New Zealand Immigration Seminars In South Africa |
 Iain will be in South Africa during May giving a series of seminars in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The seminars will touch on the realities of life in New Zealand, what 2009 – 2010 will likely hold for those emigrating in terms of employment, the economy, housing affordability and so on. The seminars are free and Iain will be available in the days following the seminars for individual consultations (cost applies). Register for a New Zealand Immigration Seminar in South Africa now Johannesburg:
Free seminar at the Michelangelo Hotel Nelson Mandela Square, West Street, Sandown on 14 May at 7.00 p.m.
Consultations: At the hotel on 15, 16 & 17 May.
Cape Town:
Free seminar at the Commodore Hotel, Portswood Road, V & Waterfront on 18 May at 7.00 p.m.
Consultations: At the hotel on 19 & 20 May
Durban:
Free seminar at the Riverside Hotel, 10 Northway Drive, Durban North on 21 May at 7.00 p.m.
Consultations: 22 & 23 May. Iain will be consulting at the Beverley Hills Hotel, Lighthouse Road, Umhlanga.
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New Zealand Immigration Seminars In Singapore |
Myer Lipschitz will be presenting two immigration seminars on May 9 for those interested in moving to New Zealand or Australia. The seminars will be separate i.e. one on New Zealand and one on Australia and Myer will be available in the three days following for individual consultations.
Myer is uniquely placed in the IMMagine team being able to speak with some authority on both Australia and New Zealand immigration policies. Having recently moved to Melbourne to establish IMMagine Australia Immigration Ltd he can speak with authority on both countries. |
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Current Skilled Migrant Category Pass Marks |
In the past twenty-four hours we have seen further evidence of a softening in demand for places under the Skilled Migrant Category reflected in significantly lower pass marks. Earlier this year we predicted the pass marks would fall as global migration flows slowed owing to soft property markets at home and a tougher employment market here. What this means is more people are now going to qualify for residence of New Zealand without needing job offers and this in turn opens up a four to five year window before such people would actually have to relocate to New Zealand.
In the latest pool draw on the 7th of May the following Expressions of Interest profiles were selected using 6 different pass marks:
1 and 2. Those scoring 140 points with or without an offer of skilled employment; and
3. Those claiming 100 points or more including an offer of skilled employment.
3. Those claiming 100 points or more including a claim to six years of work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage.
4. Those claiming 100 points or more including a claim to two years of work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage.
5. Those claiming 105 points or more including a claim which includes the equivalent of a NZ qualification in an area of absolute skills shortage.
6. Those claiming 115 points who do not have an offer of skilled employment or any claim to bonus points for qualifications or work experience.
This represents a fall in pass mark thresholds reflecting softening in demand for the available places.
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New Zealand Business Sentiment In Sharp Rebound |
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In the latest National Bank Survey of business confidence the April survey registered the biggest monthly gain in nearly nine years. Does this mean that the worst is behind us? The National Bank believes this may be the case.
The New Zealand housing market has shown signs of recovery in turnover if not in prices. Prices for our dairy products overseas have begun to climb, the local and global share markets have begun to rally and New Zealanders are enjoying the first of the new Government's personal tax cuts.
The Survey shows a net 15% of respondents expect business conditions to get worse in the year ahead but that is a significant improvement from the net 39% last month. There has also been a significant improvement in the number of firms expecting staff numbers to fall over the next twelve months. Now four out of five companies do not expect their staff numbers to fall and this is a significant improvement over the last two months.
Furthermore, investment intentions have improved from last month's survey, as has profit expectations.
Given the volatility of the global market place it would be a bold commentator who called this a trend, but it appears it is all moving in the right direction.
New Zealand's trade deficit almost vanished in the first quarter of 2009 with the smallest deficit for seven years at NZ$65 million. Exports were down 4% on the December quarter largely made up of oil exports (down 46%) and aluminum (down 43%). While exports fell, imports fell further registering the largest quarterly fall since March 1988.
The biggest mover was crude oil imports down by 52% on the December quarter, motor vehicle imports down approximately 50% on the previous quarter and the lowest since 1997.
The fly in the ointment has been a resurgence in the value of the New Zealand dollar against many of our trading partners and, in particular, the US. The New Zealand dollar is up around 10% in value over the last month against the greenback.
Of great encouragement to our clients from South Africa, the Rand has strengthened against the New Zealand dollar and is now under R5 to the NZ$.
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How Big Is The New Zealand Wine Industry? |
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The wine industry contributes more than $1.5 billion to New Zealand's gross domestic product and supports 16,500 full-time jobs. The wine industry has been transformed in the past two decades with the number of wineries growing from fewer than two hundred and fifty in 1996 to six hundred last year. New Zealand wine exports have grown at an average of 24% each year for the past twenty years as compared to 5.9% growth for all export products. The value of exports is just under NZ$1 billion a year and is now our twelfth largest export item.
Marlborough (at the top of the South Island) contains half the country's grape growers and produces three quarters of our wine exports, in particular, Sauvignon Blanc.
It is also estimated that the industry generates 225,000 wine related tourist visits to the country each year.
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New Zealand Immigration Policy Changes |
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Iain MacLeod's Golden Rule No. 3 -
Just when you think you know what the rules are, the Government will change them.
 A subtle but significant change is being signalled from June. At the current time a person with a recognized Master's Degree will be awarded 10 bonus points because the occupation of University Lecturer appears on the Long Term Skill Shortage List regardless of whether that person is, or ever was a University Lecturer. (refer Iain MacLeod's Golden Rule No. 2 – Suspend Logic). This strange piece of policy has allowed people whether they are a University Lecturer or not to claim 10 bonus points and for a significant number of our clients in recent years, this has meant getting permanent residency because with the Master's Degree they had enough points to do so without needing a job offer. We are aware that most other immigration consultants were not aware of this strange piece of policy and so overall the numbers affected may be not that large. We do, however, have a few clients who will be affected and we have contacted each of them to ensure we beat the deadline.
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Is Your Immigration Adviser Licensed? |
From 4 May 2009 all New Zealand immigration consultants normally based in New Zealand must be registered with the Immigration Advisers Authority unless exempted by the Immigration Advisers Act 2007. At the current time around 170 licences have been issued. Individuals are licensed rather than companies and this falls several hundred short of what the Government was expecting when they tabled the legislation in Parliament. The Immigration Department, by law, cannot accept applications filed by unlicensed Advisers from 4 May. IMMagine New Zealand Immigration has more licensed Immigration Advisers than any other company on the planet. All of us now have full or provisional licences and, although it has been a bureaucratic pain in the backside (not to mention the wallet) to get all our Advisers licensed, we are proud of the fact that no company offers a greater degree of expertise and protection to its clients than IMMagine New Zealand.
From May 2010 all Advisers normally based outside of New Zealand must be registered. It is incredible how few non New Zealand based Advisors have got their licences. The licence regime was established to protect migrants from unethical or incompetent behaviour and has very strict penalties for anybody found to breach it, including up to seven years imprisonment and fines up to $100,000. Equally, from an Adviser's perspective, it does have its marketing advantages. Why would anybody now ever consult with someone who is unlicensed? On that basis it is staggering how few overseas based Advisers have bothered to obtain licences. It also staggers us that several hundred New Zealand based Advisers have clearly decided to leave the industry and not bothered about continuing given the high cost and standard required to become licensed.
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Immigration Officers Also Be Licensed? |
As outlined above from May 4 all those consultants normally based in New Zealand who provide advice on immigration to New Zealand (unless they are exempt) must have a license. This legislation was passed after years of work by the Government who had decreed that 'vulnerable' migrants needed protection from the incompetent and the unethical. I have never been convinced any case for licensing existed and I still don't. But that is history. This sort of regulation is an ideological legacy of the last New Zealand Government that the current one went along with and now they are in power have little appetite to do anything about. It was always my view that if I was forced to be regulated by the Government because my advice has real consequences then immigration officers should also be held to the same standard. After all if you are a migrant making life changing decisions far more rely on the Immigration Department than any professional adviser.
This view was, not unexpectedly, rejected. Recently we had a case of a New Zealand immigration officer not only demonstrating a clear ignorance of policy but openly suggesting that we file an application for a client which would effectively involve a false declaration. The officer would I am sure have seen herself as being helpful. I find it disturbing in the extreme that there is a rule book but immigration officers feel able to implement policy not found in it yet if I as a professional licensed New Zealand Immigration Adviser was to give that sort of advice I could end up spending seven years in jail.
The client in question is pregnant and in New Zealand on a visitor permit. Policy recently changed such that pregnant applicants cannot get ‘extensions' to existing temporary (visitor) permits except in highly limited circumstances which our client does not meet. Although we advised the client not to come here till the baby was born she decided to regardless. The client's permit is about to expire and we discussed with a senior officer if we could file an extension application as an exception to policy. Without giving any assurances that officer said we should.
I spoke with another officer in the same branch (who is processing this client's husband's Work Permit) who not only told me that pregnant women are eligible for extensions to temporary permits but when I told her (politely) that she was incorrect she said that I should file the application anyway without the medical that policy requires (because then Immigration New Zealand would not know she was pregnant). I couldn't quite believe my ears. Here I am, a licensed New Zealand immigration adviser held to an incredibly high standard of ethics being told by an immigration officer that I should consider filing an application knowing it to contain false information! I told the officer that I would not be able to contemplate that as I am licensed.
When Governments embrace the sort of rigid regulation that we as professional advisers have to now work under it is a bit rich being advised by immigration officers who clearly not only don't know their own rules but suggest advisers file an application knowing it to contain false information.
To my mind all New Zealand immigration officers should be held to the same standard of immigration policy knowledge and ethics that we in the private sector are.
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New Zealand Immigration Blog |
Much happens on a day to day basis in the life of an Immigration Adviser that may be of interest to people around the world. Rather than wait for the monthly online newsletter I have begun my own blog and try and post comments every few days on topics that might be of interest to my clients and the wider migrant communities.
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