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Thousands of migrants have been granted temporary work visas to fill ordinary jobs that New Zealanders are unprepared for despite unemployment rising at a rate not seen since the 1980s.
Figures released at Things under the Official Information Act show that from March 19, when New Zealand’s borders were closed due to Covid-19, until September 30, New Zealand Immigration received more than 18,000 new work visa applications in the category of essential skills.
It approved nearly 15,000 essential skills work visa applications in that time and rejected about 1,500, including some received before March 19.
Applications were approved for 633 different jobs ranging from low-skilled roles such as taxi driver, coffee worker, and cleaner, to highly-skilled jobs as pediatrician, aeronautical engineer, and chemical engineer.
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Visa approvals come at the same time that many New Zealanders are out of work as a result of the impact of Covid-19 on businesses and the economy.
Employment data released earlier this month showed that New Zealand’s unemployment rate reached 5.3 percent, and the number of unemployed increased by 37,000 in the September quarter to 151,000, the largest quarterly increase in the year. unemployment since 1986.
Wanaka’s chef Chrissi Roper has experienced firsthand the absence of New Zealanders, or migrant workers for that matter, willing or available to fill a job.
She has been busy preparing to open a food truck in a few weeks, but the labor shortage could spell disaster for her and other operators in Wanaka and Queenstown, she said.
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Wanaka’s chef Chrissi Roper is opening a food truck but is having a hard time finding staff.
“I’ve been advertising for chefs and cooks for over a week on various platforms and haven’t had any apps,” said Roper.
She said the lack of hospitality staff in the region was causing a “massive wave of panic” among business owners.
“There is no one, no one looking for work; They have tried to get kiwis or people with visas and it just isn’t happening.
“We are literally pulling our hair out with stress.”
Training people for the job took time, and she wanted the government to create a hospitality visa similar to a seasonal employer supplemental work visa set up for the horticulture and agriculture industries.
DAVID BLANCO / THINGS
Immigration New Zealand received around 18,000 work visa applications for essential skills in the six months after New Zealand’s borders closed on March 19 as part of the Covid-19 restrictions.
Since New Zealand’s borders were closed to almost everyone except returning residents, Immigration New Zealand stopped processing visa applications for foreign applicants unless they meet strict border exception criteria.
A New Zealand Immigration spokesperson said the essential skills work visas were assisted by the employer, meaning the visa was tied to a role being offered.
When endorsing a visa, employers should verify that there are no New Zealanders available to fill the position, before seeking to hire a migrant worker, he said.
Employers had to provide evidence that genuine attempts had been made to hire a New Zealander and Immigration New Zealand had to be satisfied that, at the time the application was evaluated, there were no New Zealanders available to do the job prior to granting the visa , said. said.
“As part of the application process, employers must provide evidence that they have taken all reasonable steps to hire a New Zealander first.”
Job applications in sectors or geographic areas where there was an insufficient supply of New Zealanders available to play a role were more likely to be successful, he said.
As of September 30, nearly 5,000 applications received during the period were still pending decision.
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Simon Laurent says there may be legitimate reasons why essential work visa applications for low-skilled jobs have been approved.
New Zealand immigration specialist Simon Laurent, director of Laurent Law, said he suspected that most of the work visa applications for essential skills approved since New Zealand’s borders were closed were for people from abroad who were already in the country with another visa.
Laurent said he had never heard of an essential work visa application being issued for a taxi driver, for example, but without seeing how applications were submitted, it was difficult to say whether Immigration New Zealand was right in granting a visa.
“There may be some justification for why the decision was made that way,” Laurent said.
He said that he had experienced inconsistencies in Immigration New Zealand’s decision-making due to a relative inexperience of front-line staff.
NZ Taxi Federation CEO John Hart said some taxi companies were having trouble finding drivers in some areas like Auckland and Christchurch.
He said that to become a taxi driver one must have a full driver’s license and pass an appropriate person test to receive a P approval.
Beyond that, there were a few other skill requirements.
“They really don’t have to do much.”
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Brad Olsen, Senior Economist at Infometrics, says New Zealand has a great talent pool that needs to be tapped.
Infometrics senior economist Brad Olsen said he was surprised by many of the jobs for which visa applications had been approved.
“There are a considerable number who really wonder how they managed to get on that list and how New Zealand as a country is not able to provide some of those skills,” said Olsen.
He said he had a hard time understanding how so many essential visa applications were being granted considering that New Zealand was in the midst of a pandemic and a severe economic recession.
“At first glance, many of these roles appear to be things that you would expect a New Zealander to be involved in.”
The list showed that companies were scrambling to fill positions with New Zealanders, he said.
“If we cannot fulfill these roles in New Zealand, it is reiterated that we have not been able to handle the skill mismatches that existed outside of the pandemic.”
If companies are scrambling for positions now, it is likely to continue for years to come, he said.
“The scale of the list reiterates the breadth of needs in different sectors.”
More work needs to be done to train New Zealanders to fill the positions that are currently earmarked for migrants, he said.
“If we can start closing those mismatch gaps, we can start to bring more Kiwis back into these roles and develop their potential to move up the skills chain.”
