Work To Residency (WTR) problems – be warned!
The Philippines will place an advisory on its Foreign Affairs Ministry website warning its citizens about the perils of moving to New Zealand on the work-to-residence scheme. Herald Aricle here but ive copied most of it because it is so important.
(Hope they are licensed to do that!)
Under the scheme, applicants have nine months to come to New Zealand to seek skilled employment, and those who succeed qualify to apply for permanent residency.
Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman says it is made clear to applicants that there are no guarantees of work, job offers or residence.
(Yeah Right. I’m sure you really don’t make it crystal clear – I know damn well Immigration New Zealand do not, nor are licensed advisors. It takes migrants like me to do the dirty work for you. The fact is that Immigrants are not led to believe that this is anything but the land of milk and honey and things will be perfect. It’s not in the Ministers interest – nor INZ’s interest to tell you how difficult WTR can be – you have to figure it out. And it’s illegal for me to tell you – I have to wait till it’s reported in the paper so that I can cut and paste the information.
Have I said how stoopid this law is lately?
)
But Philippines consul-general Emilie Shi says Immigration New Zealand is not doing enough to warn would-be applicants about the difficulties of finding a job or telling them that Kiwis will be given preference by employers.
“Immigration New Zealand continues to say what a great place this country is to come live and work in, but they cover up the fact that it is very difficult to find a job here, or that they will be treated as second-class workers under the scheme,” Ms Shi said.
Most countries will give preference to home grown workers. And why wouldn’t they? We don’t have an automatic right to a job in our New Country just because we emigrated. If you come over here without a solid job offer – you are taking a risk – even with Permanent Residency. But with WTR – if you don’t get a job in the allowed time frame – you have to go home.
You need to understand this.
It’s the same with work visas.
You need to know what happens if you lose your job.
“The work-to-residence is a myopic policy, because even if these migrants prove their worth in their jobs, employers cannot renew their contracts when their work permits expire, and have to first offer their jobs to Kiwis.”
Take note of this.
Last year, a third of those who came from the Philippines under the policy failed to find skilled employment.
Filipinos form the largest group making use of the scheme – 63 per cent of the 681 applicants.
Many have sold everything to move to New Zealand in the hope of setting up a new life, and Ms Shi says her office in Takapuna on Auckland’s North Shore has been seeing at least one new case daily since September.
She said the policy was causing a lot of grief and anguish among Filipinos because many had sold everything to come and now faced a situation where they could not afford to return home or even send their children to school.
Ms Shi said desperate applicants were paying up to $40,000 to unscrupulous agents in her country who sold them hope of New Zealand residency, which was why many were prepared to sell their homes and belongings to come.
“These people hope that once one person can get residency, they will be able to sponsor their family members to also come here under Immigration’s family policy,” Ms Shi said.
“The embassy will be recommending to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to not allow any more of our citizens to come to New Zealand if they are not qualified, and we will be putting an advisory warning on the website.”
Dr Coleman would not comment on the proposed advisory, but defended the work-to-residence scheme and said there were no plans to discontinue it.
He said that each month about 70 work-to-residence permits were issued and research by Immigration New Zealand showed that at least two-thirds of these migrants could be expected to gain permanent residence, despite 44 per cent who came under the scheme failing to find skilled employment last year.
So basically – he’s not telling the truth. Even with typically massaged government figure you have a 33% chance of not being able to stay. The truth is its getting near a 50% failure rate.
NOT WORKING OUT
Work-to-residence scheme, 2009
Top source countries of migrants who failed to find skilled employment:
* Philippines: 150 (50 per cent)
* Singapore: 43 (14 per cent)
* Malaysia: 22 (7 per cent)
* India: 21 (7 per cent)
* Great Britain: 15 (5 per cent)
Not looking so bad for people from Britain, but why on earth are so many WTR visas being given to Filipinos if the numbers say they wont be given jobs? I’m guessing its all about the money!
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Related posts:
- Immigration New Zealand is still misleading people about Work To Residence Visas.
- Get Permanent Residency in New Zealand ASAP.
- Silver Fern Visa – Still causing mayhem for immigrants
Comments
6 Comments on Work To Residency (WTR) problems – be warned!
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taz on
Sun, 28th Mar 2010 9:06 am
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Avalon on
Sun, 28th Mar 2010 10:13 am
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corazon clark on
Fri, 22nd Oct 2010 10:36 pm
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Avalon on
Sat, 23rd Oct 2010 8:37 am
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june on
Sat, 3rd Dec 2011 8:16 pm
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Avalon on
Mon, 5th Dec 2011 10:04 am
Hi!
Husband and I come from S.A (English speaking) . My son was born here(New Zealand).
We’ve been here (N.Z) just over 2 years. Started on a WP and a year later changed to WTR. He got a job working for an accredited company, he works for one of the mines on the Souh Island
I’m startting to stress because I know there is a chance that we won’t get residency. I have faith and believe that this is not the case as my husband is trying to get some things under his belt at work to show who ever will be dealing with our case that he is not dead wood to N.Z
Does the WTR scheme work?
Hi Taz,
As far as I know the only real problem with WTR is if you lose your job before the 2 years WTR is up, and you don’t therefore end up with enough NZ experience to qualify for Permanent Residency.
So I have to say hand on heart – it does sound like your Husband will be OK if things carry on the way they are going for you.
Just be sure to convert to Residence the moment you are eligible.
Are you eligible now? Or do you have to wait for 2 years on your WTR Visa? Might we worth looking to see if you can apply now. Unfortunately – the INZ website is down for maintenance today, so I cant look for you. But if you have been here 2 years (one on WP and one on WTR) I would certainly be asking INZ if you are eligible to convert now.
Good luck – It honestly sounds as if its working for you 
I have two sons in the Phils. One age 24 and one age 30.
i am now in the process of applying my son for NZ residency.
The NZ immigration have just granted my permanent residency 10 May 2010.
Per enquiry from NZ immigration, my 24 years old son i eligible to be sponsored for permanent residency here in NZ. Upon completion of the NZ residency application together with the complete necessary requirements thereto, my son went to the NZ Embassy in the Phils. to file for processing. Unfortunately, people from Phils. nZ Embassy said to my son, that they are not the right office to file his residency application. We are lost and we were not advise where is the right branch to file such application. I rang the NZ Immigration here in NZ, and they could not even get the right address where to file – they just say in Bangkok. I am confused where is the right place to file the NZ Resiidency Application of my son from the Phils. I browsed from the internet – asking all the branches and made this question, “Branches where to fil nz permanent residency applicant from the Phils., the internet showed all branches including NZ and other country like Britain, Singapore and a lot more.
Please direct us immediately, we need to file my sons NZ permanent residency before his birthday. Per NZ Immigration advise, my son can be categorized as dependent child, because he is 24 years old at present. So, if time will be wasted i do not know what future lies ahead of my son.
Thank you in advance for all the possible you can extend in this regard.
‘Your help will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Corazon Clark
Please ring us if you can, so we can have a clear cut regarding this issue.
We are really lost.
More power to you all!!
(Edited by Avalon to remove contact details for safety)
Hi Corazon,
I cannot advise you directly I’m sorry – that would actually be illegal and risking $100,000 in fines or Seven Years in jail (Welcome to New Zealand 
All I can do is point you to the right areas of the INZ Website. I found there is a INZ Branch in Manila:
Manila branch
Please note that INZ Manila does not process walk-in clients, or applications.
You may only visit the below address, or contact the call centre locally, telephone 02 845 9222.
The Visa Information and Application centre is located at:
Unit 901
9/F One Corporate Plaza
845 Antonio Arnaiz Ave (Pasay Road)
Makati City
Theres also a checklist available which I think covers your situation of a dependent child:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/87C903D5-25E7-4282-A814-67B150EEE7DC/0/INZManilaDependentofWorkersSep2010.pdf
This also says the application should be lodged at the Makati City Office.
Please note: I have not checked on any eligibility criteria because that too would be illegal!
Good luck
Is the situation in NZ still as difficult these days as you described. My wife and I are disheartened after reading your article. We are waiting for our WTR visas. I have to resign from my job to move to NZ. I am aware of the difficulty of getting jobs but I am doing everything while I ‘m here in the Philippines to make it easier for me-( I am the principal applicant) such as getting my credentials recognized by registration boards in NZ , joining NZ professional organizations and contacting recruiters and prospect employers–a few of them expressed interest to keep in touch with me as soon as I am in NZ . Despite these, are we still doomed? I am very discouraged by your article , honestly. Am I making a stupid decision?
Hi June,
The best thing I can suggest is to contact that Department of Foreign Affairs and ask them if the advice is still current for the Phillipines.
http://dfa.gov.ph/main/index.php/advisory/public-advisory
I would hope that having been embarrased by the stand, that the NZ government would have taken steps to make the WTR system more workable.
On saying that – I have not heard that this is the case at this end.
On the plus side – now that New Zealand seems to be thorugh the worst of the recession there are less news stories about New Migrants losing thier jobs and being sent home as work visas are not renewed.
However it is still the case, and always has been that you need to keep in mind that there are no guarentees. Until yo get a residence visa – you do not have a right to stay forever in New Zealand. That has not changed.
HTH
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