Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ / Yiting Lin
Open work visa holders are set to see changes to their visa conditions next month.
An open work visa generally allows people to work for almost any employer, across most sectors and locations, without needing a job offer.
From 20 April, Immigration New Zealand said open work visas would include two new types of employment conditions.
Under the first set of conditions, some open work visa holders, including those on Post Study Work Visas and a range of partner visas, will be able to work for an employer or be self-employed, including as a sole trader or by owning and operating a business.
Under the second set of conditions, open work visa holders on Victims of Domestic Violence Work Visas, Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visas, Asylum Seeker Work Visas and all working holiday visas will still be required to work for an employer, either under an employment agreement or a contract for services.
The change makes clear that open work visa holders will not be allowed to employ other people, either directly or indirectly through a business they own or operate, including where the business is the named employer.
Peter Elms, director of visas at Immigration New Zealand, said the changes were prompted by sector feedback and were intended to remove uncertainty created by existing work visa settings for both visa holders and immigration advisers.
He said updating and standardising the conditions would provide clearer guidance and reduce the risk of unintentional breaches of the Immigration Act.
“Overall, the changes are intended to help migrants better understand their visa conditions and work rights while they are in New Zealand,” Elms said.
The upcoming changes have been welcomed by immigration lawyers and advisers.
David Cooper, chief executive of New Zealand Immigration Partners Supplied
David Cooper, chief executive of New Zealand Immigration Partners, said the update to immigration instructions and policy would remove confusion and close a grey area that had existed previously.
“Particularly for people who held open work visas, whether or not they were allowed to work for themselves was never clear in the immigration instructions,” Cooper said.
“This will now allow them to do it and make it very clear that it’s legal for them to be able to do that.”
Cooper said that while self-employment would not apply to every type of open work visa, it would give eligible visa holders another option beyond finding a job.
“If they do struggle to find a job, they can at least consider setting up their own small business and trying that,” he added.
Sonny Lam, an immigration lawyer at Queen City Law, said clearer guidance could spur a modest lift in the recruitment of non-resident workers.
“The rules become muddled due to frequent changes and create a perception in busy employers’ minds that they can only hire someone on the Accredited Employer Work Visa,” he said.
Sonny Lam is an immigration lawyer at Queen City Law in Auckland. Supplied
“With this latest change, it will likely remind employers that they can hire such workers on open work visas again, leading to a slight increase,” he said.
Lam said the restriction preventing open work visa holders from employing others appeared to envisage gig-economy work, such as ride-share driving or delivery services.
This sort of work was a popular way for migrants to generate income and could provide a small boost to the wider economy, he said.
Arunima Dhingra, a senior licensed immigration adviser and chief executive of Aims Global, said clearer rules could reduce risk and improve compliance.
“In recent years there has been increasing confusion around what ‘open’ actually means,” she said.
“Many migrants and employers assume ‘open’ means unrestricted in all respects. At the same time, we have seen growth in contracting, project work and small-scale sole-trading arrangements.
“Those grey areas can create compliance risks if visa holders inadvertently step outside what is permitted.”
Arunima Dhingra, chief executive of Aims Global Supplied
Dhingra said that once the rules were explicit, employers could have greater confidence in engaging open work visa holders under appropriate arrangements.
For visa holders, she said, it reduced the risk of unintentionally breaching visa conditions.
Dafydd Parry, a licensed immigration adviser at Greenstone Immigration, said the restriction preventing open work visa holders from employing others could affect some current open work visa holders who are already running businesses that employ staff.
He said transitional arrangements and support would be available for those people until their current visa expires, after which the new rules would apply.
He said the clarification could also help ensure that employment created by temporary visa holders was sustainable and compliant, and that vulnerable workers were protected.
“Allowing temporary visa holders to employ staff could be deemed to create risks,” he said.
“If the visa holder must leave New Zealand, their employees may suddenly lose their jobs,” he said.
“Some cases may raise concerns about exploitation or non-genuine job arrangements.”
Elms said not all migrants were familiar with New Zealand’s employment laws or business obligations, and that allowing self-employment and business ownership while restricting the ability to hire staff helped support safe and compliant work practices.
He said it also reduced the risk of employers unintentionally breaching employment or immigration requirements.
Elms added that the rules also reflected a distinction between activities that signal temporary intent and those that suggest a more permanent footing.
“Running a business that employs others generally indicates a more ongoing and established presence in New Zealand, which is not the intent of a temporary open work visa,” he said.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
