Change to our Skilled Residence Categories is Coming

It's just a question of when and in what final form.

We've all known since 2023 that the reset of the Skilled Residence categories would be problematic. As things stand, you can have a PhD in an obscure topic and a job as a Secretary and get fast-tracked to residence, where most tradespeople whose skills are in high demand have no pathway. Last October, Erica Stanford (our Minister of Immigration) was public in saying:

“There are skilled workers who don’t currently have a pathway to residency so it’s really important we get that work done quickly. At the moment you need a degree, or be in a registered occupation earning 1.5 times the median wage. That leaves out a lot of most tradies who are in trades or advanced manufacturing, who are skilled, perhaps with 10-20 years experience, but who don’t meet all the current criteria to gain residency in New Zealand.

Change to our Skilled Residence Categories needs to come, and the sooner the better. In New Zealand, we currently have a cohort of highly skilled tradespeople coming to the end of 3-year visas who still have no pathway to residence. The word is out to other tradesies not to bother with New Zealand, and before the naysayers jump onto keyboards, net migration went through a downward spiral last year (to 32,900 for the year to February 2025). In the past couple of months, economists have warned that low levels of net migration are providing a headwind for the residential housing market and may slow overall economic recovery. Employers are keen to retain migrant workers they have already working. Examples abound of trades workers jumping ship to the likes of Correction Officer or other roles on the Green List, abandoning the trade they are most experienced in, just to be able to gain a pathway to residence. It's a robbing Peter to pay Paul situation that should not be necessary.

As the Minister has said of immigration policy, however, "getting the balance right is like trying to land a jumbo jet on a 10-cent coin." It takes time to make new policy.

The one thing everyone agrees on is, however, that employers and migrants need certainty, not ever-shifting sands and the Trades need more pathways to be able to retain valued workers.

One of the many problems for our trades cohort and others waiting to secure the 6 points needed for residence is the cost of renewing temporary visas (@$4500 for a family of 4). Plus, the issue is that dependent children have limited temporary visa options once they leave school, even while a family works their way towards residence.

More information

Katy Armstrong, Principal & Licensed Adviser #200800243

The Team at Into NZ is committed to delivering exceptional results.

Experts in skilled migration since 2005.