Queenstown Lakes District Council is currently in the process of setting up a community support and information service in Frankton. Other agencies, including Immigration New Zealand and the Ministry of Social Development, will be in Queenstown from early next week to further discuss logistical details associated with the operation.
While there may be a small number of appointment-only meetings next week, we are anticipating the service will be fully operational the following week.
The INZ team will consist of staff who can help temporary migrants understand their immigration options, relationship managers who help co-ordinate information, engage with employers and provide information to migrants on options to depart New Zealand if they have no pathway to remain in the country.
The INZ team will be established for an initial period of three weeks from Tuesday 2 June 2020 to help the significant population of migrant workers that have become unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Staff at the one stop shop will be on hand to provide information to migrants wanting to remain in New Zealand and make them aware of their job prospects in a changing labour market with an increasing number of unemployed New Zealanders looking for work.
Temporary visa holders who are unemployed or in difficulty and want to return home should in the first instance talk to their Consulate or Embassy for assistance and information about the availability of flights to their home country. The COVID-19 wage subsidy is available to anyone legally working in New Zealand.
Some decisions have already been made to provide temporary migrants in New Zealand with some certainty. An Epidemic Management Notice relating to immigration matters came into effect from 2 April 2020. This means that holders of a work, student, visitor, limited or interim visa with an expiry date of 2 April to 9 July 2020 inclusive who were in New Zealand on 2 April 2020 have had their visas automatically extended until 25 September 2020.
The Government has agreed to relax visa conditions for a short period to allow temporary migrant workers and international students to further assist with our essential services during the COVID-19 response.
More information about changes to visa conditions is available here.
Labour market tests in Queenstown Lakes District
For roles with an ANZSCO skill level of 4 to 5, employers need to contact Work and Income to ensure there are no suitable New Zealanders available for the role. For Queenstown there are some roles that have been exempt from this process. But with effect from 26 May 2020 the exemptions will no longer apply and employers will need to follow the labour market test process used throughout the rest of the country.
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