Employers in Queenstown have taken Immigration Minister Ian Lees-Galloway to task over the insufficient immigration system which has left them struggling to find, and retain, staff. Lees-Galloway was in the popular resort town yesterday to meet with the Chamber of Commerce.
One café owner asked the minister for help to find workers, as well as streamlining the visa process for existing workers.
"I'm just a small business,” the owner explained. “I have seven staff. Six of them are on visas. I only have one New Zealander and in fact she's from the Czech Republic but she has permanent residency."
"When we do find good staff the longest they can stay with us is a year then they have to apply again and now there's a rule that they can only do that three times," another employer said.
Lees-Galloway acknowledged that there were special factors in Queenstown’s difficulties in finding staff.
"You guys have some really particular needs here that might mean a long-term plan that delivers for other parts of the country might still mean that you guys have got a tougher road to hoe."
