Immigration New Zealand (INZ) changes documents required for work visa application

Most work visas that New Zealand issues are essential skills work visas, which require an employer to show that they are not able to find New Zealand citizens suitable for the job or good enough to be trained for the job.

It needs the employer to prove that attempts were sincerely made to propagate information about the job to residents of New Zealand. In addition, the employer also needs to explain the grounds on which New Zealand applicants were not deemed fit or trainable for that job.

The employers must provide this information in an Employer Supplementary Form.

Starting from 11 April, employers need to work with WINZ (Work and Income New Zealand) to fill vacancies for low-skilled jobs in order for them to recommend a work visa application for a foreigner.

Along with the Employer Supplementary Form to be filled in by an employer the SMR (Skills Match Report) from WINZ must be attached.

As per INZ, low-skilled jobs are level 4 and 5 jobs, which include hotel housekeepers, waiters, labourers, lorry drivers, industrial spray painters, etc.

In order for the job to be filled by a migrant worker, it has to be listed with WINZ. Only if WINZ is convinced that there are no New Zealanders qualified enough for the job, will it issue the SMR. After this is done, the employer gives the employee the SMR to fill in at the same time when the Employer Supplementary Form is being prepared. The employee then has to submit the SMR and the form along with the work visa application.

This process is, however, not applicable in Canterbury, where employers need to interact with the Canterbury Skills and Employment Hub, instead of WINZ.