Big Visa Changes or Status Quo?

It’s official, we have a new Government, consisting of (from left to right) the ACT Party, the National Party and New Zealand first. This is a significant first for New Zealand with three political parties sharing the reigns, something that our MMP system has never managed to produce, although we have had some close calls. This election was was equally touch and go for a while, with no one sure as to whether we would need NZ First in the mix.

We also have a new Minister of Immigration and two Associate Ministers, which is a bit unusual (there is usually only one Associate). Erica Stanford of National takes the hotseat for Immigration as the key Minister, with her colleague Chris Penk (also National), as Associate and the second Associate role going to Casey Costello of NZ First. NZ First have always had a bee in their collective bonnets over immigration so I am not surprised that they managed to secure a seat at this Ministerial table.

Eric Stanford

Our new Minister of Immigration, joined by two fellow Associate Ministers.

Of course, with a new Government and new Ministers and an extra Minister to boot, the hum and whine of the rumour mill can almost be heard from the moon. Speculation is rife as to whether we will see a ‘big bang’ in the immigration space, with a raft of new policies, changes and pathways.

The answer of course is, quite different to what the commentariat might be thinking. There are no signs from any individual party or collectively from the coalition as to any major changes in the near future. There are some basic tweaks being rolled out, which will make a difference to some but as far as the big ticket items, don’t expect too much to change in the near to medium term.

So what can we expect sooner, rather than later?

Whilst we dont have any specific policy drafts yet, there are some fairly clear lines being drawn within a few categories and the introduction of some new visa contestants.

• A new five-year, renewable parent category visa will be rolled out, conditional on covering healthcare costs, with the potential for a levy to facilitate that. This will be popular and is probably long overdue. It isn’t a Residence pathway but it does offer parents the chance to spend longer periods with the children and grandchildren in NZ. That will have a flow on effect to productivity with access to family childcare.

• Median wage requirements will be removed from the Skilled Migrant Category, meaning jobs at medium skill levels, which often had artificially high salaries to reach the salary threshold will now be able to used with a market rate assessment instead. This is a good move - the question however is whether the same approach to salaries as a proxy for skill (and the inherent problems that creates) will flow through to other categories such as Work Visas and Residence.

• Partners to Work Visa holders will potentially be able to secure open (no conditions attached) Work Visas, which was the policy in place, prior to May 2023. Another good move, considering this potentially has dissuaded many a good applicant from applying.

• Better recognition of overseas medical qualifications - a big sticking point for our healthcare system, being able to source the right volume of talent. This involves breaking down the old guard mentality of our medical registration bodies.

• The establishment of an essential worker workforce mechanism - whatever that might mean. I expect this will be a program to feed back in to the system, lists of occupations in demand that then have a faster or smoother process to secure a variety of Visas.

• Improving the verification process for Visa applications, which will be in direct response to the rise in migrant exploitation delivered by the Labour Minister, before the most recent Labour Minister (yep there have been a few).

Change Is A Long Road

Big changes wont happen in the near to medium term, but there are small tweaks that will have significant impact.

Noticeably absent from any of these coalition agreements is any discussion on the core policies such as the Skilled Migrant Category, The Skilled Residence Categories or the Investor Category. This coalition has put forward a 100 day plan across a wide range of issues facing NZ at the present moment, with 49 points to address quickly - immigration (or at least the big picture stuff) was never going to feature heavily in that plan.

I have no doubt that over time, we will see this new Minister stamp her mark on the system and that will include a review of our major Residence categories, but equally I would not expect her to do much about that in the near to medium term. When it might happen is hard to say, but it will not be without significant input from the related sectors and that is where I think we might have a bit of a win.

Consultation - Finally

If there was a very positive thing to come out of this, that does set the right tone for immigration in the next three years (at least) it is that our newly appointed Minister has, so far, displayed a very different approach to seeking out stakeholder feedback. The previous Ministers (all four of them since 2017) were far less eager, or empowered to seek out that same level of input.

Despite our industry and plenty of us individually offering to provide advice, they knew best. The problem is they didn’t actually know best and we have seen the results of that in recent years, with massive issues with INZ’s systems, an inability to manage constant changes from various Minister dumping new “big bang” Visa offerings on them, and far too much manipulation of the Visa system for political gains. Take the new Active Investor Policy as an example, which the Government created with virtually no input from the market, our industry or the very people this policy would impact. A year later and it is has failed to take flight (or get out of the hangar).

Our new Minister has demonstrated in the lead up to this appointment, by engaging with a variety of groups to get the knowledge to then campaign on immigration issues, that what she doesn’t know (but needs to know) she will seek to find out, from the people that do know - that is a massive step forward from what we have been used to.

So What Am I Waiting For?

Well in short…nothing. If you have been sitting on the fence, waiting for the new Government to introduce a raft of new Visa policies, you might have to get some comfier trousers. What we have now in terms of pathways to Residence are likely to remain in place for quite some time and that actually provides a degree of relief.

Stability & Certainty

Knowing the Visa process you start with, is the one you will successfully end with.

For the last three years (almost four) we have had so many changes to the Visa system, it would make your head spin (or fall right off). Migrants want and arguably deserve a greater degree of stability and certainty.

When you start this process and for many it is a huge commitment with a fair degree of sacrifice, you want to have the comfort of knowing that it wont change halfway through.

I suspect and I hope that our new Minister will understand that, having watched the previous Government fiddle, tweak, adjust and tinker their way through the last six years - and as a consequence she will be keen to deliver a far more stable approach to the system, with a longer-term view on impacts. The mere fact she is willing to engage with those in the industry, is a good sign that we are entering a more balanced era of immigration policy. In fact just today, a group that I work with, consisting of a large pool of Licensed Advisers has presented our first piece of advice to assist the Minister as she settles in - she welcomed it and was appreciative of the offer. Chalk and cheese compared to our last Ministerial engagement.

Things may not change overnight and in fact some things may not change at all, but in many ways that is a good thing. No Visa policy will please all of the people all of the time, but constantly changing Visa policies will upset more of the people, more of the time.

So what are you waiting for? If you have been tempted, but not sure, then now is the time to find out, if a pathway to New Zealand is available for you.

Until next week.