A Glance of New Pathways to NZ Residence

On 12 December 2022, New Zealand's immigration minister, Michael Wood, announced a package of initiatives to help the country's businesses cope with the global labour shortage and attract more highly skilled workers on a long-term basis, which includes the expansion of Green List.

What is Green List? New Pathway to Residence!

From 5 September 2022, the Green List was added to the INZ system. Only a small number of highly skilled occupations that have been identified as being in ongoing demand in New Zealand are included on the Green List. Eligible migrants working in these occupations will have clear pathways to residence, either through a direct application for residence (Tier 1 occupations – Straight to Residence) or after working for in New Zealand for 2 years (Tier 2 occupations-Work to Residence). Both residence pathways will only be open to immigrants 55 years of age or younger, in line with the requirements of the Skilled Migrant Category.

From 15 December 2022, registered nurses and midwives will move from the Work to Residence to the Straight to Residence Green List pathway. All medical doctors will also be included on the Straight to Residence pathway.

Roles added to Green List straight to residence tier Registered nurses (on 15 December 2022)

• Midwives (on 15 December 2022)
• Specialist doctors not already on the Green List (on 15 December 2022)
• Registered Auditors (from March 2023)

It was also announced that the following professions will be added to the Work to Residence Green List pathway from March 2023:

• Civil construction supervisors
• Gasfitters
• Drain layers
• Skilled crane operators
• Skilled civil machine operators
• Halal slaughterers
• Skilled motor mechanics
• Skilled telecommunications technicians
• All secondary school teachers (in addition to the specialisations already on the Green List)
• Primary school teachers

The Green List will next be reviewed in mid-2023. For the full list on INZ’ s website, please click Green List Checker

Not on the List? You can get residency if you are high-paid!

There is chance for you to get NZ residency if you are paid at least twice NZ medium wage (currently NZD$55.52 per hour) over 24-month period while working in New Zealand. The other requirements are quite similar to that of Work to Residence. A more interesting thing is that you can combine the work experience in Tier 2 green list and highly-paid role to meet the 24-month requirement.

Skilled Migrant Category Resumed and New Points System Coming

The skilled Migrant Category was resumed in November 2022 after a long pause since Covid-19 Pandemic. INZ has cleared SMC pool who scored 160 or more. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is seeking views on proposed new settings for the Skilled Migrant Category residence visa, which will be in place in mid-2023.

The key proposal is to introduce a new, simplified points system. It focuses on granting residency to people who can meet medium- to long-term skill needs that would be difficult or take time to be filled on the domestic labor market.

With the new system, applicants must have at least 6 points to be eligible. This can be made up from:

• 3 to 6 points based on either professional registration, qualifications or income; and
• 1 point per year of working in New Zealand in a skilled job, up to a maximum of 3 points. All applicants must have a job or a job offer in New Zealand and be paid at least median wage.

Chart: Proposed Future Points System

Under the new settings, there will be no cap on the number of eligible applications that can be processed. This is different from the old skilled migrant category which operates as per a residence quota called NZRP. If migrant flows return to pre-COVID levels, a higher number of people are expected to gain residence every year, even with a tighter skill threshold than the current points system.

After the long border closure, New Zealand finally is fully open to the world. If you missed 2021 Resident Visa, you still have clear pathways to gain residence in NZ. Just contact us and we can tailor the plan for you!