New Zealand moves to Alert Level 1
At midnight yesterday, Monday 8 June, New Zealand moved to Alert Level 1 as the country now has zero active COVID-19 cases.
This means there are no longer restrictions on physical distancing, people can go to restaurants, cafes and bars and attend events of any size, indoors and outdoors. Life within New Zealand is pretty much back to the way things were BC (Before COVID). The Government will continue to focus on hand hygiene and enhanced contact tracing but this won’t impact most people’s day-to-day life and business.
New Zealand border restrictions remain in place for now
The one big difference that remains in place are the strict border controls. Anyone permitted to enter the country will have to isolate for 14 days and will be tested for Coronavirus twice during that time. Jacinda Ardern was keen to emphasize that while there continues to be a risk of further infection of COVID-19 in the rest of the world, the strict border control measures would remain in place.
While there is no real change to border controls at this time we continue to see an increase in INZ staff returning to work and their capacity to process applications. Priority will be given to applications for critical workers to support the Government response to COVID-19 and for other temporary visa applicants that are in New Zealand.
However we expect to see amendments made to the prioritisation criteria as international travel restrictions change, and more information becomes available about the effects of COVID-19 on the domestic labour market.
arno.nothnagel@absoluteimmigration.com
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Chefs among the 22 Occupations added to PMSOL, supporting Covid recovery
The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Alex Hawke MP has announced the inclusion of 22 additional skilled occupations on the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List (PMSOL).
The PMSOL was developed in 2020, in conjunction with the National Skills Commission, to ensure critical occupations are filled to continue to create Australian jobs and aid in Australia’s recovery from the impact of COVID-19.
Visa holders, who have been sponsored by an Australia business in a PMSOL occupation will be subject to quarantine arrangements at their own expense. Existing skilled migration occupation lists will remain active and visas will still be processed, but priority will be given to those in occupations on the PMSOL.
The addition of 22 occupations listed below (including ANZSCO codes), brings the PMSOL to 41 in total.
- Accountant (General) (221111)
- Accountant (Taxation) (221113)
- Accountant (Management) (221112)
- External Auditor (221213)
- Internal Auditor (221214)
- Electrical Engineer (233311)
- Civil Engineer (233211)
- Structural Engineer (233214)
- Geotechnical Engineer (233212)
- Transport Engineer (233215)
- Mining Engineer (233611)
- Petroleum Engineer (233612)
- Surveyor (232212)
- Cartographer (232213)
- Other Spatial Scientist (232214)
- Medical Laboratory Scientist (234611)
- Orthotist / Prosthetist (251912)
- Multimedia Specialist (261211)
- Analyst Programmer (261311)
- Software and Applications Programmers (261399)
- ICT Security Specialist (262112)
- Chef (351311)
