Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has announced that they will be introducing changes to their charges (which includes both application fees and levies). These changes will go live on 1 October 2024. The vast majority of these changes are an increase in charges, sometimes even more than doubling in price. INZ claims that this is to help make the department more efficient, self-funded and sustainable. Be that as it may, this still has a devastating effect on migrants who might suddenly find themselves priced out even considering New Zealand as an option.

We won’t run through all the numbers here, there are simply too many applications affected by these changes, you should still consult the this table to see the price hikes for yourself:

Politicians like to claim that New Zealand is doing its best to focus on attracting “high quality” migrants such as doctors and other professionals. Putting aside the abysmal job we’ve been doing on that front, it is no secret that there is a shortage of workers in our economy. While of course we need more doctors and so on, we are still desperately in need of workers such as construction workers, tradesmen, and other traditionally “low skilled” migrants. These are not rich migrants and many of them send a significant portion of their pay checks back to their families abroad.

A reduction in applications means a shrinking labour pool, which will affect employers who already feel like there is a drought for candidates to hire. With the difficulty and added costs of accreditation, most businesses would not bother hiring a migrant if they could already just hire a local off the street without any fuss. Even less migrants means even less chances of these vacant positions ever being filled. This puts a damper on the economy as it prevents local businesses from upsizing and expanding, and it may have other knock-on effects like higher prices as business owners offer higher wages to attract more candidates and offset the cost to their customers.

Certainly, INZ may enjoy some short term gains from these changes to charges. But to be frank, New Zealand has gotten complacent and even arrogant as a nation. We assume that we are a prime location for migrants and that we can afford to be picky, yet we have continuously failed to be the country-of-choice for higher quality migrants. Our competitors like Australia, the UK, Canada and the US simply offer more incentives than we do. These higher costs will only serve to dampen our appeal even further, and as the well dries up INZ may find themselves with budget concerns yet again. Perhaps they might become more efficient for a while with less applications and therefore less work coming in, but if history can teach us anything it’s that INZ is likely to start cutting its own staff to save costs and then we’re back to not having enough eyes looking through all the applications again.

In any case, these fee changes are here to stay for the foreseeable future. This makes the financial risk of having your application declined even greater than before, and it makes it all the more important that you have it done right the first time around. Queen City Law is an award winning law firm that specialises in immigration, and we would be more than happy to assist you with the visa application process. We can help determine what visa pathways are open to you and help you choose the right one for you. This is especially important now that a lot of applications are more expensive and some of the more traditional pathways may be too costly to pursue.

Disclaimer:
We have taken care to ensure that the information given is accurate, however it is intended for general guidance only and it should not be relied upon in individual cases. Professional advice should always be sought before any decision or action is taken.