Around 165,000 migrants currently in NZ given pathway to residence

Much-anticipated decision to give 165,000 migrants currently in NZ a one-off pathway to residence welcomed across the board

30th Sep 21, 10:51am by Jenée Tibshraeny

The Government’s decision to provide around 165,000 migrants currently in New Zealand with a one-off pathway to residence is being welcomed by business groups, unions, National and the Greens.

The main criticisms Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi faces are, what took him so long and can Immigration New Zealand actually pull this off?

The one-off Resident Visa will be available to most work-related visa holders, including Essential Skills, Work to Residence, and Post Study Work visas and their immediate family members.

To be eligible, the principal applicant must have been in New Zealand on September 29, 2021 and must hold or have applied for (and subsequently be granted) one of the eligible work visas. They must also meet one of the following criteria:

lived in New Zealand for three or more years, or
earn above the median wage ($27 per hour or more), or
work in a role on the Long Term Skill Shortage List, or
hold occupational registration and work in the health or education sector, or
work in personal care or other critical health worker roles, or
work in a specified role in the primary industries.

The visa will also be available for those who enter New Zealand as critical workers, and their families, for roles six months or longer until July 31, 2022.

Faafoi said, “The changes give migrants certainty about their future here, allowing them to continue putting down roots, and will help reunite many families who were separated by the border restrictions that prevent Covid-19 entering the community…

“Employers will now have the opportunity to retain their settled and skilled migrant workers, reflecting the critical part they play in our economy, essential workforce and communities.

“Immigration New Zealand estimates the eligible visa holders will include over 5,000 health and aged care workers, around 9,000 primary industry workers, and more than 800 teachers. There are also around 15,000 construction and 12,000 manufacturing workers on relevant visa types, some of whom will be eligible for the one-off pathway.

“These people have all played an important role in keeping our country moving over the last 18 months.

“The Government is committed to rebalancing the immigration system for those who can come to work, study and live in New Zealand once our borders re-open. The 2021 Resident Visa is part of this.

“This initiative addresses that immediate issue while work on the immigration rebalance looks longer term at preparing for the eventual reopening of New Zealand’s borders.

“But our message to industries and employers remains clear; they need to look for ways to build resilient workforces and to attract, train and retain local workers and reduce their reliance on low-skilled migrant labour.”

National: ‘A panicked reaction’

National’s Immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford, who has been campaigning hard on the matter, said, “While this is a good move, why did it take Mr Faafoi so long to solve the problem? We know of some highly skilled migrants, such as Ōtaki doctor Harding Richards, who simply gave up and left the country, but how many more examples are there?

“It is unacceptable that delays in processing residence visas have been left to explode out of control for three years, to a point where the only option the Minister now has is to fast-track residence to 165,000 people.

“Granting residence to 165,000 people is a panicked reaction from a Government who had no other choice because it broke our immigration system.

“The Minister must now increase the number of staff in the residency processing team, otherwise migrants will simply move from one long queue of misery to another. This team processes around 33,000 visas annually, even with a fast-tracked process, a 230 per cent increase in productivity to 110,000 applications in a year is an impossible task.

“National is also calling for all split migrant families who are eligible for the 2021 Residence Visa to apply in the first phase on December 1 to expedite their family reunification. We must prioritise split migrant families.”

Greens: What about the marginalised?

Green Party Immigration spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said, “Today’s announcement is a significant step towards an inclusive Aotearoa that welcomes people into its communities who bring their experiences and perspectives, as well as much-needed skills.

“However, we know there is still work to be done. For a start, we need to remove the ableist health requirements that prevents disabled people from obtaining residency.

“Additionally, the Government needs to urgently set up a planning range for the residency programme, and resource INZ accordingly to stop current and future visa processing backlogs.

“We will also continue to push for an amnesty for people who have overstayed their visas, consistent with what has been proposed by the Pacific Leadership Forum’s.

“We will also keep campaigning to ensure that low-income migrants have realistic pathways to residency. People who earn below the median wage are often in exploitative industries such as hospitality and with visa conditions that attach them to single employers, and should not be left out of the one-off residency programme.”

Business group: ‘The most significant immigration change in decades’

The Employers and Manufacturers’ Association called the change “the most significant immigration change in decades”.

"Minister Kris Faafoi and Immigration NZ have copped a fair amount of flak in the past few months, but a response of this magnitude shows that they have listened and responded to the feedback we have been providing,” EMA CEO Brett O’Riley said.

"This response will go some way to easing the pressures businesses continue to face in sourcing skilled and willing people to fill what we have called the skills chasm in New Zealand workplaces…

“We see opportunities over the next 12-36 months to retrain local workers, young and old, who have been displaced by COVID-19 impacts. While this happens, we will have over 100,000 new migrant residents to help address that interim gap, and while the Minister and his team continue to work on the broader long-term immigration reset."

Unions: Certainty welcome

Council of Trade Unions president Richard Wagstaff said, "Working people on temporary visas can face great uncertainty, and for some the restrictions on their employment have left them vulnerable to exploitation. The CTU believes that this announcement today will significantly reduce migrant exploitation and is a welcome step towards ending this scourge in New Zealand.

“The CTU is looking forward to working with the government on the rest of its immigration reset programme, to ensure a balanced approach to migration policy that supports our shared goals of a high-wage, highly skilled and productive economy.”

Details

The application process for the 2021 Resident Visa has been simplified; the goal being to see the majority of applications granted within a year of the category opening.

Applications for the 2021 Resident Visa will open in two phases; on December 1, 2021 and March 1, 2022.

Immigration New Zealand will contact visa holders who are eligible to apply from December 1 by the end of October with more information about the application process.

An eligibility checker is available on Immigration NZ’s website.

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59 Comments

by muzled | 30th Sep 21, 11:07am 1632953252

“Granting residence to 165,000 people is a panicked reaction from a Government who had no other choice because it broke our immigration system.

Further proof the nats would have left the border wide open at the beginning of covid to 'keep business happy'.

Even now the surveys show 70% of people support the lockdowns, yet they're incapable of taking that on board.

by Small Kev | 30th Sep 21, 1:46pm 1632962794

More to come when the border opens, heaps people wanting to leave and even more people want to move here.

by Spiceeh | 1st Oct 21, 2:04am 1633007074

Little is stopping the people who want to leave. People are coming and going all the time for work purposes, even if you here little about them in the media. There is a reason so many are still stuck overseas, and that's because the non urgent arrivals for business and political purposes are being allowed in ahead of them.

by WestieAJ | 30th Sep 21, 11:19am 1632953973

This is the right thing to do. A lot of these people have been scammed and exploited.At least they will get some empowerment from a full residence visa and can kick the exploiters to the kerb.

5,000 health and aged care workers,9,000 primary industry workers, 800 teachers,15,000 construction and 12,000 manufacturing workers.

What do the other 118000 people do? Never mind I am sure its something useful. Was the +$27 per hour a requirement as of yesterday or do they just need to be earning that when they make the application

by sparrow | 30th Sep 21, 11:42am 1632955378

They only need to meet one of the requirements.

So I expect there's plenty of minimum wage low-skill workers amongst them.

The policy is a disaster.

by Anzac888 | 30th Sep 21, 12:26pm 1632958003

Once more a panicked knee jerk reaction. A political decision. I thought that there was more to Ardern and her Minister's. No overall strategy. Just another quick fix, without regards to the long term implications to all aspects of the economy. More cannon fodder for the whingers who do not wish to pay market rates for employees. I would rather import engineers, doctors, medical professionals, people with skills, rather than more cashier's, hospo, security guards, and uber drivers. Sigh! I can see the long term problems already.

Skills chasm! Right. That's a good one. I'm disappointed with the whole professional political class. Are there any good ones left in this country?

by Lapun | 30th Sep 21, 12:45pm 1632959120

Nobody can call it a quick fix! Delay in processing has been an outstanding issue since at least when I arrived in 2003 - residency visas take years to process but passports can be obtained in hours (my granddaughter received her first passport in 23 hours and that included delivery to our home). Needless bureaucracy is accepted - applicants can't vote and are terrified to cause a fuss. There are three main issues for granting residency: job, health, criminal record - in most cases all three could be handled by putting a lump sum in escrow.

by EarlyRiser | 30th Sep 21, 1:15pm 1632960930

Such a long wait was not our experience. My better half's residence visa applied for in 2017 was granted in 3 months. Ditto for a mate's wife the same year. We found the process to be straightforward and the time for it to be processed fair.

by Lapun | 30th Sep 21, 4:23pm 1632972182

I was referring to their stopping processing visas when the first lockdown started 18 months ago.

I'm astonished the INZ are still using a paper based system. Thirty years ago insurance companies were simply scanning (with OCR) all documents and then shredding the originals. That way work can be checked and responsibilities distributed.

My own residency went through quite quickly in about 3 months. Fortunately my employer's project could be delayed. 3 months is not fast if you have a project requiring a critical skill. If you were waiting for a serious operation and the only experienced qualified surgeon was held up for 3 months you might grumble. For most immigrants a guaranteed 3 months would be OK. When my wife's visa was processed we were promised 2 to 3 months but it ended up as 7 months and thus delayed her daughter's studies by a semester. That unantipated delay had nothing to do with the application but INZ stopped work when Winston asked an embarrassing question in parliament about Iraqi ex-politicians getting into NZ.

by northman46 | 30th Sep 21, 4:24pm 1632972263

Passports and citizenship aren’t the same thing. Citizenship now takes up to 16 months, yet when precovid it took 2 months. It was blamed on increased applicants, which freedom of information requests have shown is a lie. Next, it was blamed on covid (like everything else that goes wrong). There’s a huge backlog and the whole system is a mess. It needs changing.

by NZChinese | 30th Sep 21, 12:25pm 1632957909

Why? Low paid but essential workers are crucial even post covid.

by Lapun | 30th Sep 21, 12:50pm 1632959446

Why? Because it is self defeating. Take an area of employment (eg managing liquor stores, driving buses, nurse) and bring in say 10% as immigrants and NZ gains experience from foreign cultures - the diversity dividend. Bring in say 50% from countries poorer than us, countries without welfare systems and salaries stagnate and training Kiwis stops. If a job is essential then NZ must start training Kiwis and paying sufficient to retain them.

If a worker is essential then they must not be low paid!!!

by Kaper2 | 30th Sep 21, 3:29pm 1632968997

You clearly don't own a business or employ anyone

by Spiceeh | 1st Oct 21, 2:10am 1633007438

That's probably a good thing. They're too ethical to last long in the tank with the sharks.

by WestieAJ | 30th Sep 21, 1:06pm 1632960388

OK missed that on skim read. So they have gone for the Oprah immigration policy. You get residency !! You get residency !! You get residency !!. You all get residency !!

by Fairlyfrank | 30th Sep 21, 11:45am 1632955509

Don't forget this is also a pathway for all the hangers on in extended family etc I wonder how many this actually Grant's residency to 300000 or more had to get the immigration average up somehow. I would like to see the greens questioned over their immigration policies more closely, there stance is totally at odds with any sort of sustainable population for nz what is their idea of a sustainable population for this country 6million 10 million 20 million? They seem eager to bring all the world's disadvantaged but I struggle to comprehend how nz will fit another 2 billion here we can't house what we have now and this will put a bomb under houses and rents now .

by Computer | 30th Sep 21, 12:04pm 1632956651

Who pays for all this? That's like two whole Hamiltons.

Can't help but wonder how many of this cohort will actually end up being net contributors too. Heck of a social experiment.

by donny11 | 30th Sep 21, 12:11pm 1632957067

Some will be good contributors others won't. That's the whole point of having a vetting process.

by Lapun | 30th Sep 21, 12:53pm 1632959593

Correct. How good is our vetting process? Why do we have so many immigrants on below median wages? The simplest vetting is how much will an employer be willing to pay.

by Computer | 30th Sep 21, 1:20pm 1632961240

How good is our vetting process? Try "do they have a pulse?"

I'm all for fast-tracking applications for skills we actually need (Intensive Care Nurse comes to mind), damn near rubber-stamp them if they're coming from a country whose qualifications we recognize and trust, but this cynical knee-jerk is nothing of the sort.

by GV 27 | 30th Sep 21, 12:37pm 1632958650

The Greens have numerous conflicting stances within their own policy remits that they get away with for no discernible reason. We should have open migration for those of limited means and lower incomes, but we should have a tax system that means they pay next to no tax (if not negative tax). We should have clean waterways and rivers, but we should be adding more and more people. We should not fewer roads being built, but more concrete-driven, carbon-intensive construction of things like apartments. We should pave golf courses for housing but we should also have more green spaces. We should have clean renewable energy, but we can't damage environments or animals with hydro schemes or wind farms.

The only thing that gives me any comfort at all is that they are only ever going to buddy up with one political party, who are incapable of ever delivering anything, even if they ever actually wanted to (jury is still out on this one).

by Prav Patel | 30th Sep 21, 12:42pm 1632958955

Yep, you've got around 120,000 "others", which includes low skilled workers. Frank is right, by the time you grant 165,000 ppl residency (+ don't forget all those coming in until next July), you are looking at around 220,000 people.

Then the hangers and extended families and 'half the rest of the village'. You are looking at least 4x 220k. So that about 900,000 people over the course of 3-4 years.

Well done Labour and all the supporters of widespread, uncontrolled immigration! This mass migration will sink NZ in time to come. We have low skilled migrants. Mind you a quarter of the people in south east Asia and China will die to live in this country at the drop of an eyelid! Most of them will be low skilled. Let's get more in Chris!...

If you read this and think it's racist, I am not. The bulk on NZ's migrants some from these countries. You can't call things out these days because of cancel culture and woke'ism. But facts are facts: "the glass is at 50% capacity"! You might call it "half full", some may call it "half empty". Regardless of your choice, the consequences will come to pass when a lower skilled labour force lags behind the rest of the world and we continue the trajectory of mass immigration and high debt levels! I don't think NZ has seen this level of incompetency in parliament for some time...

by Computer | 30th Sep 21, 4:04pm 1632971079

220k potential Labour voters too - win win.

by Lapun | 30th Sep 21, 4:36pm 1632972974

I suspect your numbers are extreme but your concept is correct. When I checked the stats a few years ago only 27% of residency approvals were skilled. And those skills were dominated by chefs and tourist guides. The checkout operators I meet in Auckland are efficient and pleasant but I do not see what NZ is getting other than another pleasant person. Surely an immigrant and their family has to be earning well above median wage to actually contribute to the welfare systems and the infrastructure they will be benefiting from. Auckland is growing too fast and too expensively - and Kiwis are paying for the congestion and pollution that a rapidly growing population produces.

It often seems that objections to high levels of immigration are from xenophobic racists (NZ doesn't have many but they can be vocal) and from rational immigrants; especially from those with experience of living in the 3rd world.

by Computer | 30th Sep 21, 7:36pm 1632983808

Agree with most of what you say but not this:

"It often seems that objections to high levels of immigration are from xenophobic racists"

It's become the default position - label someone a "xenophobic racist" when you don't like their position but can't, or can't be bothered to make an intelligent counter-argument. If you want to see xenophobic racism try looking at some of the countries where our migrants are coming from, but that's not something we talk about for fear of being called xenophobic racists.

by pacifica | 30th Sep 21, 8:04pm 1632985468

Except it is not xenophobic racism when they share some ethnicity with yourself and large proportions of the country but don't share nationality and actually result in more homeless and jobless kiwis. Right now we cannot even house over 25000 kiwi families in the highest level of need, many are literally dying because of it and because we don't have the healthcare resources but apparently we can house over 150000 additional people who do not have any actual essential skills. Even worse is many of the jobless kiwis have experience in high skill essential services and cannot get jobs because of the number of foreign applicants being overwhelming. If we are literally making our people destitute and die homeless for the sake of bringing wages down for business then something somewhere is horribly wrong and I believe it starts and ends with the politicians and lobbyists.

by lostinawoods | 30th Sep 21, 8:08pm 1632985718

I'm yet to see queues for cherry-picking/chefs/uber driver jobs made of "native kiwis". I'd assume if you're "dying" those would be pretty good options to take.

by pacifica | 1st Oct 21, 6:54pm 1633067687

I have seen lots of nurses, medical carers and software engineers who having been homeless for over a year turn to suicide, suffer severe medical crisis requiring surgery and in the end watch their family members or themselves die. It is not pleasant and yes they did try applying to the cherry & fruit picker roles and were turned away because there was enough foreign staff, (who could fly back to their own countries, families and homes at any time) who apparently needed the work more.

Oh and protip most NZders cannot afford the vehicles required by uber, most NZders cannot even afford second hand and barely have enough money to pay for housing for one or two months out of work.

by lostinawoods | 2nd Oct 21, 8:17pm 1633159048

We live in two different 🇳🇿 apparently. Out of curiosity which city do you live at?

by pacifica | 2nd Oct 21, 10:35pm 1633167309

Multiple but then that is expected these days to not have stable housing or work to last throughout a year with both engineering and medical skills & experience.

by EdwardD | 2nd Oct 21, 3:09am 1633097348

I totally agree with you. I am all for improving the environment, cleaning our waterways, abolishing single use plastic bags, composting, etc so in that regard could be considered a greenie. The Green Party's stance on immigration, however, would put me off every voting for them.

by Squishy | 30th Sep 21, 11:32am 1632954756

The Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) and Affordable Housing initiatives just get more and more interesting.

by Palmtree08 | 30th Sep 21, 1:52pm 1632963172

We'll worry about the Emission Reduction Plan, once the planet is cooked and Affordable housing, once NZ is paved over. Until then we'll run the country on the energy from warm fuzzies and loudest lobbyists.

by xingmowang | 30th Sep 21, 11:40am 1632955256

property investers give Thumb up to our beloved Labour.

by Zachary Smith | 30th Sep 21, 11:55am 1632956100

It certainly looks that way. People have this impression that all these people are impoverished but I'm not so sure.

by sparrow | 30th Sep 21, 2:53pm 1632966793

Even if they can't afford to buy they still have to rent.

by Squishy | 30th Sep 21, 1:02pm 1632960120

Housing market is primed to go upon border reopening. The moon was just a staging post, with enough RBNZ support we might be able to double prices again in 5-10 years.

by Kaper2 | 30th Sep 21, 3:48pm 1632970139

Mate it's rising at 30% year on year currently so will double in 2.5 years!

by sharetrader | 30th Sep 21, 11:58am 1632956287

about time they sorted this, they now need to sort the way forward so the rules are clear if you want to come and business needs to pay 25% more to bring someone in than someone they could train here.

to often previous policy was used to suppress wage growth and has made NZ one of the most expensive places to work and live relative to income

by mja | 30th Sep 21, 1:42pm 1632962551

A family friend and a fellow NZ born work mate were laid off during recent downsizing. Of 5 staff, the company advised only 3 were needed. The NZers were laid off, as the boss said if the foreigners on working visas were let go, they would have to leave NZ, as their working visas would be invalidated and this was unfair.

by Contrarian | 30th Sep 21, 12:37pm 1632958671

Better later than never.

This also nicely offsets the elimination of interest rebate on rental property loans. Balance restored to the housing market now.

by streetwise | 30th Sep 21, 12:56pm 1632959815

What? More unskilled Scandinavians crowding into South Auckland and living 6 or 10 to a house, spreading the virus, and believing anti-vaxxers. Why is the Immigration Ministry letting all these Scandinavians in holus bolus?

Scandinavians are the main reason this Lockdown has dragged on and on. And they don't speak English, insisting on retaining their own language, be it Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish. They play dumb when asked where they've been by Covid tracers and deliberately escape from MIQ hotels.

Enough is enough I say!

by northman46 | 30th Sep 21, 1:43pm 1632962624

Very specific.

by pacifica | 30th Sep 21, 7:47pm 1632984458

Actually languages have been far more diverse across NZ. Many suburbs may only have shops with foreign language signs only (both inside and outside) etc. Many daycare centres & schools are restricted to foreign languages only and not any of the 3 national languages. If it is ok for them to restrict business to a foreign language only why is it not ok to have requirements that business should at least abide by national laws and have a passing knowledge of at least 1 of the 3 national languages to complete necessary legal requirements.

by Rosenstein | 30th Sep 21, 12:58pm 1632959915

When we start making up the rules as we go along, then there are no rules

by Davo36 | 30th Sep 21, 1:24pm 1632961487

Madness. We don't have the houses, water, roads, hospitals, schools or other infrastructure for this. But I guess businesses need cheap labour.

by northman46 | 30th Sep 21, 1:42pm 1632962539

As a permanent resident (through skilled migrant) I think this is a bad idea. I thought the idea was quality, not quantity? ‘The most significant immigration change in decades’ happen to be loosening the rules, after promising the opposite would happen.

I read a comment from a student studying to become a mental health worker, who won't qualify until the end of year. Now he'll behind 165,000 extras?

by tomjones_04 | 30th Sep 21, 1:52pm 1632963156

At least we are building a record amount of homes to accomodate all the people. The trouble is, only the top few percent of people will be able to afford the eye watering costs of buying in NZ. Will be good for the housing ponzi though. Introduces more competition so the hard done by landlords can raise the rents to cover their new 'business' costs. At what point do we declare third world status?

by Palmtree08 | 30th Sep 21, 2:00pm 1632963640

Cool. We've just achieved a new Hamilton, with an Oamaru thrown in for good measure. Time to beef up those coal shipments from indonesia.

by 2 Tooth Bora | 30th Sep 21, 2:12pm 1632964348

What about the 200,000 people on the benefit?

Why isn't business coordinating with schools to provide career paths. Particularly for low skilled jobs that could be trained to work in a few weeks i.e. retirement homes etc.

The working middle class are second class citizens, taking on huge debt for basic needs and taxes to serve immigrants, to ultimately compete with at Health, Education, Housing.

The Governments seems to be controlled by the big corporates for the demise of the Kiwi, we may as well give up. But where do you go when this is where your born.

by Stuart Mason | 30th Sep 21, 3:00pm 1632967204

Of the 70% in support of lockdowns in the recent survey, the majority of that 70% only did so until vaccination rates were high enough ( 80 to 90%? - one vaccination minimum ) to render them unproductive. Not quite the same thing as unqualified support for the lockdown as a solution.

The delay in getting into vaccinations earlier has been the real strategic error here from both a health and financial perspective.

by Crazy Horse | 30th Sep 21, 4:11pm 1632971461

Yep ......gotta keep wages down .....salaries UP as much to attract the punters in and prevent them from leaving (won't happen, overseas professional work always pays better) ......but most of all HOUSE PRICES MUST NEVER DECREASE .....while rental demand will still be there ....subsidised by the TAXPAYER "of course" ......what an economic "Clusterf**k"

by CWBW | 30th Sep 21, 5:16pm 1632975415

We need more working people.

by pacifica | 30th Sep 21, 7:51pm 1632984698

If there are too many people than jobs, many roles having multiple applications for a single place and more than 200, 000 needing work who apply for those roles and get turned away even with the necessary experience then we don't need more working people. We need more work and much much higher incomes to afford the eye-watering heart-rending housing prices.

by AKLCrusader | 1st Oct 21, 8:39am 1633030774

We actually need workers to stay operating, despite paying 30% above the minimum wage we still find basic workers.

by pacifica | 2nd Oct 21, 10:45pm 1633167948

Most people who had the skills and excelled left NZ a long time ago. Now it is just those who are stuck here (family e.g. carer for elderly parents, illness, without funds), those who had enough family wealth not to care and those who literally would sacrifice themselves on the pyre to try to uplift those burdened by poverty so they too could leave the country. At best it means the normal businesses processes of training and upskilling should come back in force after the decades of hiatus.

by AKLCrusader | 1st Oct 21, 8:38am 1633030687

Bloody joke of a Minister and Government.

We can't find even factory workers to work in NZ, no workers, engineers, reliable people, and now our factory in the south Island won't have the extra points to be able to attract people down south - it already happened yesterday with a current applicant who realised he didn't need to move to get residency.

Industry is about to shut down

by pacifica | 2nd Oct 21, 10:40pm 1633167643

Amongst the engineering colleagues and friends & wider network the going plan has been to leave the country, amongst medical and nursing groups it has been the same... for over a decade. Right now that plan that used to be a possibility a decade ago is now a screaming imperative; that if you cannot leave then there is something else wrong or very wealthy parents to fund homes for grandchildren.

by Camel's back | 2nd Oct 21, 6:15pm 1633151717

More grist for the mill.. keeping upward pressure on rents and downward pressure on wages.