Trusthaven Immigration Services

We are a team of Licensed Immigration Advisers & Registered MARA Agents dedicated and committed to the migrant community in New Zealand & Australia, New Zealand & Australian employers who hire migrant workers and overseas students and workers who aspire to come to New Zealand & Australia to make it their home.

We have a combined experience of more than 24 years in the immigration industry.

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SMC Resident Visa reopening

Selections of EOIs for the Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa resumed on 11 Nov 22. The selection was at 160 points. From 18 January 2023, EOIs need to have at least 180 points to be selected.

After 18 January 2023, selections will be monthly, occurring on the third Wednesday of each month. All EOIs with at least 180 points will be selected.

Due to extreme weather events caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in February, this year, Immigration New Zealand has made the decision to defer February's month’s SMC Expression of Interest (EOI) selection for one week. The March 2023 selection will resume as normal next month.

If you are invited to apply for a Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa you will have four months to submit your application.

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment is consulting on the long-term direction of the Skilled Migrant Category.

The New Zealand government is creating a new 6-point system for the SMC visa. The proposed new scheme works on a 6-point system, which is slated to come into effect in mid-2023. It requires applicants to meet the new criteria of 6 points by choosing to apply under the skill category that offers the most points according to their circumstances.

The simplified points system is structured to set a clear skills threshold, equivalent to six years of “human capital”. This means it would take at least six years for someone in the domestic workforce to gain that level of education, training, and/or work experience. This is consistent with the focus on granting residence to people who can meet medium- to long-term skill needs that would be hard, or take time, to fill from the domestic labour market.

Green List, Highly Paid and Care Workforce Skilled Residence Categories

The New Zealand Government came out with a strategy for rebalancing the immigration system to support its plan for a higher-productivity, higher-wage economy, as it moved to fully reconnect with the world by 31 July last year. The Rebalance was designed to make it easier to attract and hire high-skilled migrants, while supporting some sectors to transition to more productive and resilient ways of operating, instead of relying on lower-skilled migrant workers.

As a part of this rebalancing, the Government came out with the Green List for those roles that are in demand here, to streamline pathways to residence for migrants working in occupations on the Green List.

These Green List roles provide the following residence pathways:

Straight to Residence - For those whose current work role is on Tier 1 of the Green List.
Work to Residence - For those whose current work role is on Tier 2 of the Green List.

Besides these, the immigration rebalance also created two more skilled residence visa categories:

Highly Paid Residence Visa - for those who are employed in a role that is paid at least twice the median wage.
Care Workforce Work to Residence Visa - for those who have worked (at lvl 4 rate for 24 months) in an occupation that is on the Care Workforce sector occupations list.

Testimonials

“This is just to say thank you very much for assisting us with our visas. All your help is much appreciated. You were always willing to help us no matter what. We couldn't have done this without your help!!!”

The Viljoen family