Calm Before the Storm

We have just ticked in to the second month of 2023 and as a nice change, there has been very little by way of “change” announced from the machinery at Immigration New Zealand. 2022 and even 2021 were the years of regular policy updates, rapid-fire changes of plan and a deluge of complex and often hastily prepared rule changes. So far, this year the only deluge we have seen is the one that hit most of the North Island last weekend. For those of you keeping an eye on the weather over here, Auckland received a record-breaking 24.5 cm’s of rain in a 24 hour period. The results of which were flooding in several suburbs and damage to roading, housing and other infrastructure. The number of people forced to evacuate was relatively low as a percentage of the local population, but for this to happen in Summer and in Auckland meant that even with small numbers, it was a big event. The clean up continues this week and the rain seems to want to carry on as well, but thankfully at much more acceptable levels.

However, back to the immigration question and whether or not all this “calm” will last or is there a Visa ‘storm’ on the horizon. I have written about these questions a few times over the last few months and the reason I keep coming back to all of it is because the level of interest from prospective applicants is increasing and we want everyone else who is still perhaps on the fence to have a realistic picture of what their options are, and how those might change in the next 12 months.

To understand those options (as well as you can in the current environment), most potential migrants will have to consider two things: the first is obviously how the Visa process will evolve in the next 12 months and the second is how our labour market will change over that some period.

So let’s consider both, in terms of what it all means for those of you considering the big move to this side of the world.

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