Foreign nationals holding temporary work visas in Te Anau turned up at a meeting in the town yesterday (10th June) to find out what help is available to enable them to stay in New Zealand.

The meeting, facilitated by Fiordland Community Board chairwoman, Sarah Greaney, attracted more than 60 migrant workers representing about 28 different nationalities, and brought together a range of agencies with advice and the latest information available.

Representatives from Civil Defence Emergency Southland Management (CDSEM), Immigration New Zealand, Great South and Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) were on hand, some via video conference, to answer questions and provide potential pathways to those wanting to stay in New Zealand.

According to Tony McNeil from Immigration New Zealand, the department had tended to be lenient, while the country was in lockdown, on visa holders who had work hours reduced to below that the required conditions of their visa, but that would not continue. If the conditions were not met – for example, working a minimum of 30 hours a week – then the visa conditions would be considered broken and they would have to leave the country.

Also, those who had valid work visas and were not in breach of the visa’s condition, but who needed to temporarily leave the country, would be not to be allowed to re-enter on their current visa. Mr McNeil said there could be exceptions based on humanitarian reasons but any cases would be decided on an individual basis and there was a very high threshold.

He said anyone wanting to transfer their visa to another job, would have to prove they were actively looking for a job, and there was no other real solution to allow deviation from their current visa conditions.

Mrs Greaney told the meeting that winter time in Te Anau was normally quiet (for business) and jobs were traditionally scarce at this time of year. However, looking forward the situation was not likely to improve anytime soon (while the borders remained closed).

She emphasised to the meeting how important it was to communicate with Immigration NZ before their visa was due to expire. 

Mrs Greaney also suggested to affected visa holders that now would be a good time to register with travel agents so they could get the latest information regarding opening up of international flights out of New Zealand.

CDSEM Group Manager/Group Controller, Angus McKay, assured the meeting that his agency would continue to support foreign nationals without any resources, “no job, no income, no food” but unfortunately this would come to an end soon.

He said while there were about 80 registered foreign workers in the Te Anau area, there were thousands more in Queenstown and foreign nationals were not eligible to access welfare benefits in New Zealand.

His agency’s resources should be regarded as a last resort, he said. It was likely that other agencies would step in when they had to withdraw but was unable to comment further.

In the meantime, Mr McKay said anyone in need should ring 0800 890 127 for assistance with food parcels.

Today, (11th June) SIT is hosting an Agricultural Redeployment Expo in Te Anau.

SIT representative, Anna Midhun, told last night’s meeting the institute had responded quickly to the COVID-19 crisis and, through research within the agricultural sector, had identified 120 job vacancies within that industry in Otago and Southland. She said these jobs would normally go to migrants coming into the country but as the closed border did not allow that now, the jobs were available to workers already here and wanting to stay.

Ms Midhun said jobs in the agriculture sector required specialised skills and SIT had produced a new fee-free 6-week skills redeployment programme in response.

Qualifying candidates would be required to spend two weeks at SIT’s Telford farm facility, undertake two weeks of specialised driving training and then two weeks on work placement.

Great South skills placement coordinator, Liz Clark, advised she would be at the Te Anau library on Monday (15th June) where she would welcome any job seekers to drop in between 10.30am and 2.30pm to discuss the latest job opportunities.