The Government has brought the border’s total reopening forward to July 31 and announced major changes to immigration settings hoped to attract overseas workers.
The border will be fully open from 11:59pm July 31, when pre-departure testing requirements will also be dropped. The Government has also set out a new ‘green list’ to replace the skills shortage list. Workers can have their residency applications fast tracked and processed within 30 days if they are filling critical gaps, or within two years, on an accredited employer work visa.
“The early opening of the borders is necessary and not a moment too soon. [The Government] have clearly read the room, and realised they need to do something about our dwindling workforce and fast,” expressed Marisa Bidois, CEO of the Restaurant Association.
“Our industry desperately needs skilled workers and with more tourists set to arrive, our businesses need to be operating at 100 percent to help our sector recover. Those coming in on student and working holiday visas make up a critical part of our workforce, so we need to start getting those people into the country long before our summer high season.”
New sector agreements will be put in place later this year for the care, construction and infrastructure, meat processing, seafood, and the seasonal snow and adventure tourism sectors to provide for a short-term or ongoing need for access to lower-paid migrants.
Ardern also announced visa extensions for around 20,000 migrants already in the country, while a full resumption of international education will begin from July 31.
“94 percent of our members have indicated that they’ve found it extremely difficult to recruit for mid-high-level positions. Businesses should be able to rely on the immigration lever when talent cannot be found in the country,” continued Bidois.
“Whilst the transition arrangement on the immigration rebalance settings for hospitality sounds promising, we look forward to hearing more details on what that looks like. The announcement to extend some essential skills visas is also welcome news for our sector.
“We still have a number of ongoing concerns around the rebalance settings and what this will mean for our industry, and we look forward to meeting with Ministers in the coming weeks to further discussions about the future of hospitality in Aotearoa.”
Nash is leading a delegation to one of the first major international trade events by Tourism New Zealand since the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020 - The Tourism New Zealand Regional Showcase.
“Our tourism delegation will see major players join forces to highlight one message for Australia: New Zealand is open for tourism, travel and business events.”
