Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Be quick for worker visas

Avatar photo
Dairy farmers relying on migrant labour for the new milking season should get their visa paperwork in early because of expected delays caused by coronavirus. The disease continues to spread around the globe. In the Philippines, which the dairy industry relies on as a pool of labour, there were 33 confirmed cases the past week with president Rodrigo Duterte declaring a public health emergency on March 10.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Federated Farmers employment spokesman Chris Lewis said while he appreciates it is an evolving issue, delays in processing visas have big implications for the workers’ families as well as the wider dairy industry heading into calving in July and August.

“Because of the low unemployment rate we rely on migrants and if coronavirus gets any worse and the Philippines goes into lock-down, it’s going to cause some issues.

“With the delays, get your visas in early.”

He employs four Filipino staff on his farm at Pukeatua, south of Hamilton, as well as New Zealanders. The buoyant local economy means good staff are difficult to find and he relies on migrant labour to fill the gap. 

One of his staff is in the third year of his three-year work visa and is trying to get that visa renewed.

That staff member falls under Immigration NZ’s one-year stand down rules for workers with visas based on lower-skilled work, meaning he has to return to the Philippines for a year before qualifying to work in NZ for another three years. The rule could force Lewis to have to hire another Filipino worker to fill that position.

“It doesn’t make sense under the current environment with the coronavirus.”

The uncertainty has caused huge agitation for the staff.

“They get so stressed because they have their kids and family here. ‘I still haven’t heard back, boss’ – I hear that every day from my staff and it’s so stressful for them.”

Farmers with Filipino staff should check the expiration dates of their visas and read travel advisories if any choose to return to the Philippines for a holiday, he said.

Immigration law and recruitment company The Regions managing director Ben De’Arth said most farmers have been proactive when it came to recruiting staff for the new season.

“Coronavirus is incentivising employers to start a little bit early and employers on the whole are quite educated that things may be delayed.”

His clients expect about 400 new arrivals by August but he is realistic about the likelihood of delays. 

“We are absolutely braced for delays. Many times per day we are being asked by people who have annual leave and in normal circumstances might take a holiday back to the Philippines. We are being asked about that and the ability to fly back. We are taking a position that people should only fly out of NZ if there are urgent circumstances.”

Despite the caution he is confident businesses should pull through. 

Immigration NZ border and visa operations acting general manager Jeannie Melville said INZ’s Beijing office has been closed since Chinese New Year on January 24 so it is expected processing times for visitor, student and work visa applications will increase. 

“INZ has been working to put in place interim measures to manage this impact on processing times, including transferring applications to other offices where necessary and dedicating 50 immigration officers in NZ to work on visa applications that would normally be assessed in the Beijing office. We will continue to monitor the impacts of the actions we are taking over the coming weeks.”

Total
0
Shares
People are also reading