NEW ZEALAND IMMIGRATION NEWS

Seasonal workers benefit from New Zealand immigration program

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

Over the last year, New Zealand immigration has opened its doors to seasonal workers from the Pacific Islands.

This has been done under the Recognized Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.

Every year up to 5,000 people from the Pacific can enter New Zealand for up to seven months over an 11-month period as seasonal workers.

The RSE scheme began with five countries, namely Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu. Over time, it will expand to 11 Forum nations.

Villagers from these countries have come to New Zealand on temporary visas, which allowed them to work in vineyards, farms and orchards.

How it works, is that employers in the viticulture and horticulture sectors in New Zealand can apply under the RSE scheme for registration and then seek an “Agreement to Recruit” overseas workers when local employees cannot be found.

By January 2008, 68 employers had already been registered, with another 40 applications being processed.

Dick Eade, a recruiter from Manpower Associates Vanuatu currently has 70 ni-Vanuatu workers with three employers in New Zealand, picking apples and strawberries.

Eade says the key aim of seasonal work is to encourage more remittances to flow into rural communities, so that children’s education can be funded, housing improved or small business started.

Even after deducting the costs for travel, accommodation and food, he says that workers can still make a really good income.

“For five months work, we’ve had workers clearing up to 500,000 vatu – that’s about A$5,500 (US $4,813),” Eade said encouragingly.

To give one an idea of just how helpful this seasonal worker program is, Joe Natuman, Vanuatu’s Interior Minister, has estimated that by May 2008, workers will bring home over 600 million vatu (US$6 million) in remittances.

When comparing this to the meagre minimum wage for an agricultural worker in Vanuatu, which is equivalent to A$300 (US$262) a year, the financial benefits prove to be significant.

If you are interested in living and working in New Zealand, you can do your free online visa eligibility assessment to see for which visa you qualify. The results are instant!