Will changes to post-study work visa help NZ deal with skill shortage?
Questions and concerns may arise in some quarters about the New Zealand government’s dealing with the pressing problem of global skill shortage following the Immigration Minister’s latest announcement of changes to the post-study work visa regime.
Immigration Minister Michael Wood’s September 7 announcement curbs work rights for future international students arriving on low-level (Level 5 & 6) courses unless they choose to work in courses aligned with Green List occupations. The work rights for higher course Level 7 (degree) and above (Masters & PhD) remain unchanged under the new regime.
This is in stark contrast to a similar post-study work visa rights announcement by our Trans-Tasman neighbour Australia a week ago, which has extended the duration of post-study work visa rights of international students to “strengthen the pipeline of skilled labour.”
Australia has chosen to extend post-study work visa rights for select degrees in areas of verified skill shortages from two years to four years for select Bachelor’s degrees, from three years to five years for select Masters degrees and from Four years to six years for select PhDs.
As opposed to this, the NZ government had made no changes to the post-study work visa rights for international students enrolled in higher Masters and PhD courses and drastically took away all work rights for seemingly ordinary low-level courses (Level 5-6) that will include some of the popular courses like Business administration, hospitality, management etc.
By removing post-study work rights for international students, the government will, on the one hand, succeed in deterring future international students from entering the country on the back of those low-level courses, but on the other hand, will also potentially take away a huge pool of workforce from the labour market.
It is important to note that currently, there is a global skill shortage, as per the government’s own admission, and NZ is already on the lowest ladder of success in inviting the highly sought-after skilled workers and highly mobile international students owing to years of rigid border closure due to Covid pandemic, and a staggered process of border reopening and reconnecting with the rest of the world.
The government’s track record in attracting overseas skilled migrant workers in the last few months has been, at best – less than stellar – largely because of the raft of changes in rules under the guise of “immigration rebalance” are being implemented with stealth.
The Green List of skilled occupations and the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme are the cornerstone of the newly announced “immigration rebalance,” through which government intends to drastically improve the quality of skilled migrant workers coming into the country, prevent exploitations of some of the migrant workers from unscrupulous employers, and hopefully making it easier to attract and hire highly skilled migrants to fill genuine gaps in roles that are in global shortage.
The government remains confident that the latest announcement whereby curbing work rights for future international students arriving on low-level (Level 5 & 6) courses unless they choose to work in courses aligned with Green List occupations will continue to support their plans to fill gaps in the supply of skilled workforce.
Except that at this stage, it all remains wishful thinking, and it remains to be seen if the global markets (skilled migrant workers and international education) would choose to respond favourably to the government’s bold schemes.
A relatively favourable work-right regime, both during the course of studies (20-hour work permit on a student visa) and after completion of studies (1-3 years unfettered post-study work visa rights), has always been one of the major decisive factors influencing choices in many international student markets, including India.
It is to say that international students from many established and growing markets relied heavily on liberal work visa regimes to finalise their preferred overseas destination for international education.
In the past decade, when established and thriving international education markets such as the United Kingdom had arbitrarily curtailed post-study work visa rights, it witnessed a rapid flight of international students to other global destinations, including NZ.
NZ had then largely benefitted from disruptions in other markets of international students and built a robust $5 billion international education export industry.
The Covid pandemic, border closures and global travel disruptions had demolished that international education export industry.
Many stakeholders are hoping that the industry will be revived soon, and the government could play a supportive role.
However, so far, the government is singularly focused on unleashing an “immigration rebalance”, which it genuinely believes, is a radical change from the pre-existing immigration regime and will be a panacea to many of the real and perceived immigration-related problems.
As NZ gears up slowly to reconnect with the rest of the world, it remains to be seen how the latest round of changes in post-study work visas will impact the economy.
Questions and concerns may arise in some quarters about the New Zealand government’s dealing with the pressing problem of global skill shortage following the Immigration Minister’s latest announcement of changes to the post-study work visa regime.
Immigration Minister Michael Wood’s September 7...
Questions and concerns may arise in some quarters about the New Zealand government’s dealing with the pressing problem of global skill shortage following the Immigration Minister’s latest announcement of changes to the post-study work visa regime.
Immigration Minister Michael Wood’s September 7 announcement curbs work rights for future international students arriving on low-level (Level 5 & 6) courses unless they choose to work in courses aligned with Green List occupations. The work rights for higher course Level 7 (degree) and above (Masters & PhD) remain unchanged under the new regime.
This is in stark contrast to a similar post-study work visa rights announcement by our Trans-Tasman neighbour Australia a week ago, which has extended the duration of post-study work visa rights of international students to “strengthen the pipeline of skilled labour.”
Australia has chosen to extend post-study work visa rights for select degrees in areas of verified skill shortages from two years to four years for select Bachelor’s degrees, from three years to five years for select Masters degrees and from Four years to six years for select PhDs.
As opposed to this, the NZ government had made no changes to the post-study work visa rights for international students enrolled in higher Masters and PhD courses and drastically took away all work rights for seemingly ordinary low-level courses (Level 5-6) that will include some of the popular courses like Business administration, hospitality, management etc.
By removing post-study work rights for international students, the government will, on the one hand, succeed in deterring future international students from entering the country on the back of those low-level courses, but on the other hand, will also potentially take away a huge pool of workforce from the labour market.
It is important to note that currently, there is a global skill shortage, as per the government’s own admission, and NZ is already on the lowest ladder of success in inviting the highly sought-after skilled workers and highly mobile international students owing to years of rigid border closure due to Covid pandemic, and a staggered process of border reopening and reconnecting with the rest of the world.
The government’s track record in attracting overseas skilled migrant workers in the last few months has been, at best – less than stellar – largely because of the raft of changes in rules under the guise of “immigration rebalance” are being implemented with stealth.
The Green List of skilled occupations and the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme are the cornerstone of the newly announced “immigration rebalance,” through which government intends to drastically improve the quality of skilled migrant workers coming into the country, prevent exploitations of some of the migrant workers from unscrupulous employers, and hopefully making it easier to attract and hire highly skilled migrants to fill genuine gaps in roles that are in global shortage.
The government remains confident that the latest announcement whereby curbing work rights for future international students arriving on low-level (Level 5 & 6) courses unless they choose to work in courses aligned with Green List occupations will continue to support their plans to fill gaps in the supply of skilled workforce.
Except that at this stage, it all remains wishful thinking, and it remains to be seen if the global markets (skilled migrant workers and international education) would choose to respond favourably to the government’s bold schemes.
A relatively favourable work-right regime, both during the course of studies (20-hour work permit on a student visa) and after completion of studies (1-3 years unfettered post-study work visa rights), has always been one of the major decisive factors influencing choices in many international student markets, including India.
It is to say that international students from many established and growing markets relied heavily on liberal work visa regimes to finalise their preferred overseas destination for international education.
In the past decade, when established and thriving international education markets such as the United Kingdom had arbitrarily curtailed post-study work visa rights, it witnessed a rapid flight of international students to other global destinations, including NZ.
NZ had then largely benefitted from disruptions in other markets of international students and built a robust $5 billion international education export industry.
The Covid pandemic, border closures and global travel disruptions had demolished that international education export industry.
Many stakeholders are hoping that the industry will be revived soon, and the government could play a supportive role.
However, so far, the government is singularly focused on unleashing an “immigration rebalance”, which it genuinely believes, is a radical change from the pre-existing immigration regime and will be a panacea to many of the real and perceived immigration-related problems.
As NZ gears up slowly to reconnect with the rest of the world, it remains to be seen how the latest round of changes in post-study work visas will impact the economy.
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