Future of the Skilled Migrant Category

Background

The Skilled Migrant Category has traditionally been New Zealand’s main residence category based on skills and employment. Its objective is to support New Zealand’s economic growth by granting residence to people who have skills to fill identified long-term needs, and who can deploy those skills in New Zealand. The Skilled Migrant Category was effectively closed to new applications in April 2020, after COVID-19 border restrictions were introduced.

In the context of the Immigration Rebalance, the Government invited the Minister of Immigration to review the Skilled Migrant Category, to ensure it’s meeting its objectives and to address the issues that were seen pre-COVID.

Immigration Rebalance [PDF 365 KB](external link) — beehive.govt.nz

Residence allows people to live and work in New Zealand indefinitely. New priority skilled residence pathways have been introduced under the Immigration Rebalance. There are now 2 main pathways to skilled residence:

• The Skilled Migrant Category, which recognises individuals’ skills.
• The new Green List residence pathways for eligible migrants in specified highly skilled, hard-to-fill occupations.

More information on Green List pathways can be found here:

• Green List residence pathways(external link)  — Immigration New Zealand

MBIE consulted on proposed changes to the Skilled Migrant Category to:

• ensure the proposed settings are appropriate for the visa category to achieve its objectives
• test the clarity and usability of the settings
• understand the impact of the proposed changes on migrants, employers and communities.

Changes to the Skilled Migrant Category and the Accredited Employer Work Visa settings will be introduced in October and November 2023

On 21 June 2023, the Minister of Immigration announced that a new, simplified points system for the Skilled Migrant Category will be introduced in October 2023.

A maximum continuous stay of 5 years for most Accredited Employer Work Visa holders will also be introduced in November 2023, and the maximum duration of an Accredited Employer Work Visa will be increased to 5 years.

Further information is available at:

Changes to the Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa(external link) — Immigration New Zealand

Consultation documents

The consultation document below provides a commentary on the proposed changes and asks questions to highlight areas on which we sought feedback. We also welcomed any other feedback on the proposals. 

Future of the Skilled Migrant Category

Process and timeline

Following consultation, we analysed feedback, submissions and other evidence before providing further advice to the Government on the detailed implementation of the Skilled Migrant Category.

Further information can be found at:

Changes to the Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa(external link) — Immigration New Zealand

Submissions report 

Submissions for the Future of the Skilled Migrant Category consultation closed on 18 November 2022. A total of 309 submissions were received.

10 formal consultation meetings were held with:

• peak bodies
• employer groups
• unions
• migrant representative groups.

The submissions report contains a summary of consultation feedback.