The Immigration Minister announced changes to the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) resident visa and Accredited Employer Work Visa. They’ve been making a lot of changes lately to visa settings, conditions, forms etc. What are these changes? How will they affect you? Will it make things easier or worse? Spotlight for this post is on the changes to Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa.
Watch the full video here
Skilled Migrant Category Resident visa allows you become a resident in New Zealand using the skills you have. At the moment, the process of applying for Skilled Migrant Category resident visa is by submitting EOI first before you are invited to apply.
Watch the video of the SMC resident visa settings that will be changing.
Recently, the Minister of Immigration announced that this current setting will be replaced with what they call a “simplified points system” which according to them sets clear skill conditions for residency and different ways to demonstrate your skill level. They also believe it is “essential for immigration rebalance and will help businesses attract workers to fill skill shortages”. Some visa criteria and conditions are not changing though.
What criteria and conditions are changing?
- The number of applications that will be accepted and the processing times
Did you know there is a cap on the number of highly skilled workers. Well! good news, this cap will be removed. Which means there will no longer be a limit on the number of people who can get residence through the Skilled Migrant Category resident visa.
Quoting the minister,
The changes announced today to ensure there is no cap on skilled migrants removes an artificial constraint in the old system that set an indicative number of residence places available each year and prevented skilled migrants settling in New Zealand even when there was a demonstrable need
on Simplified path to residency for skilled workers, 21 JUNE 2023
So as long as you meet the eligibility criteria, you will be able to get a NZ residence if your application is approved.
Speaking of criteria, the Skilled Migrant Resident Visa will now be based on the new points system tagged “simplified path to residency” What is it?
- The simplified points system
With the new points system, you will need 6 points to be eligible to apply for Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa resident visa. Here’s how you can claim those 6 points. You can claim 3 to 6 points based on either your
- New Zealand occupational registration
- qualifications, or
- income from your job or job offer.
You can also claim 1 point for each year of work, skilled work, in New Zealand, up to a maximum of 3 points. This image explains the four different ways to claim the 6 points needed to apply.
To simplify, you can claim all your 6 points from the first group of skill indicators. However, you can only claim points from 1 skill indicator, you cannot combine points from multiple skill indicators to get more points. As an example, you cannot combine points from qualifications with points from registration. You have to use either.
You can combine the points from your NZ registration, qualification or income with points from your skilled work.
The more skill points you claim, the shorter the period of skilled work in NZ you will need to show before you can apply for residence. So, you will have to use the category that gives you the most points.
Lastly, you will need a skilled job or job offer
- Skilled job offer
You must have a skilled job or job offer with an accredited employer in New Zealand. This job or job offer must meet the criteria listed below:
- at least 30 hours a week.
- on a permanent contract or fixed-term contract for at least 12 months.
- either in an
- ANZSCO Level 1 to 3 occupation and paid at or above the median wage, or
- ANZSCO Level 4 to 5 occupation and paid at or above 1.5 times the median wage
In summary, to be eligible to apply for SMC resident visa you will need to have an acceptable job or job offer in New Zealand and 6 points.
When are these changes coming?
The changes will come into effect from October 9, 2023. If your application is straightforward and you have all the required information, you can get a decision within 6 to 8 weeks.
How does this affect you?
As aforementioned, the current practice is before you can apply for this visa, you will need to submit an EOI. But with this new point system coming into effect, the final selection from the EOI based on the current visa setting will be on 16 August 2023. So, if you are still interested in using the current process, you will need to submit EOI by latest 11:59pm Aug 15, 2023.
I have detailed all about the EOI selection in my video on SMC. If you are invited, you will have 4 months to apply under the current criteria. For instance, if you are invited on Aug 16, you will have Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec to submit.
If for any reason, you cannot apply, then you can withdraw your EOI and ask for a refund before the final August selection. You can’t get a refund if your EOI is still in the pool when the category closes.
However, if you still want to apply for the visa, you could apply under the new points system from 9 October.
One more change, because eissh there are a lot of changes.
Requirements that are not changing are:
- character requirements
- health requirements
- English language requirements
- age requirements (you must be 55 years old or under to apply)
To summarise in simple terms,
- EOI is ending and being replaced by new straight forward and faster pathway coming in from early October.
- SMC will still be points based but this time using the new six-point system.
- You can only apply if you have an acceptable job or job offer in New Zealand and 6 points which means if don’t have either:
- New Zealand registration in a specified occupation, requiring at least 6 years’ training, or
- a PhD or doctorate, or
- a job or job offer in New Zealand which pays at least 3 times the median wage.
And you don’t have at least 1 year of skilled job experience in NZ, you may not be able to apply for this visa.
So, that is the gist of the matter but, all hopes are not lost, because you can apply for another temporary visa like AEWV, as an alternative. And by the way, did you know there are also changes to the AEWV visa too? The video is on my channel.
For now, I hope I have made these changes really clear for you. Have any questions? ask in the comment section.
