Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists

Santa dropped by Immigration New Zealand, a little early this year. The Government has today announced changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme, being phased in from January 2025. The highlights are: ➡️ Reducing the minimum experience requirement for lower skilled migrants to two years. ➡️Increasing the visa duration for new applicants in Level 4-5 roles from two to three years to align with the maximum continuous stay. ➡️Extending interim work rights to AEWV applicants who are applying from any work visa type or from a student visa that allows them to work during term time. This will support migrants to maintain employment while their visa is processed. ➡️Reduce the domestic workforce threshold for labour hire employers of certain construction roles from 35 to 15 per cent. ➡️Amending the labour market test to a declaration-based model. Employers will need to advertise with MSD and be able to demonstrate they considered New Zealanders who applied for any role in good faith. ➡️Inflation adjusting the income threshold for an AEWV holder to support a dependent child from NZ$43,322 to NZ$55,844. ➡️“Immigration New Zealand is also undertaking a re-design of the Job Check step of the AEWV process to allow for greater streamlining for low-risk employers. It is my expectation processing times improve further as a result. Overall some smart moves here, particularly in terms of removing the median wage threshold, although this will take us back to the good old days or more stringent market rate testing. It will be interesting to see how the labour market testing is adjusted and what constitutes a "low-risk" employer as well. So some devil to be seen in the detail, but overall these are a positive step forward for the process. The Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists team will be breaking this down in our forthcoming newsletter (last one for 2024). #aewv #workvisas #skilledmigrants #residence #accreditation #inz #nzimmigration

It's a tricky one to be sure and indeed, being asked to comment on this particular issue, had me in two minds. On the one hand, I do have significant empathy for anyone in this situation, having established themselves here, passing one medical assessment, to then be caught out by a second assessment, preventing them from staying permanently. The challenge is, and many migrants don't appreciate that we have different medical assessments for visa applicants, depending on whether they are applying for a temporary or permanent stay and within each of those assessments are various requirements. You also cannot contract yourself out of public healthcare, even if you can afford to pay the bills - because it isn't always about the cost. NZ needs to assess the risk and burden to our health system as well as what the financial implications might be. Ultimately this will be a decision for the Associate Minister to make, and not an easy one. Perhaps however for those people coming here on a temporary visa first, but with a view to stay permanently we could alter the system to try and identify issues that might prevent that plan, at the very start. Not a hard thing to do and could avoid similar situations. Further comments from the Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists team in the 1News story below. #inzmedical #medicalwaiver #visas #inz #workvisas #residentvisas #permanentresidence #ash #healthcare

This week the Associate Minister of Immigration, u-turned a previous INZ decision to decline Candace Owens a visa. Why is this important - well for any applicant looking to come here for any legitimate purpose, the process has to be fair and balanced. That then begs the question as to whether the decision to decline was either of those two things. The Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists team takes a closer look at what happened, why and what all of this means in terms of the bigger immigration picture. #visas #candaceowens #minister #visaapproved #inz

If you are thinking about your next big move this holiday season, why not attend one of our free immigration seminars. 📅 24 January, 7am, NZ Time. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/g8WpSjia 🖥️ Hosted on Zoom Our seminars cover a variety of topics including the latest visa updates, an overview of Work, Student, Visitor and Residence pathways, as well as useful tips on how to seek out employment in New Zealand. Seminars last for 60 minutes and you will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the event. Register your interest now, using the link above or visiting our website. Join Paul Janssen and the Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists team and find out if New Zealand is the right move for you. #immigrationseminar #nzvisa #visaseminar #relocationseminar #movetonz #residence #skilledmigration #workvisas #studentvisas

The holidays are nearly upon us and for some, they might be hoping that Santa delivers a Visa under the tree this year. It can be a difficult time of year for those, waiting on a an outcome on a visa application, particularly as INZ closes down over the Christmas and New Year period. Remember, to make sure you run through your visa checklist before the holidays: - Temporary visa expiry dates in order ✅ - Travel conditions on your Resident Visa still valid (particularly if you are planning to leave the country) ✅ - If INZ have requested more information you have responded in time or requested an extension ✅ If you are heading towards the holiday season, but still have some immigration issues to iron out, then the Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists team are still available. We will be on leave from 20 December to 13 January, except for emergencies. #christmas #inz #visas #workvisas #travelconditions #permanentresidence

Computer says....well we hope it says approved. As AI takes more and more of a hold over almost everything we do, it will inevitably find its way further into the visa process. INZ already uses some very basic automated processes as part of its system, however there is potential for this to increase. However, is that really achievable and if it did happen and AI was deciding your application, what would that mean for applicants in the future? This week the team at Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists take a look at the very cool, but also a little scary world of Visas and AI. #artificialintelligence #visas #inz #nzvisas #residence #decisionmaking #workvisas

Do you really need an immigration adviser? Funny question for me to answer, given what I do, but one I get asked quite a lot. There are plenty of advisers out there, who "sell the fear" when the reality is, most skilled migrants are in fact skilled enough to navigate this process on their own. The question is, would you want to? Would you want to market and sell your own property, write your own will or secure your own mortgage? These are all things you can do on your own, but most people don't have the time to learn how, or want to take the risk in potentially getting it wrong. For a more detailed answer to this question, have a listen to the video below (and yes that's me - Paul Janssen). #adviser #licensedadviser #visaadvice #migrating #nzimmigration #skilledmigrants

As the year slowly winds to a close, we would like to wish everyone a very safe and enjoyable holiday season. Our offices will be closed from Friday, 20 December 2024 (3pm) and opening again on Monday, 13 January 2025. Merry Christmas from the the team at Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists

For many people today will come with a great sense of relief as INZ allows partners, who hold "open work visas" with conditions to file a variation of those conditions to allow them to work for anyone, including non-Accredited employers and for any wage (usual minimum wage requirements apply). This change doesn't apply to absolutely everyone of course and there are some restrictions on who can secure this variation of conditions, but it is going to open up a lot of opportunity for a lot of current partner to a worker, work visa holders. A smart move, by the current Government and potentially useful in being able to attract more skilled migrants in the future. There will inevitably be a lot of people rushing in to file these applications, who may not qualify and so if you are not sure, and just want to confirm what options exist for you (or to consider longer terms options such as residence), get in touch with the Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists team today. #variationofconditions #partnerworkvisa #aewv #partnervisa #workvisa

The silly season appears to have arrived, and we have had a pretty silly week within the NZ visa world. This week, we take a look at some of the things that aren't so obvious to most migrants, but can be the cause of a lot of stress and grief. From expiring travel conditions on your Resident Visa, that can create major upsets to your holiday plans, through to how working remotely as a visitor can put you in hot water. Stay tuned for more pre-holiday immigration advice from the Turner Hopkins Immigration Specialists team. #nzvisas #remotework #digitalnomads #ishowspeed #migration #immigration #INZ