IMMIGRATION LAW UPDATE RACHAEL MASON
Securing work visas for migrant workers in the post-COVID world The coronavirus pandemic will leave thousands of Kiwis without jobs. So what impact will this seismic shift in unemployment have on our local labour market and the ability of employers to hire migrant workers in the coming months? What should employers who have already employed migrant workers expect when it comes time to renew their visas? Rachael Mason, Partner at Lane Neave, provides answers to these and other questions.
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ew Zealand has changed – and so will our immigration policy. With thousands of Kiwis left unemployed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, a critical part of New Zealand’s recovery, both economically, and from a wellbeing perspective, will be to get the country working again. In the postCOVID world, government policies will be geared towards reducing unemployment. In terms of our immigration system, this will result in much tougher policy requirements needing to be met before a migrant worker can be offered a job. To ensure genuine efforts have been made to hire a Kiwi, any visa applications submitted by migrant workers, based on a job offer being made for a job that could go to a 28
HUMAN RESOURCES
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Kiwi, will come under increased scrutiny. Any future application will need to ensure that the employer has satisfied the labour market test (LMT) and broader policy criteria. The priority will be on making sure that Kiwis get first crack at job vacancies, so the expectations on employers to place ‘Kiwis first’ will be much greater. This expectation will be true in relation to employers of migrant workers across almost every industry sector and from highly skilled, specialist roles through to entry-level ‘low-skilled’ roles that require little or no formal education or training. In short, there will be fewer visas to go around, and an increase in the number of applications challenged and/or declined. In this new environment, for employers who have come to rely on migrant workers in their business, challenges lie ahead.
Labour market test
Our most common work visa category is the Essential Skills work visa. For an Essential Skills work visa to be issued, the LMT must first be satisfied. The LMT requires that the employer has made genuine efforts to recruit a New Zealand citizen or resident who is suitably qualified by training and/or work experience for the role or who can ‘readily be trained’ to take up the work on offer. The LMT requires the role to be advertised via a national newspaper or website and, for lower-skilled roles to be listed with Work and Income. To show that the LMT is met, employers will be expected to conduct a genuine recruitment campaign, including interviewing any candidates who appear suitable for the role. A detailed explanation of why New Zealand citizen or resident
