The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has completed
its annual review of two of the Essential Skills in Demand (ESID) Lists –
the Long Term Skill Shortage List (LTSSL) and the Immediate Skill
Shortage List (ISSL). The Ministry regularly reviews the ESID lists to
ensure that they meet the changing needs of the labour market, and to
ensure opportunities for New Zealanders first. Changes will be made to
these lists in March 2015.
Long Term Skill Shortage List
The LTSSL identifies occupations that have an absolute (sustained and
ongoing) shortage of skilled workers both globally and throughout New
Zealand. Migrants who gain employment in one of these occupations may be
granted a work visa under the LTSSL Work to Residence or Essential
Skills instructions. Migrants applying for residence under the Skilled
Migrant Category may gain bonus points towards their application if they
have an offer of employment, work experience or qualifications in an
area of absolute skill shortage identified on the LTSSL.
The outcomes of the review of the LTSSL are to:
- retain six occupations which were reviewed:
- General Practitioner
- Physicist (Medical)
- Registered Nurse (Aged Care)
- Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency)
- Registered Nurse (Medical)
- Registered Nurse (Perioperative)
The qualifications for using the LTSSL for Registered Nurses in
Critical Care and Emergency, Medical, and Perioperative will be
tightened to require five years relevant work experience (currently
three years) to ensure that migrants are not competing with New Zealand
nurse graduates for entry level positions.
- remove External Auditor
- remove the following 19 occupations for which there have been
very low volumes of work visas over the last five years and for which
other immigration options are more suited -
| Aeronautical Engineer |
Life Scientist nec (Animal Scientist or Bioinformatics) |
| Agricultural Engineer |
Marine Designer |
| Agricultural Scientist (Farm Systems Scientist) |
Medical Oncologist |
| Biomedical Engineer |
Mining Engineer (excluding Petroleum) |
| Biotechnologist (Genetics Scientist) |
Network Analyst |
| Cardiac Technician (Clinical Cardiac Physiologist including Perfusionist) |
Nuclear Medicine Technologist |
| Educational Psychologist |
Radiation Oncologist |
| Intensive Care Specialist |
Social Professional nec (Applied Social Scientist) |
| Life Scientist (Regulatory Toxicologist) |
Transport Engineer |
| Life Scientist nec (Anatomist or Physiologist (Clinical Respiratory Physiologist/Scientist)) |
|
nec’ means Not Elsewhere Classified
- remove two occupations (Construction Project Manager (Chip sealing,
Asphalt or other Technical Manager) (Roading and Infrastructure) and
Environmental Research Scientist (Water Quality Analyst)) which have
separate over-lapping listings on the LTSSL and are therefore redundant
- move University Lecturer from the LTSSL to the ISSL.
Immediate Skill Shortage List
The ISSL identifies occupations that have an immediate shortage of
skilled workers either throughout New Zealand or in certain regions.
Migrants wishing to work in occupations on the ISSL may be granted work
visas under Essential Skills instructions if they meet the specified
qualifications and/or experience requirements.
The outcomes of the review of the ISSL are to:
- retain Resident Medical Officer. The qualifications for using the
ISSL will be tightened to require two years relevant work experience
(currently one year) to ensure that migrants are not competing with New
Zealand medical graduates for entry level positions.
- remove the following 23 occupations for which there have been
very low volumes of work visas over the last five years and for which
other immigration options are more suited –
| Biotechnologist |
Maintenance Planner |
| Cardiothoracic Surgeon |
Microbiologist |
| Clinical Coder |
Mixed Crop Farmer |
| Clinical Haematologist |
Neurologist |
| Dental Therapist |
Neurosurgeon |
| Dermatologist |
Otorhinolaryngologist |
| Earth Science Technician |
Paediatric Surgeon |
| Electronic Engineering Draftsperson |
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon |
| Electronic Instrument Trades Worker (Special Class) |
Thoracic Medicine Specialist |
| Endocrinologist |
Urologist |
| Gastroenterologist |
Vascular Surgeon |
| Logging Plant Operator |
|
- remove External Auditor[1] and Flying Instructor (Glider Pilot Instructor)
- remove Other Sports Coach or Instructor (Skydive Instructor) which has a separate over-lapping listing on the ISSL.
Submissions to add Café or Restaurant Manager to the ISSL were declined.
Timing of Changes
The ESID changes will take effect in the next operational policy
release in March 2015. Further work is currently being carried out to
review the requirements which migrants need to satisfy to apply for a
work visa or a residence visa using the skill shortage lists. This
includes a review of qualifications in association with the New Zealand
Qualifications Authority, and some other changes to ensure that the
requirements for using the lists are appropriate for the shortages.
Other Immigration Options
Removal from a skill shortage list does not mean that migrants cannot
come to New Zealand. Other immigration options are available for
employers and prospective migrants. These include:
- Essential Skills
work visa policy (subject to an employer demonstrating that they have
tried to recruit New Zealanders for the position and been unsuccessful)
- Accredited Employer
- facilitating recruitment of skilled workers from overseas where the
salary is at least NZ$55,000 per annum. This option provides a pathway
to residence.
- Approval in Principle – where a number of migrants are being sought
- Skilled Migrant Category – under which migrants can apply for residence in New Zealand.
The
Canterbury Skills and Employment Hub
can facilitate employment of New Zealanders in Canterbury, and if there
are no suitable applicants, can facilitate visa applications for
migrant workers. Also, the Canterbury Skill Shortage List contains some
occupations in shortage for the Canterbury rebuild (in addition those on
the ISSL and LTSSL).
Other Matters
The Essential Skills in Demand Lists are reviewed and updated
regularly in order to ensure that the Ministry’s policy is flexible and
responsive to changing economic and labour market conditions. As part
of reviews, information is gathered from submissions made by external
stakeholders and this is considered alongside economic, labour market
and immigration data. It is important that the lists reflect genuine
skill shortages so New Zealanders are not disadvantaged in seeking
employment and training.
You can test whether an occupation is on any of the three shortage
lists or on the list of occupations recognised for residence
applications under the Skilled Migrant Category by using the
skill shortage list checker. This provides information and the requirements for each of the lists.
We expect the next ESID review to commence in April 2015.
[1] External Auditor is being removed from both the LTSSL and ISSL
Essential skills in demand list review 2014
New Zealand Law Society 
Every year, we set a migration programme to best support
Australia’s economic and social goals. This year’s programme looks like
this:
