migrating with partners who will have access to fast tracked residency options:

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/apply-for-a-visa/tools-and-information/work-and-employment/green-list-occupations


If you need help with Visa applications, we can introduce you to our trusted Visa Agent :)


We are absolutely loving recruiting to NZ and we would love to help you with your move!



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