You may be aware that Immigration announced changes to the Accredited Employer Job Checks and Work Visas on April 7.
We have waited to send out a newsletter because Immigration has been issuing many updates and clarifications since then, and in fact they still are.
Here are the key points:
- No one’s existing visa will be shortened. The impact is on extensions and new applications. Some people who could have applied to extend their Accredited Employer Work Visa to 5 years now can’t.
- ANZSCO is back! For those who are unfamiliar, ANZSCO or the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations is a manual of job descriptions which sets out the tasks for particular roles and categorises them by skill level. The skill level determines what level of qualification or work experience someone would require to be granted an Accredited Employer Work Visa in that role and is also used for Skilled Migrant Residence applications.
- There are 5 skill levels, with Skill Level 1 being the most skilled (requiring a Bachelor Degree or 5 years’ experience), and Skill Level 5 being the least skilled (no training or qualifications required).
- People in Skill Level 1-3 roles can continue to apply for a 5-year visa, or 2-year extensions of their existing visa if they were only granted 3 years. You must complete a Job Check with at least 14 days’ advertising if the position is not Green List or paid 2x median wage. No advertising is required for the 2-year extension applications for skill level 1-3 roles.
- People in Skill Level 4 & 5 roles can only apply for a 2-year work visa instead of the previous 5 years. They can apply for a 12-month extension, but you must do a new Job Check to prove there are no New Zealand Citizens or Residents able to be hired or trained to do the job. And the advertising requirements have changed – the role must be advertised for at least 21 days, and also listed with WINZ for them to confirm there are no “suitable” New Zealand citizens/residents.
- “Suitable” means New Zealanders able to be trained in 6 months on-the-job. No matter what it says in ANZSCO, the migrants you want to hire in a Skill Level 4 or 5 role must have either three years’ relevant work experience, or at least a New Zealand Level 4 qualification complete with NZQA assessment. They must also pass an English test at IELTS level 4 or equivalent. If you have Job Tokens from Job Checks approved prior to 7 April the Accredited Employer Work Visa applications will need to meet the new rules, no matter what was approved in your Job Check.
Ostensibly, these changes have been implemented to protect migrants from exploitation. They will certainly reduce the number of people applying for visas in lower skilled roles. Given some of the scandals erupting over migrant exploitation with some employers bringing in large numbers of low-skilled migrants for non-existent jobs, we can understand the changes.
Having said that, it appears that the implementation will be messy, and it’s important to take advice on your specific situation to make sure you get things right! Please get in touch if you would like us to review you or your employees’ situation.
We are also helping employers to prepare for their Accreditation renewals, with the first Accreditations expiring on 4 July 2024. Immigration has notified us that there will be additional verification checks as part of the renewal process, and we can already see some common issues in post-accreditation checks. Immigration has expanded the expectations and requirements for employers, and increased the range of penalties and reasons to suspend or remove Accreditation. We will be sending out more information about this soon, but in the meantime please get in touch if your Accreditation is coming up for renewal and you want help to get it right. Even if you applied for your initial Accreditation by yourself, we can still help you with the renewal.
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And if this all seems too hard, don’t give up! We can see every day the difference it makes to our clients’ businesses having the right people in the right roles. If migrant workers are an important part of your skill mix, contact us for a chat to find out how we can help you make it simpler!