Amendments to Immigration New Zealand’s Essential Skills in Demand (ESID) lists took place on 11th April.
The ESID Lists aim to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled migrants to fill skill shortages and to reduce costs and time delays for employers seeking staff. However, this objective must be balanced by the need to ensure that there are no suitably skilled or qualified New Zealand citizens or resident workers available to undertake the work, and that the shortage is genuine.
These changes implement the decisions previously announced on 18th December 2015 to:
– Add the following four occupations to the Immediate Skill Shortage List: Glazier, Sheet Metal Trade Worker, Metal Fabricator, and Surveying and Spatial Science Technician;
– Remove the following seven occupations in the oil and gas sector from the Immediate Skill Shortage List: Chemical Plant Operator, Occupational Health and Safety Advisor, Gas or Petroleum Operator, Production Manager, Geologist, Safety Inspector, and Geophysicist and Petrophysicist;
– Remove six other occupations from the Immediate Skill Shortage List: Accountant, Photographer (Medical), Chemist (including Analytical Chemist), Rheumatologist, Orthopaedic Surgeon, and Science Technician (Flat Weaving Specialist/ Technologist); and
– Remove two occupations from the Long Term Skill Shortage List: Social Worker, and Statistician (Fisheries Modeller).
The changes also update the requirements (for example, the qualifications and experience) which migrants need to satisfy to apply for a work visa or a residence visa using the skill shortage lists.
Further changes for Dairy and Beef Farming occupations will take effect on 30th May.
Article by David Fuller