New Opportunities in New Zealand

– For Job Seekers, Employers and Agencies

Under the new Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) application process to be launched on November 1, 2021, employers will will lead foreign job seekers into the work visa process. This change will result in a more functional immigration experience for job seekers and employers. Many opportunities will arise for all players including the agencies.

Likely Benefits to Job Seekers

My predictions are below and I remain flexible to adjusting my views as new information becomes known.

1. Cost – Likely to be less up-front cost and lower overall costs because I see employers more involved in each individual case and more likely to pay for the visa side of things.
2. Time – Processing work visas will be done faster and with less errors on average, which means less frustration and more certainty for job seekers from job offer to the first day of work. Job-seekers will also experience an improved process in the area of planning and collaboration because they will enjoy a relationship with one point of contact per each job offer rather than having to juggle the requirements with INZ separately from the offer to work.
3. Frustration – Gladly, job seekers will avoid the problems related to differing interests that pass “like two ships in the night” – not seeing each other. In the past, delays and miscommunication have been a significant barrier to getting work visas submitted and approved because employers and immigration agents have not always communicated perfectly or quickly with each other. From the employer’s point of view, it is true that many immigration agents are professionally competent to meet the service needs of employers, however, there is an equal amount of agents unwilling or unable to act competently outside their bureaucratic comfort zone. This disconnect has ruined many immigration efforts due to mistakes, delays, retracted offers and failed job seeking efforts that ultimately resulted from this lack of collaboration. This level of incompetence will decrease under one employer-led process. As a result, job seekers will experience less frustration, cost and risk.
4. Clearer targets – Now, more than ever, job seekers will have planning clarity. As I said in my introduction to foreign job seekers: “The first priority is the job offer, everything else follows quite naturally”. https://atomic-temporary-163814143.wpcomstaging.com/about-tate/ After November 1, 2021, this statement can be taken to the next level because employers are giving more than job offers. They also provide leadership towards the work visa as part of the same process.

What does this mean?

• For foreign job seekers: The AEWV signals a welcome change that offers less stress, faster processing times and less up-front costs. In the past, job seekers were caught between legally-driven documentation requirements from the INZ and economically-driven job offers from employers. There have been communication gaps that arose between two entities that have slightly different business objectives. In addition, foreign job seekers are in an unfamiliar culture, often using English as a second language. It is not easy to take responsibility for all those diverse issues while also finding work and managing personal affairs at the same time. Because some serious flaws in the immigration system are being addressed by INZ, the job seeking experience for foreigners is likely to improve for most in my view.
• For NZ employers: The AEWV signals a major change in the way businesses work with foreigners. They must be proactive enough to get the accreditation and establish robust systems for processing to a standard of compliance that is not yet fully known. This will increase compliance costs. The new costs will be streamlined towards efficiency over time until costs are far less than the benefits of hiring foreign talent. Employer that achieve this will become players in the new system and they will have some help from INZ and also from the agencies.
• For immigration agents: The AEWV will change some fundamental aspects of their business model. I see demand for work visas shrinking from job seekers and at the same time I see the growth of a new market where local NZ employers require accreditation support. I don’t believe the large employers will need help and I stand to be corrected if I am wrong. Nevertheless, it seems clear that most employer demand for accreditation support will come from New Zealand’s SME market, which represents 95% of NZ employers. The agencies that establish themselves as a reliable partner in this new growth segment will more than offset any losses from shrinking work visa revenues. In addition, there are downstream opportunities that will emerge after accreditation that hint at job placement. This almost guarantees that local employment recruiters will enter this new market as well. It will be an interesting period of change and opportunity for employers and the various supporting agencies. May the best vision win.

Predictions for Job Seekers:

For job seekers abroad, the best way to get hired will have little or no significant change. If anything, the process and experience will improve in most ways after a period of adjustment in the first 4-6 months. Success in relocation for most professionals is still about getting a job offer. Along with the job offer, job seekers also get support from the employer-led work visa process as well. That is a welcome change from the way things were done previously.

My advice to foreign job seekers remains the same as it has always been. To maximise success, prepare your profile and present yourself to employers in a way that generates meetings and job offers. You can start that process now from the relative comfort of your home where costs are lower and preparation time is easier to find. When the border announcement finally arrives, job seekers will want to have a list of interested hiring managers to meet and most will want to be among the first wave of job seekers to enter New Zealand (or Australia). This is a time when demand for talent has never been higher in history. It is shaping up to be a perfect storm of hiring. For those that qualify, preparation and timing is everything.

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Further Information:

From the Immigration NZ website, the Accredited Employer-led Work Visa process is explained here: Employer leads visa application process

If you require helpful advice, I offer helpful job insights at no cost to qualifying candidates. To find out more, just send your CV to me at tate@employmentforimmigration.nz and I will respond within about a day.