News and Publications

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has recently released an amendment which means five sectors are allowed to be exempted from median wage requirements for the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) applications.

New occupations and the wage rate exemption

Those sectors are care workforce, construction and infrastructure, meat processing, seafood, and seasonal snow and adventure tourism sectors, with 14 new occupations added in the Construction and Infrastructure sector, nine in the Seasonal Snow and Adventure Tourism sector, and one in each of Care Workforce, Meat Processing and Seafood processing.

• $24 per hour would be allowed in an occupation listed under the meat processing sector and seafood processing (onshore) sector.
• $25 per hour would be allowed in an occupation listed under the construction and infrastructure sector, tourism and hospitality sector and seasonal snow and adventure tourism.
• Level 3 rate per hour ($26.16 before 31 December 2023) would be allowed in an occupation listed under the care workforce sector.

In terms of the annual sector cap, the relevant sector body, eg the Meat Industry Association and Seafood New Zealand will inform employers of their annual allocation of the cap.

Care Workforce Work to Residence (WTR)

INZ also established a new type of “Care Workforce WTR” as the fourth type of resident visa under the Skilled Residence category. The other three types are Green List Straight to Residence Visa, Green List Work to Residence Visa and Highly Paid visa.

This new type would allow people who worked in the Care Workforce sector occupations to apply for a resident visa after 24-month employment and be paid at a level 4 rate per hour (i.e., $28.25 before 31 December 2023) or above.

Message for Employers

INZ have released a lot of amendments and updates recently. We suggest employers contact us for a brief review before they list the advertisement and draft an online application. We are happy to talk to you regarding the visa options for your migrant workers.

Disclaimer: We remind you that while this article provides commentary on employment law, health and safety and immigration topics, it should not be used as a substitute for legal or professional advice for specific situations. Please seek legal advice from your lawyer for any questions specific to your workplace.