The Auckland Times | Issue 169 | May 28, 2017

Up until 21st May 2017 the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) were consulting on proposed changes to temporary work visa settings, through the Essential Skills visa policy. The said changes’ aim was intended to ensure that settlement expectations were clear for temporary labour migrants and that the settings enabled access to migrant labour where there was a genuine need.Up until 21st May 2017 the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) were consulting on proposed changes to temporary work visa settings, through the Essential Skills visa policy. The said changes’ aim was intended to ensure that settlement expectations were clear for temporary labour migrants and that the settings enabled access to migrant labour where there was a genuine need.

The consulting was on the following proposals: • Using wage or salary information to help determine the skill level and visa conditions of Essential Skills migrants. • Reinforcing the temporary nature of the visa and managing the settlement expectations of Essential Skills migrants where they have no pathway to residence. • Reinforcing that Essential Skills visas may only be granted for the period for which the employment is offered.

From this feedback, it will be determined exactly what changes in fact will be implemented.

The question that arises is what does this mean for someone that is on a current work visa, student visa or any kind of temporary entry visa. If you have been in New Zealand for a long time on a temporary entry visa then you will need to be aware of the pending changes, the timelines and what is possible and what is not.

The environment now is that of no tolerance and tougher than we have ever seen it before. So be aware and tread carefully, I cannot emphasise it enough.

The temporary entry student visa category is currently seeing its own challenges in the visa application area. The employer-assisted visa is more difficult to get as convincing an immigration officer of the relevance of the job offer to the position on offer can at times be challenging.

The observance of having access to sufficient funds during the course study and verifying the source of money retrospectively being complied with is occurring. Some subsequent visa applicants are not getting their visas through because they are deemed to have not complied with these visa conditions. Some are not allowed to continue with their studies for this reason.

In the early part of the century to early 1990 a New Zealand qualification was a prized possession and carried weight. Then in the 2000s with the introduction of mass delivery of low level qualification, it took a turn. The focus was no longer an education outcome but rather an immigration outcome, a pathway to residence. The residence policy as drafted allowed for it. Unforeseen consequences followed which has now created a whole industry that is in the business of trying to shut down the punters and provide protection for the affected groupings. With the current proposed changes in August 2017 the steer is to take it back to an education outcome and an immigration outcome will become a reality of the past.

The policy changes will achieve its goal to reduce those qualifying for residence through this route but it may achieve unintended goal of quieting the market. In the long run the inflow of international students into New Zealand will reduce. Whether we will be able to attract the desired category of those taking a higher degree level qualification is yet to be tested.

Many have become very prosperous operating in this field often through dubious means: there were many loopholes and pathways where a quick buck was possible. A lot benefited from this through job selling, qualification selling, migrant exploitation, fictitious relationships and so on. Some went as far as fathering children to make the relationships appear genuine but with no intention to see it through.

Very unscrupulous behavior was witnessed to secure a New Zealand residence. Those of us that have been around for decades will know that this new era of popularised category were a far cry from the past and their style of workings were unknown to the land of the innocent, the land of milk and honey.

But the New Zealand government has been forced to wake up and learn fast. If the tougher rules and vigilance is not in place, Auckland the city of all dynamics, will have become very difficult to manage and compliance would have become a huge issue. Many years ago, I wrote about an underworld that existed. Today this underworld is being acknowledged and many attempts are being made to squash it, but unfortunately the very innocent are being taken down with them. The thinking however is if the market does not exist it will die a slow death, but will it? These rotten apples have spoilt it for others that are genuine in their pursuit and are potential desirable skilled migrants. They have made it harder to make this a reality for this category.

The pity is that these rotten apples are here to stay and in some guise or the other dubious practices will continue. Because they have been allowed to get away with it for so long, they will continue their merry way looking for another vulnerable category to benefit from. Eventually if the cards are not in their favour, they may end up behind bars or “karma” will deal with them in some other way, but time will tell.