Zoe Hunter: Changes to skilled migrant visas letting all sides down

Tauranga bakery owner Frances Cooper, who has had just two days off in seven weeks, is struggling to fill crippling staff shortages because of revamped skilled migrant visa rules. Photo / Alex Cairns

Opinion

Picture this: You are a chef who has studied hard, learned on the job and become very good at what you do for three years.

But unless you’re earning $45 an hour and have a bachelor’s degree, the odds of pursuing your career in New Zealand could be limited.

That, to me, seems ridiculous.

No wonder Bay of Plenty business owners say revamped skilled migrant visa rules will do little to ease the global labour shortage - because the pay rates will be too high for employers to be able to afford them.

Changes to the Skilled Migrant Category, which come into force in October, were announced to make it easier for businesses to attract much-needed staff amid a global labour shortage.

The changes will remove the cap on highly skilled workers and introduce a new six-point system aimed at giving certainty to those workers on their eligibility, clearer criteria and a faster pathway to residence. The Accredited Employer Work Visa would also be extended to five years, and a five-year maximum continuous stay would be introduced.

Under the new points system, one of the ways a migrant could be eligible for a skilled migrant visa was if they had a minimum of two years’ work experience and a job or job offer of at least one and a half times the current median wage, or $44.49 an hour.

A migrant could also gain all six points from having a doctoral degree or having a job or job offer at three times the median wage, or $88.98 an hour.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) says the Government wants to ensure employers are offering “attractive” wages, conditions and training opportunities to New Zealanders before they look to hire migrants.

But businesses NZME spoke to after the announcement say they simply won’t be able to afford it.

Rotorua boss Deepak Kundal, who owns six businesses including Leonardo’s, the Beer Garden and CBK, says he was concerned that for an industry relying on overseas workers, the changed criteria for migrant chefs to qualify for residency was “unjustifiable” and “ridiculous”.

He says the changes meant one of his chefs - who has studied hard, learned properly and is “fabulous” at his job - would no longer be eligible to apply for residency or even extend his work visa after three years under the new changes. And even if he could, he would have to be earning a nearly $45 wage.

Tauranga bakery owner Frances Cooper says she wanted to hire skilled migrants, but what the Government wants them to earn is “excessive” and businesses simply can’t afford it.

Businesses are crying out for skilled workers and skilled workers want to work - but the pay rates are too high for bosses to fork out.

In my opinion, the changes are letting both skilled migrants and business owners down.

Zoe Hunter is an assistant news director covering business and property news for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She also writes for NZME’s regional business publication Money. Zoe has worked for NZME since 2017.