Posts with tag: skills

Letters from the Southern Man

Migrating is more than just filling in forms and submitting paperwork, its a complex process that will test even the most resilient of people. 

Understanding New Zealand is paramount to your immigration survival and to give you a realistic view of the country, its people and how we see the world, read our weekly Southern Man blogs. Often humorous, sometimes challenging, but always food for thought.

Four Golden Rules Sorely Tested

 

I think I have in the past shared with you my four golden rules for surviving the immigration process with some of your mental faculties left intact:

1. Assume nothing about your eligibility
2. Suspend logic – there is little to be found in the visa process
3. There’s a good chance when you think you understand the rules your Visa will be processed by an immigration officer who does not understand the rules
4. Don’t believe everything you read on the Immigration Department’s website

If this sounds a little uncharitable to the Department become a client of ours and you will very soon see what I mean.

Only this week I can give you good examples of all four rules in action.

Last week I wrote of the little drama over claims coming from the Christchurch Branch Work Visa Manager that he and his colleagues were going to ‘get tough on those entering New Zealand as visitors and subsequently applying for Work Visas’. This was obviously a real concern because entering New Zealand as a visitor with a view to exploring the country and checking it out (including employment opportunities) as a visitor is entirely lawful. If someone decides they like it, they find a job and wish to apply for a Work Visa that is not only entirely lawful but the way the labour market works. The Work Visa Manager in Christchurch expressed his surprise that employers and recruiters demanded to interview applicants in person and in New Zealand.

I asked his boss, the Branch Manager, to both explain what her position on those comments were and to consider granting my client a short term Work Visa as an exception while we resolved a relatively minor health issue that was holding things up.

If you recall both the case officer and the Work Visa Manager had flatly refused to consider this simple request.

To her credit she agreed and the client is now working with a 12 month work visa granted as an exception.

She has also in a nice sort of way put her employee back in his box by confirming my understanding of the law is accurate.

Which is good news for the city of Christchurch because if they wish to avoid living in the ruins of their downtown for all eternity this office is going to need to take a sensible and pragmatic approach to the conflicts that exist across Visitor, Work and Residence Visa policies and take a ’big picture’ approach to those, like my client, who travel to New Zealand as visitors, establish they are employable, establish this is a country they wish to settle in, secure work and apply for work visas followed, quite legitimately, by Residence Visas.

The Government could of course assist the officers in their task quite simply.

If a person has been selected from the skilled migrant pool with a job offer and they have been invited to apply for residence, the prima facie claim to that residence has been established. While we know that guarantees nothing in terms of Residence Visa outcomes and significant numbers of people who are invited to apply for residence are subsequently declined (often through no fault of their own) surely the creation of a temporary class of Work Visa for these people does not threaten the integrity of the immigration process?

To do so of course would be a clear breach of Golden rule # 2……

I have also been analysing some statistics on skilled migrant approval, decline and work to residence rates for INZ London, Beijing and Shanghai branches as part of our ongoing monitoring of decisions in those markets.

Those of you that have been reading this blog for a while will know that skilled migrant decline rates coming out of China two years ago were significant and hovered around 80% in Shanghai and Beijing for some time. After months of work and investigation we were able to force change on the Chinese branches which has led to the decline rates plummeting for all applicants. Although none of our cases were being declined we were being asked constantly to help those that had been declined who used other agents or had tried negotiating the process themselves.

In the latest statistics Work To Residence (WTR) Visa decisions still dominate with Shanghai granting around 80% of all Skilled Migration applicants the WTR visa and Beijing coming in just behind at 75%. Without tempting fate (or immigration officers) I can confirm that all of our clients since these officers were given ‘refresher training’ in the policy some 18 or so months ago have been granted Residence Visas following their interviews without leaving home.

Officers in those two Chinese branches continue to appear to ask them after the interview – ‘Is there any compelling reason why I should grant this family a Residence Visa?’ when the question policy actually asks is ‘Is there any compelling reason why I should not grant this family Residence Visas?”

While the fact that decline rates have plummeted is a vast improvement it is clear the de facto position of these two branches is to think that a Work Visa is the most appropriate outcome for applicants from their ‘catchment’. They expect virtually everyone they want to approve residence to get on planes, fly to New Zealand, find employment and then secure their residence.

When their colleagues in London continue to grant Residence Visas to the significant majority (upwards of 80%) of applicants from their markets of Europe, Africa, North and South America one can only ask why? What is the difference between Brazilian, German, French and Swiss applicants all of whom have English as a second language (and processed in London) and a Singaporean, Filipino and Malaysian most of whom have English as a first language (processed in China)?

Are Germans more employable in New Zealand than Singaporeans? Not in my experience. Are French more employable than Malaysians? Not in my experience.

So you see what I mean about my four golden rules – so much depends not on what category you apply under, whether that be temporary Work Visa or skilled migrant Residence Visa – it is where your visa is processed that is the single biggest indicator of the outcome on your application.

And that is quite wrong.

Until next week.

Southern Man - Iain MacLeod

 

Engineers, Websites and Seminars...

 

Back behind the desk as summer continues its balmy journey out my window. No more fresh sea breezes or sun on the face, only the gentle, occasional waft of bus exhaust fumes seeping in my window from Queen Street, the only light that provided by fluorescent tubes and the shriek of seabirds replaced by the wail of sirens and parping horns. And people everywhere.

I would almost add, how depressing - but it isn’t. I have been away and enjoying sun, sea, surf, friends and family for the past three weeks but the truth is I took all my clients with me. What I love about living in the 21st century is being able to stay in touch with my team in the office (or wherever they were during their holidays) and clients from the comfort of a lounger on the deck up north at my beach house. Thanks to Mr Jobs and the good folk at Apple.

We rounded off the holiday with another fantastic coastal walk last week from Sandy Bay to Whananki (Google Earth it and add it to your things to do when you can).  A big cloudless sky overhead, a warm day saw eight of us wandering a gravel service road through steep rugged coastal farmland for about 7kms. Wonderful but that is a story for another Southern Man Letter.

There are three things on my mind this week that I want to share with you.

Our new websites

Late last week we finally launched our new websites here and in Australia. It has taken six months of slog to get the new sites designed, built, tested and up and running. We have tried to simplify its navigation, provide better more relevant content, offer better links to other service providers that are useful to those of you migrating or thinking of doing so and generally upgrading the experience.

To visit Immagine Australia's website, click here >>

I encourage you to check it out.

 

Seminars

I am also heading back to South Africa in ten days and will be presenting seminars in Johannesburg (6 February), Durban (13 February) and Cape Town (16 February). Its my first trip back to South Africa since September so if you have friends or family that are seriously considering a move here (or Australia) I urge them to attend. The year has begun with a bit of a hiss and a roar out of South Africa and I know I am in for a busy old time. Registrations are open and filling.

My colleague Paul Janssen will also be presenting seminars in Singapore (25 February) and Malaysia (3 March).

To register go to our Seminar Registration page on the website.

 

Policy changes – Engineers and IT

Last but by no means least the Government has changed some Skilled Migrant policy that has direct implications for Engineers and IT professionals.

On 5 December the Government released changes to the Long Term Skills Shortage List which has made entry without jobs potentially easier (or should I say less complicated?) for Engineers of most flavours along with many IT professionals. 

It isn’t an open door or anything like that but until 5 December the vast majority of Engineers required offers of skilled employment to gain entry. This wasn’t because that was the Government’s plan, it was because as usual the policy was written in such a stupid way which denied case officers the ability to award bonus points to many Engineers for their degrees or work experience. These days with the cuts to skilled migrant numbers these bonus points, especially for work experience, are for most migrants a virtual pre-requisite for gaining entry without having a job offer first.

So the new policy was released. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, to those of us who work in this field once again it was worded in such a way that it was not only open to interpretation as to what criteria needed to be met to get the points but also it implied that only those with Engineering degrees with majors in Electrical and Electronic and Technology could be awarded the points. We felt that surely the authors of the policy meant ‘or’ and not ‘and’.

In 23 years I have met many hundreds of Engineers but I can with hand on heart say I have never met one with all three majors.

So we got on the phone to our senior contacts in INZ Wellington and asked them what was going on. Emails flew and a meeting with us took place before Christmas. We explained what we saw as the problems and why the policy as released simply would not work.

We asked whether instead of requiring all three majors to get the bonus points perhaps the policy makers meant to type ‘or’ in between them rather than ‘and’.

Six weeks later and we have within the past few days finally been advised that indeed Engineers need, among other things, to have a major in only one of the three disciplines and not all three.

Furthermore those that have Engineering degrees from Washington Accord countries that pre-date either the Accord itself (signed in 1989) or whose country joined the Accord after they got their degree can now be awarded bonus points. Quite sensible.

Furthermore Electrical, Electronic and other Engineers can be awarded these bonus points if NZQA assesses the qualifications as being comparable to NZ Bachelor degrees, Master degrees or PhDs whether or not they come from a country that is a signatory to the Washington Accord.

This might not sound like much of a change but if you are qualified in IT or Engineering it is seismic.

This creates opportunities for Engineers from non Washington Accord countries that have not previously existed. It creates opportunities for Engineers from countries who got their degrees before their country signed up to the Accord. It creates opportunities for Engineers who have made a career in IT and IT graduates who have followed careers in Engineering. None of this was ordinarily possible before.

If there is a potential fly in the ointment it might be that the Department has gone from allowing a trickle of water through the dam to opening the floodgates. If they get too many Engineers then of course they can always shut down the flow.

So the simple message to all IT graduates with degrees and Engineers with degrees is to make contact with us, let us assess (or reassess) your eligibility because you might find you can now qualify for Residence Visas of New Zealand without needing the job offer first.

Until next week

Iain MacLeod - Southern Man

Immigration changes and review...

As the end of the year bears down on us like a runaway freight train and I ponder the holiday season ahead it is worthwhile reviewing some of the changes to immigration policy and processes that have taken place this year.

Those of you that have followed our strong and sustained efforts to effect change in Immigration New Zealand (INZ) Beijing and Shanghai offices will be interested to know that Skilled Migrant decline rates this year:

• have fallen in Beijing from roughly 85% of all applications filed a little over a year ago to 35% today which brings that office pretty much in line with global INZ averages; and

• have decreased in Shanghai from roughly 85 % a little over a year ago to 50% today. That number is still too high and it is hard to understand with new management in place in both offices why this office has persistently high decline rates totally out of step with the rest of the world; and

• for all our clients through those two offices remains zero. In fact it is better than that – as far as I am aware every client, bar one,  in 2011 has been granted a Residence Visa following their settlement interview, one were granted Work to Residence Visas and none were declined. This reinforces the view that if you know what you are doing in this environment and don’t mind investing in  services like ours there is no reason for your application to be declined.

On 5 December new Long Term Skills Shortage List criteria have opened the floodgates to Engineers of many disciplines. Up until last week most Engineers needed job offers to qualify for residence of New Zealand. 

To avoid the need to get jobs, most Engineers had to gain bonus points for qualifications or work experience but the policy made this difficult for most as it was incredibly prescriptive and restrictive. The policy limited bonus points only to those Engineers who had a degree comparable to a New Zealand degree and whose degree was issued by a Washington Accord Signatory country (and only from the date the Accord was established). This meant those bonus points were very hard to get.

The new rules will allow far more Engineers to potentially qualify for Residence Visas without having job offers first which, as we all know, is like being helicoptered half way up Mount Everest rather than being made to climb it one step at a time from the bottom.

If you are an Engineer who holds a Bachelor’s Degree we urge you to get (back) in touch with us – your Christmas might have just come early.

However the party might be short lived given these lists are reviewed every six months and in a meeting with senior Government Officials earlier this week we did warn them that in our view they have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous and this change really opens the floodgates. 

Their response was just as we expected ‘Well, we can always take the occupation off the List of course…..’. 

Therefore there is a window of opportunity here that might not remain open for long. So this is a call to action for all those Engineers who might fancy moving here……

 

In other changes the criteria for ICT Specialists has changed but in discussing this with the INZ Officials we pointed out their changes were practically meaningless because of the way the new policy is worded. I won’t bore you with the detail but we are talking about the use of the word ‘and’ when they say “they think” they meant ‘or’.

How important it is to get this right because the policy as it is currently written will have zero impact when it was designed to open the game up a bit in particular for Telecommunications and Communications Engineers.

Change the word ‘and’ to ‘or’ and the outcomes will be very very different.

In the meantime however immigration officers and advisers can only base decisions and advice on the policy as it is written not as it was meant to be written. So right now it is no easier to claim and be awarded those bonus points but it may be soon. Watch this space.

We also raised the issue with INZ about English language. As many of you will know my colleagues and I have been undergoing in-depth training on Australian General Skills Policy by my business partner and great friend Myer Lipschitz who runs our Melbourne office. It seems logical to have a working knowledge of the policy and experts at our fingertips when the New Zealand Government has made it so hard to get in here and given it is often far easier to get PR of Australia.

One clear advantage of the Australian policy over ours is that applicants can score points for their level of English language. Certain applicants from particular countries are exempt from mandatory English testing so long as they are citizens of and ordinarily live in that country. If they need more points to qualify they can sit the IELTS and are rewarded for it – the better the English the higher their score and the ‘easier’ it is to meet the current pass marks.

We don’t operate like that but we should and we have suggested Immigration New Zealand look to  adopt something similar.

The reason for this is clear – there is no greater factor influencing a migrant’s ability to secure meaningful employment at the level they want and our policy settings seek than English language. The better, more fluent, less accented your English the more attractive you are to a New Zealand employer.

This would allow for better settlement outcomes through employment and we have urged the officials to take this message back to Wellington. 

It has also been fascinating to learn through Myer how for some clients who might need a job offer to qualify for New Zealand can in fact get PR here using Australia as the back door – and without a job.

This is because Australia is less concerned about jobs before dishing out PR Visas. In fact there are many clients that we can get into Australia without their leaving home. 

Which is brilliant because if they really wish to settle here in New Zealand all they have to do is travel through Australia on their way to NZ; activate the Australian Residence Visa automatically at the Australian airport on arrival, get on the next plane and be granted a Residence Visa of New Zealand automatically on arrival here. And we are done – hey presto! New Zealand PR.

Australia has become the welcome doormat to paradise!

Delicious!

If then we have assessed you as not qualifying for New Zealand without a job offer but you wish to explore using Australia as the welcome doormat and back door to New Zealand let us know and we can assess the possibilities. This pathway won’t suit everyone but if it works, is less risky and gets you here without having to actually live in Australia it might be worth some serious consideration.

With this the second to last Southern Man letter before I head to the beach house and spend a few weeks fishing, planting some more native trees and drinking (in some unhealthy quantity) great NZ, South African – just arrived by boat - along with Australian wine, sleeping in, swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean, barbequing in my new fire pit and lying on the beach under that quintessentially New Zealand of trees, the Pohutukawa, I look back on what has been another crazy year. And crazy it seems to have been.

Crazy economy

Crazy Earthquakes down south

Crazy bureaucrats

Crazy Europe

Crazy America

Crazy Julius Malema

Here at Immagine we are finishing on a very busy note which augurs well for next year. As we all take a bit of a break and reflect on our lives and the futures of our children where ever we may live, the uncertain economic times in which we exist, the seeming never ending pressures to deliver economic comfort to our family, being slaves to the capitalist machine, doing our best to keep our heads above the stormy economic seas economically, I hope gives us an opportunity to pause and think hard about what sort of future we really want for ourselves and our family.

Notwithstanding the difficult journey that migration presents, New Zealand really does present something of an oasis of sanity in a world seemingly mad and getting madder by the month.

As we always say, ‘NZ ain’t perfect’ but there are few places better in the world to raise a family than right here.

Until next week

Iain MacLeod -Southern Man

Veni, Vidi, Vici...

Sport is a funny thing, it can bring out the best and worst in us. It can be a force for good and it can also be used for negativity and destruction. So too migration.

I can see with the All Blacks now poised to take the World Cup for the first time in 24 years how dedication to a single goal; a goal that is researched, visualised, planned and then executed can be such a force for good, not only for those involved but for those around who get to bask in the reflected glory.

If you win you can look back and pin point the pivotal moments where the decisions that made the difference were locked in.

If you lose you can look around and find blame with everyone and everything else except yourself and your plan. Blame those around you because in the end you were just not up to the challenge.

I am still ashamed of the vilification of referee Wayne Barnes in this country and the way New Zealanders blamed that referee for their departure from the 2007 quarter final in Cardiff. No referee ever cost a rugby side a game in the World Cup. Not the ref in the game between Samoa and South Africa three weeks ago, not South Africa when they played Australia in the quarter final and lost and not Wales when they lost to France in the semi.

Scapegoats are for those that seek factors other than themselves. It might be natural to lash out when you fail to reach the summit of your own Everest but, not only is it unseemly, the reasons given are often so wide of the mark.

I was thinking this past week about some of the toys being thrown from cots in certain parts of the rugby world when I got to reflecting over a client of ours from South Africa who has just found himself an offer of skilled employment here that will secure his and his family’s future. As a senior Police Officer in South Africa he has seen all pathways to promotion blocked owing to that country’s employment policies which nowadays specifically excludes most ‘whites’ from advancement.

His salary is pitiful given he puts his life on the line every day he gets dressed in that uniform and his savings as a consequence not high. In fact so bad is the salary of a Police Captain, shot twice in the line of duty that he has had to set up and run his own small business on the side to supplement his income. Pest control (the irony is wonderful) has kept himself and his family from the gutter.

When I met with this potential client back in July in South Africa, I outlined a strategy to achieve Residence for his family in New Zealand. I counselled him that it would not be easy but was doable. I told him he would be tested like he has never been tested before.

He needed a job offer to make it happen. Skilled and relevant employment and it would not be an easy nut to crack.

I explained that the two weeks he had planned to set aside to come to NZ and try to secure the job was simply unrealistic, greater investment in both time and money would be needed. Two things he was very short on.

We discussed the obvious employer – New Zealand Police. New Zealand is recruiting more front line police but unfortunately I told him that he would not be able to apply to join them as they have a policy of only employing New Zealand citizens or permanent residents, but that there were other sectors which would and had recruited former policemen we had helped to get Residence Visas of New Zealand.

He was understandably very nervous about it all. I might even suggest he was petrified. He was one of the few clients that just before he flew out here I emailed and asked ‘Are you really sure you want to do this? Are you really sure you are up to it?”

He was quite determined and was willing to follow our advice and the plan we laid out for him.

He has now been in New Zealand for about ten weeks, having left his wife and daughters behind and has been busy applying for various management level positions in retail, security and other sectors.

He has applied for jobs up and down the length of this country, travelled thousands of kilometres for interviews, been rejected by almost all but stayed stoic and focussed when he did not get them.

Then it happened. Last week he secured the position he needed for us to unlock Residence Visas of New Zealand for him and his family and we have just filed his Work Visa application (from within NZ) which will enable him to start his new job in a couple of weeks.

This job will also now enable him to proceed with confidence on our plan to secure his family Residence Visas of New Zealand.

The word “hero” is to my mind over used. It is very easy to suggest everyone is a winner and there can be no losers but life isn’t like that, we all know it. There are winners and there are losers.

Lady Luck plays a bit part at times but overwhelmingly we make our own luck.

The All Blacks aren’t about to play the greatest game of their lives owing to any luck or fortune. They had to beat some very good teams to make this final. They planned for it. They trained for it. They spent four years on it. And I have no doubt they will achieve it. They have been the best team at this tournament and I am truly honoured to have sat in the stands at Eden Park last Sunday and watched them beat the Australians, clearly the second best side at this Rugby World Cup.

All migrants that take the risks involved in scaling the mountain that is migration are to my mind heroes. All are taking risks that have real and meaningful consequences on a financial, emotional and logistical level if they fail. And make no mistake - all can fail and many do. There is something Darwinian about this process – New Zealand gets highly focussed and driven people who have been prepared to sacrifice and fight for the chance to live here.

There are many for whom the climb is too steep, the battle too hard, the rejections too frequent and who when faced with the adversity, the cost, the emotional investment, the time, the rejection and the fear find they just cannot scale the heights required to secure that key to a new life for them and their family.

And to this client, this dedicated, single bloody minded client, who has been tested in this process and his life like few others and who can add a few more scars to the bullet exit wounds on his body, I salute you. You are a real hero – you had a plan, you had a vision of where you needed to go and how to get there and you did it. Your children will one day, I hope, thank you for what you have risked and what you are about to give them.

I am genuinely proud, as a coach is of his rugby team, that although we have a long way to go to finish the residence process, the single greatest impediment to securing that residence is a barrier smashed and he will make it.

To all those who seek residence for themselves and their families who want to do this on the cheap, by cutting corners, by thinking it can all be achieved without real struggle – stay where you are – you will likely fail.

To those who are willing to get good advice, and yes pay for it (for these things are not mutually exclusive), this mountain is able to be conquered.

And to our beloved mighty All Blacks who stand for all that is great and good about this little country that could – who have put their bodies on the line in the quest for greatness and glory, a noble goal will be realised on Sunday. Not through cutting corners, not through trying to win this World Cup with anything other than a good plan, sweat and tears but through a vision held steadfastly to, a plan and single minded execution, taking the knocks and setbacks and conquering all those that stood before them.

To the All Blacks - you are all real heroes.

As is every one of our clients, including our Police Captain from South Africa who take all that the Immigration Department, New Zealand employers and the visa process can find to hurl at them and who win – whose ‘World Cup’ is a somewhat innocuous looking label in a well worn passport but which ultimately says it all - I came, I saw and I conquered.

Until next week...

Once Were Communists

 

I remember quite distinctly when I was ten years old, sitting in the passenger seat of my mother’s old Austin 1100 being driven home from school having an in-depth discussion about the merits of communism with her. As you do when you are ten…… I simply couldn't comprehend a world in which people went hungry, where there were very rich and very poor people and I could not understand why everyone shouldn't receive the same advantages as everyone else.

My ten year old brain saw communism as the perfect solution to inequality in all its forms.

That of course was at the height of the Cold War and no doubt my mother was a little horrified at my left leaning tendencies given I was being raised in an otherwise upwardly mobile middle-class household. Knowing my mother she was probably also quietly proud of my caring, sharing attitude (which of course did not extend to offering to help with the dishes or mowing lawns…….).

But when I was ten I hadn’t yet heard of the Immigration Department and ‘public servants’ and the role they play in our lives.

Three decades on I confess I still wonder why there is reason for any child to go hungry on a planet with such abundance, but I can safely say I am no longer a Communist. Only because experience suggests that it doesn’t work. And I have the Immigration Department to ‘thank’ for that.

Before I go on I am the first to question unregulated total free market capitalism and concede it is far from ideal. But thus far nothing else has served us as well. It is arguably just less bad.

There is still nothing better than competition and the profit motive to drive efficiency, sensible decision making, innovation and growth – which of course creates, albeit unevenly at times, the means for all to partake in the advantages of everyone’s effort.

When you have no skin in the game and your salary rolls in each and every week regardless of performance, any incentive to improve output or the quality of your decisions evaporates.

In the 23 years I have been working as an Immigration Adviser one thing I have come to realize is that when there is no profit motive, the incentive for customer service and sensible outcomes flies out the window.

There are plenty of people who will advise would be migrants not to “waste their money” on Immigration Advisers or Lawyers to help them negotiate the complex bureaucracy that is moving from one country to another. The very fact that we are still in business after 23 years lends something of a lie to any belief that we don’t add value.

I could write a book about the stupidity and culture of paranoia we deal with all day with the Immigration Department and a second which might be titled ‘How many lives can I screw up today by not thinking too hard?’.

The Immigration Department likes to talk the talk but they can’t walk the walk and it takes a special kind of lunatic to continue working in this industry.

Although we deal with a handful of very good immigration officers and I believe that the majority do not set out to ruin lives, separate families, make inconsistent decisions and contradict themselves the lack of any profit motive and competition for the whole organisation diminishes their individual and collective need to think differently and no meaningful accountability does create the situation where the quality of decision making and service is poor.

Let me offer a couple of examples.

The first concerned an exchange that we were having with a senior officer inside the Immigration Department recently on a point of policy. The particular branch is known for exercising wide discretion i.e. ignoring the rules when it suits. Of course, sometimes this can work to a client’s advantage but equally it can also sometimes work to a client’s disadvantage. As a consequence we asked for clarification on where exactly this particular office was drawing the line in the sand over a particular criterion under the Skilled Migrant Category. The reply we got can best be summarised as follows:

We have no discretion in applying the policy, however, each case needs to be assessed on its merits as each is unique.

Now, is it just me, or is that somehow oxymoronic?

What they are saying is that they must follow the rules except when they don’t.

How is anyone meant to negotiate a process where an officer says we must strictly interpret and implement the rules yet it is each case on its merits?

The second recent example of what happens when you operate a monopoly without competition is revealed in a letter we received last week from INZ Shanghai. Many of you will be familiar with our dealings with that Branch, the problems they have had over the last 18 months with implementing consistent visa decision making outcomes, staff turnover and the resulting appalling level of knowledge of the rules by newly appointed and inexperienced case officers (compounded by employing staff who cannot adequately communicate in English).

We had filed the client’s residence application under the Skilled Migrant Category and the Department was writing to acknowledge receipt. This is what they said.

“Your application will be allocated to an Immigration Officer within seven months. Please note that as you are applying for residence without a skilled job offer from a New Zealand employer, it may be necessary to perform a settlement and contribution interview.

These can take time to plan and while we endeavour to complete these interviews and follow up assessment within our time frames, they can take longer to finalize and your application may take up to twelve months to complete from when it is allocated to an Immigration Officer”.

I did a double take because in the past three or four months it has taken between four and six weeks for clients’ Residence Visa applications to be allocated to a Case Officer following receipt; not seven months in this branch. Processing times thereafter to get to interview stage have generally been between two and four months with a final decision coming two to three weeks later - nothing at all like twelve months on top of seven.

The ‘time to plan’ an interview is in every other branch between a week or two.

I then wrote back to the Head of the Skilled Migrant Team asking if processing times had suddenly quadrupled and, if so, why?

The reply was dated 16 September:

“The good news is that our allocation today took us up to applications lodged on 5 August 2010. So right now the wait time is short.

We haven’t changed the acknowledgement letter ...... These acknowledgement letters are generic – applications for your clients wouldn’t usually take twelve months as they don’t tend to have the range of issues that some other applications have, for example, medical conditions where further tests are needed, and that then need to be considered for medical waivers”.

Someone help me to understand why they would do this?

Why would you write a letter to an Adviser talking about a nineteen month processing time when what you really meant was two to three months given the quality of the applications we present?

From where I am sitting any Government organization that has charged my client NZ$2,500.00 just to get to this point in processing fees owes it to its customers to not write generic letters, but to send something meaningful that won’t scare the bejesus out of the applicant or the Adviser.

Interesting also that the Senior Officer who penned this reply seems to feel that clients of IMMagine New Zealand are fitter and healthier than the norm. I strongly suspect this is not the case as many people come to us because they perceive their case is more complex specifically because of issues around health among other things (like the dangers of putting your lives in the hands of a jobs-for-life state functionary).

In my experience the Immigration Department mindlessly puts out letters saying processing times will be nineteen months so they can, with hand on heart, (and a degree of false pride) announce to anyone who wishes to listen that they meet 95% of their processing targets within the deadlines they lay down for themselves.

Which makes me wonder why they don’t say it is going to take ten years to process your Residence Visa and then they can say that they have a 100% success rate achieving their KPIs.

I strongly suspect if there was some competition for the work that they carry out then they might not adopt double speak in emails that would not be out of place in George Orwell’s novel 1984 and they might be a little less lazy and stop sending out generic letters and send out letters which correlate to processing reality.

Competition with some oversight inevitably brings efficiency and better service delivery. If only there was some competition for the Immigration Department.

Until next week...

Iain MacLeod - Southern Man

 

Employers - What will you do when the skill shortages bite?

Work Visa – Perspective for employers

With unemployment levels for the over 25's now at 4.5% and falling, skills shortages are beginning to build. With the Government having cut skilled migrant numbers (for the time being I am told), I give it six months and the impending skill shortages will start to bite and cause real frustration for employers. 

As the economy continues to strengthen and the rebuild of Christchurch gets underway, next year there is little doubt that if you are a New Zealand employer and you take advantage of skilled migrants looking to settle in NZ then you will be a step ahead of the competition in terms of recruitment.

I remember so vividly the final 18 months before the GFC where employers simply gave up trying to recruit locally but many did not think about recruiting offshore or found the prospects daunting and confusing. Even we were in on the act. We needed a PA type role filled in our Auckland office and in the end offered the position to a client who was coming to NZ from South Africa – we simply could not find any locals who had the skill set to fill the vacancy.

I believe it will be approximately 12 months before we will be back there again barring any major offshore decline in economic fortune or local disaster.

Understand that the basis of Work Visa policy is to ‘protect employment opportunities for New Zealanders’. Many would argue this is as it should be – we need to look after our own first. That policy foundation is unfortunately often misinterpreted by immigration officers who appear to go to great lengths at times to try and prove to the employer that even though no locals bothered applying for the position there are plenty who should be able to.

There are two types of Work Visas most commonly applied for (there are many others but this blog would quickly become a book). These are:

1. Essential Skills – a policy designed effectively for one off appointments; or

2. Talent – these are for migrants being offered employment by ‘Accredited’ employers. Accreditation is given to ‘trusted’ employers (upon application) and who usually have an ongoing need to recruit offshore.

1. Essential Skills - The broad criteria for employers looking to offer a position to a non-Resident or Citizen under this category are:

(i) You have made a genuine effort to fill the vacancy but have been unable to and that no local ‘should’ (note not ‘could’) be able to fill the vacancy and you can prove it.

(ii) The migrant is suitably qualified by training or experience to fill the vacancy;

(ii) Your business is able to sustain the employment;

(iii) You are paying ‘market rates’

(iv) You have a track record of being a good employer;

Perhaps strangely, policy does not allow an employer to offer the migrant the position because they are the ‘best’ applicant; they must be the only ‘suitable’ applicant. This goes against logic but since when is immigration policy logical? Many employers are tripped up by the subtle differences between being the best versus the only ‘suitable’ applicant. It isn’t usually hard to present evidence of why, if as an employer, you were lucky enough to get any locals applying, that your preferred candidate was the ‘only suitable one’.

How do you prove that no local should be able to fill the position?

In my more cheeky (and lucid) moments I suggest – just advertise it.

There is in New Zealand an utter dislocation between the unemployed and employers. Most skilled people in the major urban centres are employed. Those that are unemployed are either unemployable or unmotivated. 

Regardless of the evidence the employer presents, for example online job advertising, the Immigration Department generally goes through this bizarre ritual whereby they contact Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) and seeks their opinion on whether locals ‘should’ be able to fill the vacancy. WINZ is this giant public service division, that in part exists to place the unemployed in work. Something they are pretty useless at doing in my experience.

So why does the Immigration Department rely on WINZ for labour market advice? Simply put, it is because the Immigration Department has concluded using its own twisted logic that local employers are liars and they would far rather employ migrants and play this complicated bureaucratic visa game rather than employ a local. Yeah, right…

The reality is there are generally few locals registered as unemployed who want to apply for these vacancies.

You would be utterly amazed how often when employers place vacancies with WINZ themselves they get no referrals. In fact WINZ is so useless and the quality of those they might refer so bad most employers don’t think of ever looking to them for help. Unfortunately Government policy demands that they do.

We recently got two Work Visas for two nannies. We were able to demonstrate without too much difficulty that there are apparently no locals registered with WINZ who wanted to or were forced to apply for these vacancies. No applicants for these two positions – one in Auckland and one in Northland? Zero. None. Zip.

So knowing how the policy is implemented makes it relatively straightforward to get Work Visas for our clients without too much bother to the employer. You just need to understand what you are doing and the rules of engagement. I cannot recall the last time any of our clients did not get Work Visas simply because we know how the system works.

2. Talent Visas - This is a Work Visa granted to those who can demonstrate they have been offered genuine employment by an 'Accredited Employer' for which they are qualified and experienced to do, who meet health and character criteria and who have a minimum salary of $55,000.

I am surprised more employers don’t apply for accreditation status as it is not overly complex to get and once you have it then you no longer have to play the mindless game as outlined above under Essential Skills each time you need to employ someone. No proving that the applicant was the only suitable candidate for example. The only restriction is that this policy demands annual base salaries of not less than $55,000 which cuts out certain types of positions because it is higher in many cases than local market rates.

To get accreditation employers must be able to demonstrate:

(i) They have good human resource policy and practices

(ii) They are able to sustain ongoing employment

(iii) Two years of financial accounts

(iv) Evidence of any training offered to up-skill locals

(v) They have no record of dispute with local unions or for example the Employment (Disputes) Tribunal.

This is a really great option when skills shortages bite or employers have an ongoing need to recruit. For forward planning employers who may think that this time next year they might struggle to find locals then consider getting this status now – don’t wait till you need someone in four weeks! If the salary level is $55,000 plus then you’d be a mug to ignore the possibilities it gives you.

The accreditation application process isn’t overly expensive and is relatively painless if you want the assistance of licensed advisers such as the Immagine team.

Employing someone from overseas is not the hassle so many employers think it is (and this is a shameless plug for our services) but when you know what you are doing, when you understand the rules of engagement with the Department and when you know who to talk to when the counter level functionary processing the visa is giving you a tough time – there is no reason why getting a Work Visa for the person you want to employ should take more than four weeks.

And that of course is about the same time as the notice period any incumbent who is moving on would normally give you.

Food for thought before those skills shortages bite hard this time next year.

Until next week

Southern Man - Iain MacLeod