New Zealand, 22nd May: New Zealand has relaxed immigration norms for enabling Christchurch rebuild workers stay for longer period and move between employers.
So, this simply means foreign workers helping with the Christchurch rebuild can stay longer in New Zealand now.
Simpler New Zealand immigration rules—Foreign workers in lower-skilled occupations on an essential skills visa will now be able to live for three years rather than one year. The only requirement is that such foreign workers need apply between July 2015 and December 2016.
<blockquote> New Zealand government announced new simpler rules for foreign workers on essential skills visa provided they make an application between July this year and December 2016. </blockquote>
Immigrant workers can change employers within same occupation—New simpler New Zealand immigration rules for Christchurch rebuild mean foreign workers having essential skills visas working in Canterbury will now be allowed to change employers. However, they need to do so within the same occupation and they don’t need to apply for a variation of requirements.
Changes will help in recruitment, retention of expert foreign workers—New Zealand immigration minister Michael Woodhouse stated that the above stated changes will be of great help in recruitment and retention of expert workers required to rebuild Christchurch.
An accreditation program for labor hire firms recruiting and employing migrant workers on essential skills visas shall be announced for Canterbury construction sector.
Employers in New Zealand wanting to retain good immigrant workers for lower-skilled New Zealand jobs will not have to follow the process of applying each year for renewal of their visas. And migrant workers will enjoy the flexibility of switching between jobs easily.
New Zealand needs 5000 construction workers—New Zealand needs an extra 5000 construction workers for two years period for rebuild of Christchurch. This was revealed by an estimate by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
Flexible approach for fair treatment of migrant workers–Chief executive of Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce, Peter Townsend, said that employers will have to be on their toes to keep migrant workers happy under revised New Zealand immigration rules.
He stated that a new and more flexible approach will become effective in treatment of migrant workers fairly due to New Zealand immigration reforms.
Aim of new rules for New Zealand visas is to offer enhanced security to migrant workers for Christchurch rebuild.