The New Zealand border is opening to the world again, and not before time for the Engineering sector, which is experiencing critical worker shortages that intersect with a full pipeline of forthcoming engineering projects across the country.<\/p>\n
New Zealand needs more engineers and associated trades to manage significant projects, from large road and infrastructure projects to civil engineering, water projects, power plants, and rail projects. For many companies, employing overseas workers is the only way to go.<\/p>\n
The good news is that employing engineers from overseas can be a relatively short process from beginning to end, but businesses need to be aware that the government has made significant immigration changes to address the skills shortage. As such, the immigration process will require more work from employers than the previous system did.<\/p>\n
Employers who want to hire overseas engineering workers now need to be accredited and show no New Zealanders are available for the job they want to fill before hiring from overseas.<\/p>\n
Companies need to demonstrate they will be good employers for foreign workers and the requirements vary depending on the industry and business model.<\/p>\n
They will need to show their business is solvent and has been profitable for at least two years, with a positive cash flow for the last six months, and enough capital or investment (or a business plan) to remain profitable for the next two years. They also can’t be on the Labour Inspectorate stand-down list or have been banned from hiring migrants.<\/p>\n
Businesses will need to show they have advertised the role\/s on a New Zealand national job site such as Seek or Trade Me continuously for two weeks, offering competitive salaries and working conditions. They can concurrently advertise overseas to save time as well.<\/p>\n