Get Ready to Move to New Zealand

Covid-19 disrupted the plans of many highly skilled migrants seeking a new life in New Zealand.

Borders have been closed to many seeking to process work visas.

As New Zealand reopens to the world there is strengthening possibility that those holding automotive trade qualifications such as, Diesel Mechanics, Automotive Technicians, Materials Handling Technicians and Auto Electricians may be well placed to move to New Zealand.

Our in-house licensed immigration adviser, Vanessa Godbaz makes the following comments:

“Immigration NZ has rolled out multiple changes to immigration policy in the last 3 years. One of the changes is to change the application process for employer assisted temporary work visas to an employer led model. This change meant employers wishing to employ skilled migrants would need a mandatory accreditation with Immigration NZ. The change was originally to be rolled out from November 2021.The policy was deferred till the 9th of May 2022 with the new Visa coming into effect on July 4, 2022.

While Immigration NZ has made no announcement as to when they will resume processing general work visa applications outside the critical worker categories there is finally some progress. On December 13, 2021, the government announced the creation of border class exceptions for 600 much-needed specialist tech workers. To be clear this does not include automotive trades professionals; the announcement is for those employed in the Digital Economy and Communications space. What is does show however is the government has considered New Zealand’s shortage of skilled tech workers to be important. Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications, Dr David Clark commented, ““Providing this border exception is part of the next step in Government’s carefully phased approach to reconnecting with the world”

We need to be careful not to interpret this article as a sure sign New Zealand is opening its borders for general skilled migrants. This said, the green light for the new employer accreditation now has a date. The acknowledgement of a careful approach to reconnecting NZ with the rest of the world is also an encouraging sign. The new Covid-19 Omicron variant is still a concern but, in my opinion, skilled migrants in the automotive trades sectors should start to get ready.

What this means and the next steps:

As there are now some positive signs of progress towards border openings our consultants are now accepting expressions of interest for those employed in the automotive trade sectors. This will be the first time since March 17, 2020, that Automotive Employment NZ will be accepting such enquiry.

While we are accepting these offshore applications of interest from automotive and heavy diesel trades personnel. This means that if you are employed as an Automotive Technician or Diesel Mechanic working on Trucks, Construction Equipment, Forklifts, Farm Machinery, Directional drilling equipment etc., these are the trades we are seeking to engage with now. We will also consider Auto Electricians.

All other categories such as sales and parts staff, administrators, service advisors, workshop controllers, warranty controllers, management, and various other categories will not be considered at this point in time: This is not because we do not wish to help, it is because unless other evidence emerges to the contrary, we do not view it possible to help in the immediate future. Our recommendation to those employees employed outside hands on technical automotive trades to continue to exercise caution. For those outside the technical hands on automotive trades areas if you carefully follow our posts we will attempt to give you as much advanced warning as possible as to the best time to begin the job application process.

What should you do now if you are a Trade qualified Technician wishing to move to New Zealand?

1. Click this link to go to the following job ad on our website for offshore technicians

2. Click the apply button on the job ad and upload your resume

3. Our recruitment team will be in touch with those applicants we feel we can begin to assist

Please note. While we have expressed encouraging signs, we repeat that no government announcement has been made as to Immigration NZ giving a date for processing employer assisted temporary work visas at this point in time. This is notification that we believe now is the time to get ready for those migrants fitting the categories we mentioned. Our view is that getting prepared now will place you at the front of the queue for securing employment if borders do open in the next few months.