The Government announced today that increases to visa charges, made up of fees and levies, are being introduced on 1 October 2024.
From 1 October, new visa charges will be set at an appropriate level to recover the costs of processing a visa and reflect the benefits received by people using immigration services.
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/documents/media/immigration-fee-and-levy-table-rates-from-1-october-2024.pdf
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced that the President of India, Her Excellency Droupadi Murmu, will make a State visit to New Zealand next week.
“This is the second time New Zealand will be welcoming an Indian President, following Shri Pranab Mukherjee’s visit in 2016,” Mr Luxon says.
“New Zealand and India have a long-standing and vibrant relationship, and my Government is committed to deepening and broadening our connections. I spoke with Prime Minister Modi ten days ago. Having already visited India this year, the Deputy Prime Minister met the Indian Foreign Minister this past weekend in Laos. The Minister for Trade made another visit to New Delhi last week for meetings with his counterpart.
“President Murmu’s visit is particularly welcome at a time of increased engagement between the New Zealand and Indian Governments. The visit will also highlight our strong people-to-people and cultural links.”
New Zealand is home to about 300,000 people of Indian origin, who make an important contribution to our business, community and society. Hindi is the fifth most spoken language in New Zealand, and Indian students also make up the second largest cohort of international students in New Zealand.
“President Murmu is a highly respected leader in India. She is the second female and the first person from a tribal community to hold the position. Her visit will provide an important opportunity to reaffirm New Zealand as a trusted and supportive bilateral and regional partner to India,” Mr Luxon says.
President Murmu and her delegation will attend a series of events in Auckland and Wellington during her visit from August 7-9, including an official welcome at Government House, official talks with the Governor-General, Prime Minister, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a State dinner hosted by the Governor-General.
Accreditation applications opened on 23 May 2022, Job Check applications opened on 20 June 2022 and work visa applications opened on 4 July 2022.
As at 16 July 2024 Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has approved 123,124 AEWV applications, and there are 35,781 accredited employers.
AEWV holders can apply to vary their employer, job, location, under the Job Change application process. This allows AEWV migrants greater certainty, including if they lose their job.
Contact us now if you have any questions related to the above!!
The PAC and SQ residence pathways recognise the special relationship between New Zealand and Samoa and the Pacific Access Category countries of Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Fiji.
This year 1,650 Samoan citizens, 250 Tongan, 250 Fijian citizens, 75 Kiribati and 75 Tuvaluan citizens will be granted residence under each category.
Sufficient registrations in the ballot will be drawn to meet these quotas. Registrations for the ballots can contain more than one person, for example if a family are included under the same registration.
The minimum income requirement for those applying for residence under PAC and SQ with dependent children will be NZD$53,515.28 from 1 August 2024.
This will apply to those who are invited to apply for residence following this ballot draw. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that parents can adequately support children in New Zealand. The income of a secondary applicant partner may also be considered, as long as both applicants have an acceptable offer of employment in New Zealand.
Accreditation applications opened on 23 May 2022, Job Check applications opened on 20 June 2022 and work visa applications opened on 4 July 2022.
As at 3 June 2024 Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has approved 120,472 AEWV applications, and there are 35,264 accredited employers.
On 7 April 2024, changes were announced to the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme. These include:
From 1 July 2024, the TSMIT will increase from $70,000 to $73,150. New nomination applications from this date will need to meet the new TSMIT of $73,150 or the annual market salary rate, whichever is higher.
This change will not affect existing visa holders and nominations lodged before 1 July 2024.
These changes are in line with the Government’s commitment at the Jobs and Skills Summit in September 2022.
From 17 June 2024, all supporting documents submitted with visitor visa applications to Immigration New Zealand (INZ) must be provided in English.
All supporting documents submitted with visitor visa applications must be provided in English or include an English translation.
Examples of documents that require translation can include:
Applicants can provide certified translations completed by:
We will also accept translations from a licensed immigration adviser (LIA) who is:
Applications without translated documents are likely to be declined.
Christmas and New year Closure:
Please note our Auckland and Christchurch offices shall be closed from mid day 23 December and shall re-open on 09 January 2023.
In between, if you have any urgent query, please text Harshita on 0212128982 or Mayank on 0212227102.
The new median wage of NZD $29.66 an hour will be adopted into the immigration system on 27 February 2023.
All wage thresholds indexed to the median wage will also be updated. This includes the Accredited Employer Visa (AEWV), occupations covered by sector agreements, and residence visa categories.
For the AEWV, migrants must meet the wage threshold in force at the time they apply for their visa. This means that if the wage threshold increases between the job check being approved and the migrant applying for the visa, the migrant may need to meet a higher wage threshold than was approved in the job check pay range.
For example, an employer is granted a job check on 1 November 2022 based on the current median wage of $27.76.
Residence visa categories and pathways with median wage-related criteria will also be updated. This includes the Green List and Highly Paid pathways, the Skilled Migrant Category and the Parent Category.
The Parent Resident Visa restarts on 12 October 2022 with reduced requirements for sponsors.
The Selection of existing expressions of interest (EOIs) starts on 14 November 2022.
Any EOIs we receive from 12 October 2022 go into a ballot. The first random selection from the ballot is in August 2023, then every 3 months after that.
From May 2023 EOIs can be submitted online on the Immigration New Zealand website.
500 visas will be available each year for EOIs selected by ballot.
Existing EOIs — these are EOIs we received before 12 October 2022 — will be selected in the date order we received them. We begin selecting them on 14 November 2022 and continue to select them every 3 months after that.
