The Queen City Law’s team lead by Marcus Beveridge, Managing Director, along with Tina Hwang and Bradley So, Senior Associates and Andrew Nah, Law Clerk, share their insights on 2021 Resident Visa 
The Government is currently phasing in a new residency category that give workers the ability to obtain residency faster and easier than ever. In fact, the Prime Minister has described this as the single biggest immigration change in our lifetime as it anticipates issuing residence to 165,000 people. However, this is designed to be a special one-time only opportunity, so it is important to go through the basics and see what the eligibility criteria is.
To put it simply, the eligibility criteria can be split into 2 sections. For the first section, you must have been in New Zealand on 29 September. You must also be on, or have applied for, an eligible work visa by 29 September. However, there is an exception for critical workers as they are eligible as long as they arrive in New Zealand by 31 July 2022.
The list for eligible work visas is fairly extensive and it covers most work visas. This includes common work visas like Post-Study, Essential Skills, and Talent (Accredited Employer). However, short-term visa holders such as visitors, students, and seasonal workers will not be eligible for residency.
The second section splits into three sub-categories. You only need to meet one of these to be eligible for the new 2021 Residency Visa. These sub-categories are:
- Lived in New Zealand for at least 3 years;
- Earn at or above the median wage ($27 an hour);
- or Work in a role on a scarcity list.
For the “lived in New Zealand for at least 3 years” sub-category, you must have been in New Zealand by 29 September 2018 at the latest and you need to have spent a minimum of 821 days in the country. This means you would need to have spent a significant majority of those 3 years in New Zealand, about 75% of the time. You don’t need to spend all 821 days in New Zealand in a single block. Its fine if you have left the country and came back, as long as you came back before 29 September and you have spent 821 days here in total.
For the “earn at least $27 an hour” sub-category, you must have been paid this on 29 September 2021. Unfortunately, getting a pay-raise now will not guarantee you will be eligible for residency under this category. Note that this is premised upon a minimum of 30 hours a week.
Finally, the “role on a scarcity list” sub-category refers to people on shortage lists like the Long Term Skill Shortage List as well as certain jobs related to health and education.
With the basics out of the way, it’s time to discuss the effects and consequences this new residency category will cause. Naturally, this is a prime opportunity for of you to secure a residence visa even if you couldn’t do so before. If you are employing anyone on a work visa who is interested in residency, it would be a smart idea to support your employees’ with their application. Regularising their immigration status removes risk of disruption to your construction projects – immigration woes can stop an employee from working temporarily or even force them to leave the country. This can cause additional delays and costs to projects.
Assisting your employees through their residency process may also help foster loyalty, meaning that your crew are more willing to stay with you than jump ship and find work elsewhere. Again, this helps avoid delays caused by having to replace staff.
The 2021 Resident Visa is also available for workers who have an existing residency application, such as a Skilled Migrant Category expression of interest, and they will most likely find it faster and easier to re-apply for residency under this category instead.
Employers will surely be aware that even with increased apprenticeships, New Zealand’s current internal labour force simply cannot cover all the necessary positions that need filling. It is inevitable that employers need to rely on hiring migrant workers and keep them for as long as possible. With the current border closure in place, the supply of new labour has slowed to a trickle. It is therefore imperative that employers do what they can to retain their employees, as there is no guarantee that a replacement will be readily available. In some extreme cases, sometimes positions can remain vacant for months.
This problem should be avoided, so we would recommend that employers offer to assist employees with their application. For example, you could offer to pay for some or all of the reasonably modest costs associated with the application process – this will definitely be valued by your employees. Retention of good employees is critical, especially if you are concerned that they might leave you once they have residency. You can circumvent this by making an agreement where you will cover the costs of the residency application, but the employee must pay it back if they leave within 2 years.
The construction sector regularly relies on migrant workers as a source of labour. It is no big secret that Aotearoa has a critical skill shortage in this sector and there simply isn’t enough tradies being trained in New Zealand to sustain the industry. This is why savvy employers should keep an eye out for any big immigration updates that may impact their workforce. There will be more migrant workers available once the border opens up again, but we would recommend steering away from labour hire companies that charge $45-$55 an hour per worker. It would be more cost effective in the long term to support a migrant worker on a work visa instead, so we would recommend contacting immigration specialists to help with this.
The full policy of the 2021 Resident Visa haven’t been released yet, the finer details remain uncertain. Understanding immigration policies and all of their foibles, like how it interacts with other immigration policies and how to accurately interpret the policy, can be difficult for people without any specialist immigration experience. We would recommend using a specialist in the field to make sure that the application process is as smooth and easy as possible. There is no reason to take a risk with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for residency, especially if employees are planning on including their family with their application – many of whom will be offshore.
We note that there are several other standard eligibility criteria that hasn’t been mentioned under the 2021 Resident Visa announcement. These include character and health checks, verifying relationships, confirming employment status, and more. Project managing the required documents and information, as well as explaining to Immigration New Zealand how a worker meets all of the eligibility criteria, is never as easy as you think. This is especially true if you plan on applying under the scarcity list sub-category or if you plan on coming in as a critical worker. These have very specific definitions and qualifying for them is no easy feat.
The 2021 Resident Visa is a great opportunity for employers in the construction industry to reinforce their workforce and remove immigration status as a worry. Once your personnel are residents there are no longer any further immigration compliance obligations. Keeping your workers in New Zealand is a small upfront cost but will pay dividends in the future, so we recommend that everyone confirm their eligibility and apply as soon as they can.
The 2021 Resident Visa is limited to 165,000 migrants, so it is important to get the application done quickly but correctly to avoid missing out. Again, we strongly recommend that all applicants consult immigration specialists to ensure the application process and doesn’t become a cumbersome headache.
On the morning of 22 October the Deputy PM announced that businesses may be eligible for a $3000 grant. We have not seen any further details but assume that companies will be able to access this money for consulting and legal services which may well include HR considerations.
Marcus Beveridge is the Managing Director of Queen City Law. His main areas of practice are construction and property law, commercial law, foreign investment, real estate services and immigration. Marcus brings something special to his legal practice. For further information, contact Marcus via email: marcus@queencitylaw.co.nz
Tina Hwang is a Senior Associate of Queen City Law and is the Property Team Leader. After more than 10 years with award winning Boutique law firm, Queen City Law, Tina mainly practises in construction and litigation. For further information, contact Tina via email:tina@queencitylaw.co.nz
Bradley So is a Senior Associate at Queen City Law and he manages the immigration team. Bradley specialises in Business Migration, Foreign Investments and Commercial Law. For further information, contact Bradley via email: bradley@queencitylaw.co.nz
Andrew Nah was admitted to the New Zealand High Court as a Barrister and Solicitor in 2018 and currently supports the immigration law team, assisting with visas and general immigration matters. For further information, contact Andrew via email: andrew@queencitylaw.co.nz
