Frenz Recruitment director Christiaan Arns is a licensed immigration advisor who has been bringing Filipino dairy farm staff to New Zealand since 1998.
He said the company did its own recruitment and background checks, looking at CVs and references, and doing interviews on Skype, but used its Manila partner agency for exit clearances from the Philippines.
Skype had the advantage over a phone interview of letting the interviewer see the person they’re talking to. The same questions and process could happen and the candidate’s level of English could be assessed but the interviewer could be sure the person they were talking to actually was the applicant.
Once the placement was made, the work visa for the farm was applied for and the staff member got an exit clearance from their country.
NZ immigration required further paperwork, including a chest x-ray as part of a medical exam which was done before they arrived here.
It could take two to three months from the initial request until the staff member arrived onfarm.
Having an appropriate period to let the immigrant recover from their travels and get orientated in New Zealand was important before they started on the job.
‘They often don’t express their frustrations. They won’t say much and then all of a sudden they’ll be gone.’
Arns said new immigrants spent two days with his company on arrival in New Zealand. Part of that was a half-day orientation which included things like opening a bank account and how our health system worked. Travel to the farm was also arranged.
Although most Filipinos came to New Zealand for dairy farm assistant positions, it was assistant herd managers, herd managers, assistant farm managers and farm managers that are on Immigration New Zealand’s Immediate Skill Shortage List.
Each position has a list of skills, qualifications and experience necessary to qualify for those positions.
For those coming in as dairy farm assistants the process could be more complicated as farmers had to show they had tried to get a New Zealander for the job first and had been unable to find one, Arns said.
“It is also why we encourage the immigrants to do PrimaryITO courses at least up to level five so they can keep stepping up the ladder,” Arns said.
Dairy farm assistants would get a one-year visa and assistant herd managers two-year visas but most Filipinos, even with previous experience, would only be able to apply as dairy farm assistants.
Filipinos could apply for residency once they met the definition of dairy cattle farmer on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) list and claim the required points for a residency application.
“It is not an easy process and it costs a lot of money. They can get residency after two years but it’s the exception. The majority apply after five years here.”
Frenz brings in the staff member initially on their own and the rest of the family follows later.
“Much of the accommodation offered is shared accommodation which is not suitable for a family but when the employment relationship is working well and a house is available we help to get work visas for the wives and study visas for the children. We don’t like to bring whole families over at once in case things don’t work out.”
He said farmers needed to be aware that when things weren’t working out, the farmer was often the last to know.
“Filipinos are not always very outgoing. They often don’t express their frustrations. They won’t say much and then all of a sudden they’ll be gone.”
However, work visas were tied to the farm and while a new work visa was applied for, which could take eight weeks, the person was unable to work.
“All farmers should check on the Immigration New Zealand website a person’s status before they employ an immigrant to make sure there are no concerns.”
“But it’s not just Filipinos we bring to New Zealand. We help a lot of people from Ireland, the UK, South America, Canada and the United States, Germany, Eastern Europe and Sri Lanka, everywhere almost.
“We have farmers who just bring in people for short periods and some farms have young people who are seeing the world working with them for six months before they move on. It works really well.”
