New Zealand issues highest ever work visas in 2016-17

New Zealand issued the highest ever numbers of work visas in the FY 2016-17, as over 226,000 people received it, an increase of 17,000 from 2015-16 and the number will continue to rise, said its government. The work visa numbers have been on a steady growth path since 2011. The biggest increases were seen in the study-to-work visa category, as their numbers increased by 6,000, while the working holiday visas rose by 5,000. On the other hand, in other categories, however, such as the essential skills visa, the increase was insignificant. Michael Woodhouse, Immigration Minister, was quoted by Radio New Zealand as saying that due to these figures he believed that migrants were not taking away jobs from New Zealanders. He said that most of the overseas students who do not have work rights are not employed, excepting for 20 percent of them. The working holidaymakers arriving in New Zealand work a bit and spend a bit. He believed that they are being employed in occupations that New Zealanders on a permanent basis would not be. Woodhouse said the central to this was the essential skills work visa, as that's where they needed to test if a Kiwi is available for the job, and he saw that it had dropped considerably since their government came to power. The largest number of nationalities to be issued work visas were Indians (37,000), followed by Britons (24,000) and Chinese (21,000). This government said in the fourth week of July that it would again go through the changes mooted by it earlier in the year to skilled migrant visas, following complaints it received from some industries that depend on migrant workers. In the new rules proposed that would be effective from August, migrant workers should earn at least NZ$48,000 for jobs to be considered skilled. In addition, immigrants would have to leave the country for at least a year after having worked three years there. If you are looking to migrate to New Zealand, get in touch with Y-Axis, a reputed consultancy firm that provides immigration services, to apply for a work visa.