Immigration Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Employers will be stripped of the chance to recruit migrants if they're not trying hard enough to take on unemployed New Zealanders.
The visas of thousands of overseas workers who came here after the pandemic are expiring in the next few months.
Erica Stanford said more than one in six employers wanting to employ a migrant did not approach Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to find staff for lower-skilled jobs or did not do enough to advertise the role.
She told the Association for Migration and Investment's annual conference that 20,000 more New Zealanders are unemployed since accredited work visas were first issued in 2022.
Many migrants are on visas with a three-year maximum stays, meaning thay have to leave the country for at least a year if they are not moving to another visa, such as residence.
When employers come to replace workers in roles classed as four and five skill level, they should be looking closer to home, said Stanford.
"It is not negotiable for employers to not work with MSD in good faith and try to employ New Zealanders into skilled roles first. So there will be thousands of New Zealanders who are looking for work and who are not eligible for a benefit because of their household income. So they really do need to test the market and work with MSD, both of those things.
"It's not a reflection on the individual migrants or their contribution to businesses or how much an employer might want them to stay. It's a reflection on the fact that we have New Zealanders who are desperate for jobs and need to be given the first opportunity for those."
Their accreditation would be revoked if they fail to do so.
"Information recently provided to MSD and MBIE shows that around 17 percent of job checks for level 4 and 5 roles between March and July this year did not meet the requirements for engaging with MSD. In around five percent of these cases, the employer had a warning level concern, such as differences between the job details provided to MSD and subsequently to INZ for the job check.
"And around 11 percent resulted in a revocation referral letter concern level, as when there was an employer who hadn't actually gone to MSD at all."
Uncertainty over MSD engagement
Common affected sectors included primary industries, retail, hospitality, transportation and logistics, construction and health.
"I've been very clear with Immigration New Zealand that where employers do not do so, I am comfortable with their accreditation being revoked. If they can't find someone, then they can apply for a job check. But they need to do that in good faith.
"The economic context in New Zealand has changed significantly since 2022 when the borders reopened. And if a migrant is reaching the end of their three-year visa and they're not eligible for another visa, then they will need to leave New Zealand and these employers will need to genuinely look to recruit New Zealanders into these roles.
"Now, Immigration New Zealand is working really closely with MSD, where there are... our employers with a number of employees who'll be reaching the end of their MCS [visas] in the coming months. We've identified who they are and we've gone in and we're working with those big employers."
Immigration adviser Tobias Tohill. Photo: Supplied
Immigration adviser Tobias Tohill said blacklisting an employer was serious for what could be uncertainty over what is sufficient engagement with MSD.
"In the past, employers were required to get a skills match report from Work and Income New Zealand, with an MSD response about what they found. That was discarded and changed to an obligation that employers contact MSD.
"Maybe the employer contacts, maybe the recruiter contacts MSD. If it's the employer, they don't necessarily know what's enough. They might contact MSD, get no response, wait a week, go, well, advertising's completed, we've had no response from MSD, great, and we apply for the job check.
"That seems like a very loose system that creates a great deal of uncertainty of process for employers with a fairly serious consequence. Not just having accreditation cancelled, but then being considered to be, I guess, a grey- or blacklisted employer for future accreditation applications. And possibly getting locked out of accessing migrant labour as the economy returns to a strong position and there's a real shortage of labour again, which is foreseeable in the next couple of years."
Immigration lawyers were no longer able to engage with MSD on behalf of employers although recruitment companies are, he said.
"So it does seem like there needs to be a clear idea of what is sufficient engagement with MSD. Perhaps allowing advisors or lawyers to assist with that process to make sure it's done correctly. Perhaps putting some information in the public domain as to how long you should be waiting for MSD to respond, and require MSD to give some kind of clear, consistent response across the country from different branches."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
