New Zealand New Visa Rules: After Australia and Canada tightened visa rules to curb the number of immigrants, New Zealand has also increased the qualification requirements for foreigners to get jobs in the country. This move is likely to affect Indians looking for employment in New Zealand.
With the new visa guidelines, the New Zealand government aims to control the influx of migrants deemed ‘unsuitable’ for entry into the country.
The new guidelines include English language proficiency, work experience and skills criteria. It also reduces the period of stay on a work visa from 5 years to 3 years.
New Zealand’s Immigration Minister Erica Stanford on Sunday announced amendments to the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV).
Introduced in 2022 to ease workforce shortages due to the pandemic and lockdown, the AEWV serves as the main temporary work visa. Stanford said visa restrictions would be beneficial for migrant rights.
The new rules could essentially make it harder for Indians and other immigrants from countries outside the Anglosphere to come and work in New Zealand.
What do the figures say?
According to data from ENZ.org (affiliated with the New Zealand government), around 18,000 Indians have migrated to the country since 2011. The 2018 NZ Census revealed that Indians constitute about 4.7 percent of New Zealand’s total population.
In October 2023, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that there are approximately 250,000 persons of Indian origin and NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) in New Zealand, the majority of whom are permanently settled there.
The statement said a record 173,000 people moved to New Zealand last year, which has a population of about 5.1 million.
