Employers will lose the opportunity to hire migrants if they do not make sufficient effort to employ unemployed New Zealanders, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said.
Stanford said that over 1 in 6 employers seeking to hire a migrant either did not contact the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to find candidates for lower-skilled positions or failed to adequately advertise the job.
During the Association for Migration and Investment’s annual conference, she said there are 20,000 more unemployed New Zealanders since accredited work visas began to be issued in 2022.
Many migrants hold visas allowing a maximum stay of three years, which means they must leave the country for at least a year unless they switch to another visa type, such as residence.
Thousands of overseas workers who arrived after the pandemic have visas that will expire within the next few months.
“It is not negotiable for employers to not work with MSD in good faith and try to employ New Zealanders into skilled roles first,” Stanford said.
“So there will be thousands of New Zealanders who are looking for work and who are not eligible for a benefit because of their household income. So they really do need to test the market and work with MSD, both of those things.”
“It’s not a reflection on the individual migrants or their contribution to businesses or how much an employer might want them to stay. It’s a reflection on the fact that we have New Zealanders who are desperate for jobs and need to be given the first opportunity for those.”
Their accreditation will be withdrawn if they do not comply.
According to Stanford, recent data submitted to MSD and MBIE reveals that about 17% of job checks for level 4 and 5 positions between March and July this year failed to meet the criteria for contacting MSD.
“In around 5% of these cases, the employer had a warning-level concern, such as differences between the job details provided to MSD and subsequently to INZ for the job check.”
“Around 11% resulted in a revocation referral letter concern level, as when there was an employer who hadn’t actually gone to MSD at all.”
“I’ve been very clear with Immigration New Zealand that where employers do not do so, I am comfortable with their accreditation being revoked. If they can’t find someone, then they can apply for a job check. But they need to do that in good faith.”
“The economic context in New Zealand has changed significantly since 2022 when the borders reopened. And if a migrant is reaching the end of their three-year visa and they’re not eligible for another visa, then they will need to leave New Zealand, and these employers will need to genuinely look to recruit New Zealanders into these roles.”
“Now, Immigration New Zealand is working really closely with MSD, where there are… our employers with a number of employees who’ll be reaching the end of their MCS [visas] in the coming months. We’ve identified who they are, and we’ve gone in, and we’re working with those big employers.”