It has been almost year since Immigration New Zealand (INZ) closed it borders due to COVID. Skilled migrant and and Residence Visa’s are still on hold but we expect INZ to reopen these opportunities in April 2021.
There is a backlog at INZ of approx. 12,500 skilled migrant applications which they are working their way through and will hopefully have a decision in the first half of 2021. Also there are approx. 6000 Expression of Interest (EOIs) from people who are well placed in terms of points and have already filed.
Its not all doom and gloom, New Zealand’s economy has withstood the COVID pandemic pretty well with a low unemployment figure of around 4.9% and no doubt the Government will want to ‘relight the boiler’ in terms of immigration to get the economy moving again. A boom could be likely and business pressure could see the Government putting pressure on INZ to get through the backlogs. We think this could happen quite quickly (quicker than the current rate of processing) and therefore likely open invitations for EOIs soon. Pawson Law will be ready to do this for you to get you ahead in the queue. It would be ill-advised to wait for the EOIs to open and then rush around trying to get an EOI together (good ones take time to compile, particularly if you have to rely on another agency to get information), so getting onto it now could save you a year or more waiting in the queue.