New Zealand has relaxed work visa requirements for partners of certain categories of international students, as revealed on the country’s immigration official website.
More specifically, spouses of students studying level 7 or 8 qualifications as defined in the Green List, are now entitled to apply for a work visa with open conditions, VisaGuide.World reports.
We have updated the Green List with the main Bachelor degrees and Bachelor Honours qualifications that lead to registration for certain occupations. These are occupations that have registration as a requirement instead of New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) qualifications.
Meanwhile, the dependent school-aged children of eligible partners can be considered as domestic students.
This means that children can apply for a Dependent Child Student Visa in order to attend school tuition-free. Such a policy applies to anyone whose partner holds a Student Work Visa.
New Zealand Implements Stricter Regulations for Certain Worker Categories
While individuals holding student visas studying at the above-mentioned levels can now support their partner’s application for a Partner of a Student Work Visa, certain worker categories of Accredited Employer Work visa (AEWV) are no longer eligible to do so.
This is because New Zealand has recently tightened work visa rules for individuals holding an AEWV in occupations at Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) levels 4 and 5 without a pathway to residency, preventing them from sponsoring work, visitor or student visa applications for their partners and dependent children.
However, the update introduced on June 26, will not affect the following categories of the foreigners:
However, the policy which became effective on June 26, will affect these categories of immigrants:
- People who already have visas as a partner or dependent child;
- People holding an AEWV ANZSCO level 4 and 5 roles with a pathway to residency, such as the Green List, sector agreements with residence pathways;
- People earning at least 1.5 times the average wage threshold for the Skilled Migrant Category.
New Zealand Introduced Stricter Work Visa Rules to Address ‘Unsustainable Migration’
Before the above-mentioned policies, New Zealand tightened work visa rules for people applying for low-skilled jobs under level 4 and 5 positions. As authorities stated earlier, such measures have been introduced to tackle the unsustainable migration.
However, New Zealand wants to attract and retain highly qualified foreign workers, including secondary teachers, due to the shortages of this role.
Over 1 Million People Entered New Zealand Between January & March 2024
During the first three months of 2024, more than one million people arrived in New Zealand, as per the official statistics.
Most of them entered the country on visitor visas (602,404), followed by Australian (274,417), resident (158,867) and work (51,338) visas.