Hi, my name is Ray Cardenas, I'm a business advisor here at SEA International,
Immigration Consultants. And here with us is Lina Gonzalez, a licensed immigration advisor.
We're going to ask her some of the most frequently asked questions that
the employers here in New Zealand have been asking regarding the changes that Immigration
New Zealand has announced recently. OK, so the first thing that
employers are asking is what are these changes and when will they come into effect?
okay, that's a very good question, the first change that we will see from the 19th of July
is the increase in the median wage, so basically, salary, in order to apply for a three-year visa
and sponsor family members, will have to be $27 dollars per hour from the 19th of July.
The second main question is the new accreditation process from employers that will become compulsory
from the 1st of November this year. If you would like to sponsor people, if you would
like to sponsor migrants to work for your company they will have to earn from the 19th of July, $27
per hour, and from the 1st of November this year, you will have to become an accredited employer.
okay so having said this, does this mean that I have to pay my current migrant
employers $27 per hour from July the 19th? No, you don't have to pay them $27 per hour
for those current migrants or employees that are currently working for you on work visas. You don't
have to pay that, you can still pay them whatever amount are you paying at the month. However, if
you are planning to sponsor new migrants for work visas from the 19th of July you have to pay them
$27 dollars per hour in order to get three-year visas, or if you're paying less than that amount
they will only get one year visa and they won't be able to sponsor their family members.
Okay so what should I do? Do I need to go and check the visa status of my current employees?
Yes, that's actually a very good idea! we would highly recommend starting checking what's their
visa conditions and especially, when is the expiry date for those current employees that
you have at the moment holding work visas. We are recommending, and highly recommending actually
to apply for new visas before the 19th of July for those of you people that have expiry dates
or visas expiring within the next year or two years. Why is this important? because if you
are not willing to pay them 27 dollars per hour in the future when their visa will expire or if you
are not willing to become an accredited employer under the new system, you are not willing to do
the whole process, it's actually quite a good idea to try to secure them now to work for you and to
have a visa linked to your particular company for the next three years. So definitely Ray,
the invitation today is for you so please check the conditions of your current employees but also
call them for them to actually have ownership into the whole process because of course,
this is a shared responsibility, it's to know how you're gonna secure your people for longer
but it's also a responsibility from the actual applicant, for the actual migrant
who will need to have a plan for the next three years or so. So it's quite important
that you work together and that's why we are here to help you but also to help your employees, your
applicants or the potential applicants, so that we can secure for them the best deal, basically with
the current condition and the current immigration instructions that are valid at the moment.
Okay, we all know that $27 (the new median wage) will be very hard to beat.
What will happen when the time comes to apply for a new visa and I'm not willing to pay $27?
Right, I mean, if you would still like to sponsor someone with a salary of less than $27 per hour
from the 19th of July of course, you can continue to sponsor those people but they will only receive
a visa for one year and they won't be able to sponsor family members (partners or for children),
the other thing that is important to remember is for those clients that are getting "lower-paid
jobs" that's what how they define it from immigration purposes, they will be subject to
a stand-down period. Basically, that means that they won't be able to continue
with a lower-paid visa or with a visa paying less than $27 per hour for longer than three years and
they will have to either leave the country or change the visa conditions at that time,
and at the time when they would have to renew that one year visa, you will have to hold the
accreditation (the new accreditation process) in order to sponsor them for another year.
Okay so, now we're talking about this new accreditation process what will it look like
and how much will it cost for me as an employer? sure, right, we don't have all the details yet
and we know that the documentation process will depend on how many people you will employ and you
will sponsor per year, how many migrants you want to sponsor per year, if you want to sponsor less
than five, the accreditation will be the standard process, that's how immigration we call it. If you
want to sponsor more than five migrants per year you will be you'll be in the high-volume category,
or if you are a Labour hire company or a franchise company, there will be another process or another
system for those particular types of companies. We don't know how much it will cost, there will
be a development that we are still waiting from immigration in the next upcoming month,
we know that it will be compulsory from the 1st of November this year, but the accreditation system
itself will be open from late September this year. With the accreditation process what immigration
actually wants, is to basically check whether this particular employer supporting migrants
is actually complying with the employment act and also with the immigration act, they also
want to see whether the company is financially sustainable to be able to support or guarantee
a visa for someone for three years, they want to make sure that you can actually pay your people
for the next three years if you're sponsoring someone for three years one year for instance.
So what if I'm not granted the new accreditation or that the cost is so
expensive that I decide not to go forward with it? Right, that's a very fair question, remember that
for those of you people, for those of you employees that are currently work-visa holders,
the conditions won't change, they can continue working for your particular company without
any problem whatsoever and you can continue employing them as long as they have a valid
visa. However when the time comes and they will have to renew their visas or apply for new visas,
if you are not an accredited employer, you won't be able to sponsor them. It's also very important
to remember that you can still employ migrants that are not related to the company for instance
if you are employing student visa holders that are able to work 20 hours per week or people with
work visas that are "open" and with open I mean, that they are not linked to a particular employer
and they can work for any employer in New Zealand, for instance, people with partnership visas
or post-study work visas, you can actually employ them and you don't have to become an
Accredited Employer from the 1st of November if you only want to employ those type of applicants.
so let's say I hold the current accreditation, do I still need to go for the new one?
Yes, that's what actually immigration has signaled, if you are currently an accredited
employer that will not roll automatically into the new system, into the new accreditation,
you will have to become accredited under the new system, I guess it will be a bit simpler
perhaps because you may have documents that may be relevant for this process, but you will have
to do the process once again. We know that this information
may be confusing at times and that's what we're here for. We want to work with you
and your team members to be that link with immigration New Zealand.
That's right Ray and also we know that employers in New Zealand are facing one of the hardest
shortages of labour ever seen in this country and that's why it's a good idea to try to talk to us!
the first consultation is absolutely free!! we can guide you, and precisely, guide you people,
your employees, to make sure that we make the right call, the right decision at this crucial
time and guarantee that you can secure staff for longer, for at least three years and you have that
stability that you are needing at the moment. Thank you so much, Lina, my pleasure! I hope
this was clear for everyone we look forward to hearing from you. Absolutely, and we want to be
your partner to be able to navigate through all these changes, see you next time bye!