51,338 foreigners entered New Zealand on work visas through the first quarter of 2024, as revealed by the Ministry of Enterprise Innovation and Employment.

The best variety of overseas employees was recorded in January (20,200), adopted by February (16,018) and March (15,120), VisaGuide.World studies.

The lower over the previous three months coincided with New Zealand’s introduction of stricter visa laws in response to issues about unsustainable migration.

Extra particularly, on April 7, 2024, the federal government launched a number of modifications aiming to tighten the necessities concerning Accredited Employer Work visa (AEWV).

Commenting on the updates, New Zealand’s Migration Minister Erica Stanford additional defined that the federal government goals to attract and preserve extremely expert migrants, like secondary lecturers, who’re in a scarcity of abilities.

On the similar time, we have to make sure that New Zealanders are put on the entrance of the road for jobs the place there are not any abilities shortages.

Govt Launched English Language Requirement For Low-Expert Candidates

One of many modifications the federal government launched on April 7 is the English language requirement for migrants making use of for low-skilled degree 4 and 5 positions. Stanford famous that implementing an English language requirement would assist migrants perceive their rights and deal with any issues with their employers extra successfully.

Moreover, low-skilled candidates can now keep in New Zealand for 3 years as a substitute of the earlier five-year interval. New modifications additionally embody setting minimal ability and work expertise necessities for many occupations.

Moreover, the Work to Residence pathway for bus and truck drivers is not going to settle for new candidates because the reported shortages that prompted its creation have been resolved. The federal government additional revealed they won’t embody 11 jobs, equivalent to welders and fitters, on the Inexperienced Listing as they’d deliberate.

These steps enhance the scheme’s integrity and can assist to stop migrant exploitation, following suggestions from the latest Bestwick evaluation, which discovered severe points with the AEWV processes.

Over 1 Million Individuals Arrived in New Zealand Throughout Q1

General, a couple of million people entered New Zealand through the first quarter of 2024, as revealed by the official knowledge.

Relating to the visa kind, nearly all of them entered the nation on customer visas (602,404), adopted by Australian (274,417), resident (158,867) and work (51,338) visas.