Call it the Trump effect, the compulsions of an election year or the genuine demands of an ageing Auckland-infrastructure that is struggling to cope with the sudden increase in population, the pathway from international education to residency is out of political favour in New Zealand.
The Labour Party has come out with a seemingly hard-hitting immigration policy that could potentially cut down the numbers of international students by 22-25,000 in New Zealand.
Some major propositions at the heart of this policy such as doing away with 20-hour work rights along with study and one-year post-study open job-search visa have the potential to affect the whole international education experience of many prospective students.
This is not altogether new.
The current National Party-led government has earlier announced some changes such as reducing points for age, removing extra points for qualifications in areas of absolute skills shortage and identified future growth areas along with introducing a requirement of minimum income threshold in the points-based skilled migration category visa system.
The pathway from international education to residency is clearly losing political favour and bearing the maximum brunt of the so-called public debate around managing numbers on immigration.
In this context, it is important to clear the air on what exactly National and Labour are offering in regards to the pathway from international education to residency in New Zealand.
Indian Weekender presents a quick analysis for the benefit of those who strive to commence an arduous yet meaningful journey on the pathway from international education to residency in New Zealand.
|
Sl. # |
Level of International Education |
National Party |
Labour Party |
Pathway to Residency |
|
1. |
Student visas for Level 5 and level 6 courses |
Yes |
No (unless the course is independently assessed by TEC & NZQA) |
Under National immigration policy level 5 & 6 students can still come to NZ to study along with 20-hour work rights and get a guaranteed one-year post-study job search open visa.
However, the points they can get toward Skilled Migration Visa (Residency) are going to be reduced to make it difficult for them to accumulate the minimum 160 points required to file an expression of interest for residency.
Under a Labour government, students cannot come to New Zealand in Level 5 & 6 courses to start with, and will not get one-year post-study work visa |
|
2. |
20-Hour work right for level 5 and level 6 courses |
Yes |
No |
|
|
3. |
One year Open-Job search work visa for Level 5 and Level 6 courses |
Yes |
No – Only students who manage to get a job offer immediately after completing studies would be getting work visa |
|
|
4. |
Points for Age (20-29 years) |
Going to decrease in Augustb 2017 |
-------------- |
|
|
5. |
Points for Age (30-39 years) |
Points to increase in August |
Labour will standardise points between 30-45 years |
There is unanimity between National and Labour to discard advantage to youth (young age) and international education experience, over maturity and skilled work experience.
Labour is only supporting quality international education at university level.
However, their media release states that “Labour will also limit the ability to work while studying at Bachelor level or higher.” |
|
6. |
Level 7 and above courses |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
7. |
20-hour work right for level 7 and above courses |
Yes |
Limited ability to work
– It’s not yet clear what Labour means by limiting abilities of the students even at Level 7 and above to work along with studies. |
|
|
8. |
Points for NZ study experience |
No points after August 2017 |
---------------- |
However, it must be noted that many recent suggestions proposed by the National Party earlier in April will be implemented in mid-August this year whereas Labour Party’s proposed changes can only come into play after the September elections if at all they form the government.
In that regard, if at all the Labour party forms the government, then by that time current changes proposed by the National Party such as introducing Minimum Income Threshold ($49,000) would have become a requirement.
Indian Weekender sought clarification with the Labour Party as its media release does not seem to respond to this new requirement being introduced by the National Party, to which the Labour Party has responded that they would be open to having a fresh look into that.