Laurent Law Blog

**NEWS FLASH**

On 11 April 2023, Immigration New Zealand announced that from 29 May 2023, 32 health worker roles would be added to the Green List and all health roles on the Green List will be moved to the Straight to Residence pathway.

When people think of a ‘health worker’ they might normally think of a Doctor or Nurse working in a Hospital setting, however health workers currently on the Green List (Straight to Residence pathway) also include;

1. Midwife
2. Clinical Psychologist
3. Medical laboratory scientist
4. Midwife
5. Orthoptist

… and health workers which will be added to the Green List (Straight to Residence pathway) from 29 May 2023 include;

1. Dietician
2. Dentist
3. Optometrist
4. Pharmacist
5. Physiotherapist

The full list of health worker occupations being added to the Green List (Straight to Residence pathway) from 29 May 2023 can be found here.

What is the ‘Green List’?

The Green List can be found here.

The Green List is a list of occupations in the INZ Operational Manual at Appendix 13. Occupations listed at Appendix 13 are accompanied by qualifications and work experience which someone must have in order for Immigration New Zealand to be satisfied that requirements of the Green List are met. In this way the Green List is similar to the now retired ‘Long Term Skill Shortage’ list.

The idea is that people working in occupations on the Green List are very much needed in New Zealand, therefore INZ is prepared to offer them a ‘fast-track’ to Residence in order to entice them to come.

The Green List offers two pathways to Residence;

1. If the occupation is listed on the Green List (Straight to Residence pathway), someone with a job offer in that occupation can apply directly for Residence. Only jobs in Tier 1 of the Green List will qualify. The INZ website currently states that the average processing time for this type of application is 43 days – quite fast, by INZ standards.
2. If the occupation is listed on the Green List (Work to Residence pathway), someone with a job offer in that occupation can apply for Residence after working for 2 years in New Zealand while holding an Accredited Employer Work Visa. Only jobs in Tier 2 of the Green List will qualify. The INZ website currently does not state a processing time for this type of application.

Applicants must be aged 55 or younger at the time the application is made.

The INZ application fee for both types of application is $4890.

There are many stories in news media at the moment about the shortage of health workers in New Zealand, for example see here.

The University of Auckland estimates that New Zealand currently needs about another 4000 Nurses.

It is clear that the New Zealand Government and Immigration New Zealand are trying to respond to a significant health worker shortage which seems to be creating a ‘crisis’ situation.

We can provide specialist expertise to help with your application

If you are a health worker and are looking to come to work in New Zealand, perhaps apply for Residence, you might be wondering whether you need a Lawyer or Licensed Immigration Adviser to assist.

We would like to let you know that our firm of Lawyers here at Laurent Law is well-equipped to assist with your plans. We can handle both the simple and not-so-simple situations.

Even if your application seems simple at first glance, it may not be. There can be much peace of mind to be gained from having a professional Lawyer assist you through the process.

In particular, our firm has a strong track record of assisting with situations that are not so straightforward.

For example, we were recently contacted by a client with a job offer in an occupation on the Green List who was looking to come to New Zealand on Work Visas first, but had previously been refused entry to New Zealand on arrival. This created an issue around ‘bona fides’. This same client has a child from a previous relationship and needed guidance on how the child could be included in a Residence application.

At Laurent Law we have the skills and ability to assist with a wide range of situations. No situation is too complex or confronting for us.

If you are looking for help with your application for Residence under the Green List, please feel welcome to contact us here at Laurent Law.

The romantic ideal of just one spouse or partner, to have and to hold as long as you both shall live, seems nowadays to be more the exception than the rule. For all sorts of reasons, people move on to a second or third long-term relationships – or even more. As many have found to their cost, however, New Zealand immigration rules only recognise those evolving life choices up to a point. The results are painful.

James Turner, our Staff Solicitor, wrote about this topic in February 2022 and explained how we were able to turn around a potentially disastrous dead-end for our clients. However, the distressing history of these situations keeps repeating itself. Take for instance the case of Sharon Choo from Malaysia, whose story was reported in the NZ Herald a few weeks ago. She is a mother of 4 children with her NZ husband Barry, and they have all lived together here for some years. However, Barry had previously sponsored 2 previous partners for Residence. This automatically makes him ineligible to sponsor anyone else, for the rest of his life, and Sharon’s Residence was declined in July 2022.

Use Your Appeal

Apart from the human dimension of this story, it is also concerning that Sharon does not seem to have appealed against the Residence decision. The Herald article does not refer to any appeal having been filed, and there is no record of such a case being decided by the Immigration & Protection Tribunal (IPT).

There is no guarantee that a “special circumstances” appeal would have succeeded, as each case turns on its own facts. [See our vlog on Residence appeals.] However, this case certainly seemed to have some merit owing to the interests of the couple’s New Zealand children. There might have been other distinctive features of the history to explore – for instance, how long ago did the husband sponsor the other 2 partners? It might have been decades in the past. How did those relationships end? In some cases it can be because of the death of a previous wife or husband, something over which the sponsor obviously had no control.

While Immigration must apply the Residence Instructions it has been given, the IPT has the discretion to recommend to the Minister of Immigration that an exception should be made, so that Residence can indeed be granted at the end of the day. Such an opportunity should not be ignored or wasted. Nor is it a good idea to rush off to one’s local MP, or write to the Minister for help. While it is true that the Minister of Immigration can give relief, he or she can just as easily refuse to assist, and is not bound to give any reasons for doing so.

Change the Rules

Pretty much everyone on both sides of the desk agrees that the Partnership Residence Instructions are out of step with current reality. Even Immigration staff and managers have told us that they are frustrated. For example, the expectation that couples can show finances in both names (such as joint bank accounts) does not reflect current social norms. Many people in genuine and solid relationships prefer to keep their money matters separate. That does not mean that they do not share care for and commitment to each other.

The rules that create the kind of trouble described earlier are:

• The NZ sponsor must not have “acted as a partner” in more than one Residence application in the last 5 years; and
• The sponsor can only act as a partner in 2 Residence applications in their entire life.

“Acting as a partner” means either being a visa applicant (including being a secondary applicant in a family’s Residence application) and being the NZ sponsor of a Partner Residence applicant. Because of this, it is easy to use up the quota of chances fairly quickly in the course of one’s life.

These restrictions were brought in years ago to stop people earning additional income by offering to be one foreign applicant’s partner in exchange for a fee so that they could get Residence, then repeating the exercise multiple times. Back then it was a bit of a problem, to be sure. Still, how much good does the second all-of-life rule do, when balanced against the misery it creates for innocent people like Sharon Choo and her husband? The risk of abuse of the system can be reduced by leaving in the first rule alone. A fixation on completely eliminating that risk ignores the fact that people’s significant relationships shift and change throughout a lifetime, and penalises them for shaping their lives in a way which is otherwise socially acceptable in any other circumstance.

If you, or someone you know, is worried that future plans for settling down in New Zealand are at risk because of these Partnership rules, contact us to discuss.

In my latest video blog I provide a simplified overview of the main ways to apply for Residence in New Zealand.

Book your appointment (https://laurentlaw.co.nz/contact-us/consultations/) now to explore your options.

The parent residence scheme was reopened in early 2020. It allows New Zealand citizens or residents to sponsor their parents for residence. With border closures after Covid-19, this policy was put on hold until 12 October 2022. Immigration New Zealand (“INZ”) announced the restart of the parent resident visa with reduced requirements for sponsors. INZ also resumed selecting existing parent Expressions of Interest (“EOI”) on 14 November 2022. With all the immigration changes that have taken place over the last couple of years, I believe now would be a good time to remind you of the requirements under the parent resident visa category. 

Parent Resident Visa Category

The parent resident visa application is made in two stages. The first stage is submitting an EOI, which is then entered into a pool. Selection from the pool may result in an invitation to apply for a resident visa under the parent category. Once the person is invited to apply for residence, the second stage is to complete and file a residence application with INZ. Applications will be approved if the requirements for health, character, English language, family relationships and sponsorship (including minimum income thresholds) are met.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible, the parent(s) must meet the following requirements:

• Health and character requirements for residence.
• Have no dependent children. A child is considered dependent if they are aged 21-24, single, with no children of their own and substantially reliant on their parent(s) for financial support; or aged 18-20, single, with no children of their own; or aged 17 years or younger.
• Meet the English language criteria.
• Must have at least one sponsoring adult child who meets the family relationship, sponsorship including minimum income requirements as set out in the immigration instructions (policy).

Sponsorship and minimum income threshold

On 12 October 2022, INZ changed the sponsorship requirements and minimum income threshold, which should be more favourable than before for many New Zealand sponsors who want to bring their parents to New Zealand.

Under the previous rules, only one adult child or one adult and their partner can sponsor their parents under parent residence category. The new rules allow two adult children to sponsor their parent(s).

INZ has also lowered the income threshold requirement for sponsors to sponsor parents. Previously, a sponsor was required to earn twice the median wage. Now, a sponsor needs to earn 1.5 times the median wage. This limit increases by half the median wage for each additional parent or each joint sponsor.

The sponsor or joint sponsors must also meet that minimum income threshold for two years within the 3-year period before being invited to apply for residence. For example, if you are the adult child and sponsoring only one parent, your minimum income will need to be $86,611.20, and if you are sponsoring two parents, then it will be $115,481.60. The calculation is based on the median wage of $57,740.80 for the year. The same calculation will apply for the other two years if the sponsor meets the minimum income threshold.

Selection of existing and new EOIs

Any EOIs INZ receive from 12 October 2022 will go into a ballot. The first random selection from the ballot is in August 2023, then every 3 months after that. However, INZ’s advice is not to rush and submit your EOI because EOIs that have not been selected from the ballot will expire after two years. INZ recommends that people should submit EOIs closer to the ballot selection to maximise the amount of time to stay in the ballot before it expires. From May 2023 EOIs can be submitted online on the INZ website.

There is an annual limit to the number of resident visas available under the parent category. It is limited to 2,500 people for each year ending 30 June. Until the queued pool of EOIs is cleared, 2000 visas per year are allocated for the people with EOIs submitted in the queued pool, and from July 2023, 500 visas per year will be allocated to those whose EOIs are in the ballot pool.

For those who submitted an EOI before 12 October 2022, they can update the EOI to meet the new requirements for the parent resident visa category. As mentioned earlier, two adult children can now jointly sponsor a parent and the income requirement is lower.

Get in touch with us

As you can see, the parent resident visa category is a complex process. It can get tricky, particularly for the sponsors to ensure they meet the minimum income threshold to sponsor their parents. INZ has placed a cap on the number of resident visas granted under this category. Therefore, you must ensure you meet the requirements and file a complete and correct application with INZ. Book an appointment to discuss your options if you need advice about the parent category.

My Principal Simon Laurent, was recently quoted in a Radio New Zealand article regarding Immigration New Zealand’s new Active Investor category, announced by the Minister of Immigration and the Minister of Economic and Regional Development in September 2022.

This new category came into effect and replaced two older Investor categories on 19 September 2022.

Simon has published two blog articles on the new category previously, see here and here.

Our understanding is that, after over 2 months, only about 3 applications have been lodged under the new scheme.

I believe that one reason why there has been slow uptake of the new category is that it is complicated and difficult to understand, even for Immigration Lawyers and Advisers.

The detailed ‘Immigration Instructions’ for the new category are contained in the Immigration New Zealand Operational Manual here. I have reviewed these several times for the purpose of understanding their intention and effect.

I would go so far as to suggest that the category is badly written and confuses applicants.

In this blog I will try to “unpack” and give some practical examples of what a potential Investor can invest in, if they want to secure Residence in New Zealand under the new category.

I will focus on what is a ‘direct investment’, which is the most significant class of acceptable investment, because they receive 3x weighting. That is, a $3 million investment in ‘direct investments’ will count as $9 million towards the $15 million investment that the Active Investor category requires.

What is a ‘direct investment’?

The definition of ‘direct investment’ is given at Instruction BN7.10.15;

i. the principal applicant must invest in:

• listed equities that are considered an acceptable investment as set out in BN7.10.1(a) as a wholesale investor; or

• an equity security in an investee entity; or

• another financial product that will be converted, or is or may become convertible, into an equity security in an investee entity; and

ii. NZTE must confirm that the:

• investment by the principal applicant in acceptable listed equities as a wholesale investor was pre-approved by NZTE prior to funds being invested; or

• investee entity is an acceptable direct investment.

This definition is quite opaque. ‘Investee entity’ is defined as a body corporate, e.g., a company, which is Resident in New Zealand and which is not listed on any securities or stock exchange.

A body corporate is Resident in New Zealand if it is incorporated in New Zealand, has its head office and centre of management in New Zealand, and has control by company directors exercised in New Zealand.

Criteria for ‘investee entities’ to qualify for ‘direct investment’ are given at Appendix 15 of the INZ Operational Manual. 

An ‘investee entity’ will be an acceptable direct investment if New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) is of the view that;

1. It has previously received, or will receive, capital from an acceptable managed fund;
2. It is listed on the NZTE Live Deal platform (as updated by NZTE from time to time); or
3. It is otherwise acceptable for the purposes of the Active Investor Plus Visa

Option 2 – Live Deals

The NZTE Live Deals platform website (https://www.nzte.govt.nz/livedeals/about) displays investment opportunities in New Zealand that investors can express interest to invest in.

For example, some of the investment opportunities that the NZTE Live Deals platform currently displays are;

• ‘Humble Bee’ is looking for NZD$5,000,000 of investment,
• ‘Eko360’ is looking for NZD$5,000,000 of investment,
• ‘TapiHQ’ is looking for NZD$3,500,000 of investment.

Option 3 – “Otherwise Acceptable”

There are some quite complex criteria that NZTE refers in determining whether an investee entity is “otherwise acceptable for the purposes of the Active Investor Plus Visa”.

The criteria include the following;

• Whether the direct investment capital is being used to grow the investee entity, create or save jobs, or deliver economic benefit to New Zealand
• If the investment is subject to Overseas Investment Office or Ministerial approved under the Overseas Investment Act 2005, whether that approval has been given
• Whether the entity is already operating and trading
• Whether the entity is compliant with NZTE’s internal know-your-customer (KYC) process used for verifying the legitimacy and lawfulness of individuals and organisations

These criteria are not straightforward to understand and apply.

I suggest that the effect has been to “bamboozle” applicants, as a well-known Immigration Adviser has recently commented regarding the state of New Zealand’s current Immigration settings.

The conclusion (for now…)

It is fair to say that the category is complicated, to the extent it may be badly written and may confuse applicants and even their professional advisers. This may be part of the reason why there have been so few applications so far.

Policymakers and writers of the category should take note, that if Government is serious about attracting investment to New Zealand, the category needs to be simplified and expressed in clear language urgently.

Meanwhile, New Zealand may be missing out.

Please contact us if you would like help with filing an application for Residence under the Active Investor category.