Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The Government is introducing a new temporary work policy for overseas workers to protect lower-skilled local workers and encourage the recruitment of high-skilled overseas workers. The new Essential Skills policy will replace the current General work policy from 28 July 2008, and will see applications for work permits in lower-skilled and higher-skilled occupations treated differently.

One of the key changes in the new policy is that Essential Skills will differentiate between occupations on the basis of their skill level.

Many of the principles of General work policy have been carried over to the Essential Skills policy, most importantly:
* the requirement that there must be no New Zealand workers available before an employer is allowed to recruit an overseas worker; and
* the requirement that the terms and conditions of the employment, including the pay, meet those of the New Zealand market.

Where an occupation is included in the Long Term Skill Shortage List or the Immediate Skill Shortage List, INZ will accept there is a shortage of New Zealand workers. In all other cases, employers must demonstrate they have made genuine attempts to recruit a New Zealander.

How will skill level be determined?

Skill level is primarily determined by the occupation’s placement on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), an independent list of occupations compiled by Statistics New Zealand and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Skill level one occupations are the highest skilled and skill level five occupations are the lowest skilled. The ANZSCO can be accessed at www.immigration.govt.nz/anzsco.

What skill level specific measures are being introduced?

There are two provisions under Essential Skills work policy which relate to specific skill levels, one for highly skilled workers and one for lower skilled workers.

Highly Skilled

Overseas workers applying for a visa or permit on the basis of an offer of employment for a skill level one occupation can now apply for a five year permit, provided their base salary will be above $55,000. Each person can only obtain one five year permit (but can apply for further permits to extend their stay, with those further permits granted for a maximum of three years each, providing that the need for the worker still exists).

Lower Skilled

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) will now seek advice from Work and Income with every application for a visa or permit for lower skilled workers (ANZSCO skill levels four and five) to find if there are unemployed New Zealanders available to take up the work. The only exception to this is where Work and Income has informed INZ of a regional labour shortage for a particular occupation or industry.