June 17, 2019
Immigration New Zealand has announced that from 1 October 2019, visitors and transit passengers from visa waiver countries will be required to hold an Electronic Travel Authority (“NZeTA”). The official basis for Immigration New Zealand introducing these new requirements for visitors is that it will reduce the time needed for border clearance and to improve the way travellers are assessed before their arrival into New Zealand. Another explanation behind the reasoning to changing visitor requirements for visitors is that Immigration New Zealand is looking to expand on the information collected on visitors to the country and strengthen security at the […]
June 16, 2019
Earlier this year, Immigration New Zealand announced that they were going to make changes to work visa applications. The following briefly outlines some of the key changes that Immigration New Zealand has proposed: CATEGORIES Old System: Six temporary work visa categories ( Essential Skills, Work to Residence (long term skill shortage list), Talent (Accredited Employer), Silver Fern (Practical Experience), Silver Fern (Job Search) and Approval in Principal). New System: There will only be one work visa category that will be using a new framework. EMPLOYER SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS Old System: As part of an employees work visa application under an employer […]
May 13, 2019
“Migrant exploitation” is a common news headline that conjures up an image a greedy employer overworking and underpaying innocent migrant workers. While this does happen and there are those that deliberately and maliciously exploit migrant workers, there are also those employers who may accidentally and inadvertently breach basic entitlements under New Zealand’s immigration and employment laws. Employment Law in New Zealand applies to all workers whether they are citizens, residents or temporary visa holders. All employers must offer the same employment and work conditions to their migrant workers that they offer to their New Zealand workers. Immigration New Zealand’s […]
April 4, 2019
Recently, staff from Queen City Law attended a workshop with Immigration New Zealand (“INZ”) in regards to preparing and submitting “decision ready” visa applications under the partnership-based categories. The workshop was held in INZ’s Hamilton branch. The Hamilton branch primarily deal with on-shore partnership-based visa applications while off-shore applications are reviewed by branches in Manila, Mumbai and New Delhi to name a few. During this workshop discussions were held between key members of the Hamilton branch on how to prepare an application under the partnership category to the highest quality. A high quality application, known as a “low touch” application, […]
March 26, 2019
Marcus Beveridge (Principal) and Tina Hwang (Associate) of Queen City Law have published an article for the latest issue of the Builders & Contractors Magazine. This article discusses how strategic employers within the construction industry should seek to utilize the Accredited Employer programme. Click here to read now. Please note that the Government has announced significant changes are to be made to the Accredited Employer programme including making it mandatory for all employers who are supporting work visa holders to become accredited. Accordingly, we suggest you front foot the application before these changes. We have taken care to ensure that […]
February 25, 2019
Queen City Law’s Principal, Marcus Beveridge, has previously appeared in several interviews on national television and radio with regards to the polarising decisions of the Minister of Immigration New Zealand, Iain Lees-Galloway, and the deportation of convict Karel Sroubek. This controversial case was the hot topic for water cooler conversations around the country as it unravelled over the course of several weeks. Due to the political undercurrent running through the case the actual crux of the problem has been clouded over and almost forgotten, but Marcus cut to the heart of the issue and only dealt with the hard facts. […]
November 27, 2018
Recently Queen City Law was asked by Legalwise to present at their annual Immigration Law Update conference. Jack Cheng and Bradley So attended the conference and presented on the process of Accreditation and Section 61 requests. Please click here for Practical Tips – accredited employer and section 61 applications – November presentation. Please click here for comments on accreditation
February 19, 2018
Last week, Queen City Law was invited down to Wellington to visit Immigration New Zealand’s Business Migration Team at their new premises to attend a seminar and meet the team. The meeting was by invitation only and Queen City Law was honored to be one of a select few from around the country to be invited. The seminar hosted by the team focused on issues and aspects around the Entrepreneur and Investor instructions. Entrepreneur Instruction: The Business Migration Team assured attendees that they are making progress with the backlog of applications under this policy. They apologised for the backlog […]
January 23, 2018
Recently the Business Migration Branch has released a report that at least 80% of Entrepreneur Work Visa balance applications have been declined and at least 50% of the Entrepreneur Residence Visa applications have been declined. There are three types of applications under the Entrepreneur Category as this category is a “work to residence” programme: 1. The initial step is to apply for an Entrepreneur Work Visa (a 12 month interim visa); 2. The second step is to apply for the balance of the Entrepreneur Work Visa; and 3. The third step is to apply for an Entrepreneur Residence Visa. Depending […]