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:
All employers will need to be accredited to hire migrants on this visa
Labour market/Job Check - roles will need to be advertised by employers for 2 weeks locally (to demonstrate that they cannot find a suitable NZ resident first) unless the profession is on the “green list” (PT/OT/SLT is not currently on this list)
There is more information about the accreditation and job check on this link: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/employ-migrants/new-employer-accreditation-and-work-visa
Once your employer is accredited and the job check has been completed, you can apply for the Accredited Work visa:
The Accredited Work visa will be up to 3 years, cost NZD $595 and open from 4th July
There is more information about the applicant side of the visa on this link: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/employ-migrants/new-employer-accreditation-and-work-visa/aewv-information-for-migrants
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!