Deadline looms for Kiwi businesses to become accredited migrant employers

Tuesday, 22 June 2021

Senga Allen from recruitment firm Everest says there is a “war on talent” as skilled staff are hard to find.

Waikato employers are among 26,000 around the country scrambling to understand new laws which dictate they must be accredited to hire migrants after November 1.

The Government is phasing out its six migrant visa categories and combining them into one scheme which put more responsibility on the employer.

Those who wanted to hire migrants must first become accredited, demonstrating they were a good employer and their business was financially sound.

If they advertised a job, they must be able to show there were no Kiwis suitable for the role. Once that had been determined, the job was available for a migrant to apply for.

Federated Farmers immigration spokesman Chris Lewis says the Government needs to invest in more training for young people keen to work in agriculture.

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Immigration New Zealand staff Rob Perry and Josh Kennedy say a new software system will handle processing applications for the new visa scheme.

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The new visa scheme was the topic of a meeting set up by immigration advisers New Zealand Shores at Zealong Tea Estate near Hamilton on Tuesday.

New Zealand Shores immigration advisers Allan Crome and Sarah Coombes Crome say they are already busy helping business owners prepare applications to become accredited migrant employers.

More than 100 business owners turned up to hear speakers from Immigration New Zealand, Federated Farmers, Waikato Chamber of Commerce and New Zealand Shores.

Senga Allen, from recruitment firm Everest, was also one of the presenters and said there was a “war on talent” at the moment because the labour market was so tight.

“Hamilton City Council has 170 vacancies right now.

“This gives you a sense of what’s going on in the market … we just can’t find enough people.”

Employers should not “faff around” when it came to recruitment and needed to be more proactive, more interested in what employees wanted.

Allen said employers must be prepared to accept help with their applications to become accredited migrant employers before the November 1 deadline.

“There are many good recruitment agencies that can guide you through the process.

“And once you hire your staff, retain them, do not take them for granted because they will find somewhere else to go.”

Federated Farmers immigration spokesman Chris Lewis said dairy farmers were facing their second season with skilled job vacancies they could not fill.

“I looked at the Farm Source jobs website and there were still more than 1100 positions listed.

“We start calving here in the Waikato in a few weeks and there will be understaffing in some teams which affects the running of your business.”

Lewis, spotting Labour MP Jamie Strange in the crowd, said the best investment the Government could make would be on skills and training to help more young people choose a career working on the land.

“Not every kid is going to be suitable for university so we need skills and training for young people in farming, right from that college age.”

Employers were not short of questions for Immigration New Zealand staff Josh Kennedy and Rob Perry.

Some wanted to know how the Government was going to process a flood of accreditation applications on November 1 and how a business would be classified as “financially viable”. In dairy, for example, there was a cycle in which some milk payout years were better than others.

Kennedy said Immigration New Zealand had invested in new software geared to process the applications quickly, although some of the details were yet to be finalised and Minister of Immigration Kris Faafoi had yet to review and sign off on the new scheme.

New Zealand Shores principal immigration adviser Sarah Coombes Crome said Waikato would represent a big chunk of the 26,000 business owners likely to apply to become accredited migrant employers.

“I would say Waikato could be a third of that. We’ve got manufacturing, a big dairy sector, and everywhere you look in Hamilton, there is construction.

“You can’t get a builder, plumber, civil engineer or a construction manager.”

She said New Zealand Shores was already busy helping businesses make sure they met the requirements for the new visa scheme, so they were ready to apply on November 1.