I posted something on LinkedIn the other day, in relation to the notion that if you are migrating to New Zealand in the pursuit of perfection, you might be a little disappointed. It got some interest, and particularly the part about New Zealand being a bit quirky (as compared to many other countries). It also included a picture of the giant carrot in Ohakune, so that might have added to the engagement a little.

The message however is pretty relevant, because I often get the impression that some of my potential clients, think that New Zealand is paradise and whilst it is a great country, it is not entirely perfect. I tend to encourage these people to think of the move as being a pursuit of something different, but not perfect, because perfection is a pretty high expectation to meet.

I come from migrant stock and my parents (both of whom have passed away), made the big bold move to shift their lives from the Netherlands to New Zealand in the 1950’s. Back then, migrating was a very different exercise - the New Zealand Government was actively seeking out tradespeople from specific countries (we had a very geographically targeted program) and my father attended an interview at the local New Zealand consulate.

Qualifying was more about whether the particular assessing “officer” liked you and if you came from the right country as opposed to meeting specific criteria, points or skills systems. There were very few targeted policies in place and the system was largely discretionary, with a focus on people being settled here to add to our labour pool. Their was a strong focus on migrants from the UK and other European nations and migration from other parts of the world was significantly more controlled.

It’s incredible how quickly we can access information in the current era, and a far cry from my early years in the immigration industry when getting policy updates was a far more ceremonious and drawn out affair (because most of it was handled in paper form). New rules were often a highly guarded secret, prepared behind closed doors, with little to no external input, and announcements generally happened on the day the rules went live.

Once you finally had those rules, getting the message out to clients was equally time consuming - there was no easy means to broadcast updates, and certainly nothing like we have now. Today, within minutes of a policy change, clients are already reading about these changes, being pinged by a dozen social media apps.

The backbone of our residence program is the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) for short. which is actually several different visa categories all under one umbrella.

As the name suggests, the SMC is all about bringing skilled, employable applicants in to New Zealand and giving them the chance to reside here permanently. However, the key component of this category - your level of skill is not quite as straightforward as it might sound.

Visa applications are complicated…not because they were intended to be that way, but because when you are trying to ensure that you bring the right people in to your country, you need a very well structured set of criteria and rules.

However, I am not sure that they should require a degree in quantum mechanics to decode - and for some applicants, trying to understand some of these rules is a little bit like calculating the trajectory for Rocket Lab’s next launch program.

New Zealand is a nation full of people doing stuff, and usually the stuff they are doing is the source of their livelihoods. Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and they are the source of some pretty amazing innovations, particularly in the tech and engineering sectors. New Zealanders are well know for their DIY approach to things (we call it the number eight wire mentality - you can do anything with number 8 wire) and running your business has naturally become an extension of that. Although there is no official description of what a “small business” is, our statistics gurus, tend to use the measure of any business that has less than 20 staff.

If you are a parent, and have children that have reached the stage of being able to vocalise their opinions, you will know how terrifying that first “are we there yet” can be, when you are in the car and on the road. It is terrifying because the first one, is usually followed by an uncannily timed series of the same sentence, on repeat, with gaps just long enough to make you think they might have moved on.

It is easy to forget or overlook what is right in front of you and I think many New Zealanders do this on a daily basis. Occasionally however we are reminded of why we are quite lucky to live in a country like this. I was personally reminded of this yesterday, when I was lucky enough to join my youngest daughter (Miss 9) on a school outing to Okoromai Bay and Shakespear Regional Park, to plant some grasses along the dunes.

English language and more specifically the testing of it as part of the visa process has surfaced once again, amongst the migrant grapevines and rumour mills, with renewed calls from various parts of the migrant community to lower the standard from where it currently sits. Logically most advisers tend to favour any petition for lowering anything as it potentially makes more people eligible and of course the migrant community would have it abandoned all together.

I have been asked more than once this week, by prospective clients, why paying for advice might be a good idea…of course, I can only offer a semi-biased answer, because I do what I do for a living, but you dont do what I do for this long, without actually being able to add some significant value. So whether you use me or someone else, getting advice to assist with the New Zealand visa process, is a good idea.

The Green List has made a few headlines recently, largely because in August 2025, ten new trade-related occupations will be added to it, expanding the list substantially and opening up more opportunities for applicants to secure a pathway to residence. This potentially helps to fill a gap for trade related roles that don’t (currently) have a pathway to residence, yet there is a pretty consistent demand for them.

There are a number of things within the immigration process that can be confusing (in fact most of it is), but the one thing that seems to pop up the most is the difference between residence and permanent residence and it can be one of the hardest things to explain to a client, despite it being relatively simple.

In the world of New Zealand immigration, one of the most common points of confusion, and something we are asked about a lot more than we probably should be, is the difference between a work visa and residence. While it might appear obvious to some, for many applicants, the difference between these two visas and what they provide is not so clear and can lead to disappointment when one doesn’t necessarily turn in to the other.

The Government has finally announced the Parent Boost Visa - a Visa that was promised as part of both National and Act’s campaign pledges and has taken a little longer than either party (or the hopeful applicants) might have liked, to finally roll out. The actual Visa doesn’t go live until 29 September, but the core components have been released, meaning we know how it will work and there will be plenty of people beginning to prepare their applications to apply later this year. We anticipate that demand for this Visa will be relatively high, given both the number of parents, waiting in the Parent Residence queue, as well as those who may not yet qualify for Residence, but want to join their children and grandchildren in New Zealand.

I am spending ten days in China (currently two days in), travelling first through Shanghai and then on to Shenzhen. It is my second time here, although the first trip was twenty or so years ago, and so this might as well be the first time. I am not going to pretend that spending 10 days in another country, gives me any authority as to why people might decide to leave (and head to NZ), although having lived in the United Kingdom and spending the better part of 12 years travelling for work, I do have some empathy and perhaps recognition for the thoughts that migrants might have as they contemplate a new life in a new country.

Student Visas, or rather international students, are big business for New Zealand Inc. as we export our education services to the world. Given our location, the quality of some of our leading tertiary institutions and the enviable lifestyle we offer, studying in New Zealand is a very attractive option for people coming from a variety of countries. However, it is also a challenging market to sustain, as we compete against so many other locations for that incredibly valuable international student spending.

The United States has made headlines (again) lately, imposing restrictions on international students, and revoking certification from some top tier institutions, largely based on country specific agenda. Obviously there is opportunity in that for New Zealand and a host of other countries to pick up on that demand, bringing those displaced students here.

The coalition Government has a problem and its a fairly big one. Since the borders reopened, our net migration numbers have had more ups and downs than a US trade negotiation. When border restrictions were dropped in late 2022, and with the migrant labour taps having been turned off for two and half years, employers imported talent by the 747 load. Coupled with relaxed visa processing (the rules were the same, just the brakes were taken off), the intake of new kiwis was significant, albeit many of these arrivals actually had no clear pathway to residence.

Fast forward two and half years later, and with an economy fighting back after the covid financial stimulus sugar rush, more New Zealanders are leaving and we have fewer arrivals … arriving. Considering New Zealand has traditionally been a very popular destination for migrants (and arguably still is), something is clearly amiss.

The coalition Government has a problem and its a fairly big one. Since the borders reopened, our net migration numbers have had more ups and downs than a US trade negotiation. When border restrictions were dropped in late 2022, and with the migrant labour taps having been turned off for two and half years, employers imported talent by the 747 load. Coupled with relaxed visa processing (the rules were the same, just the brakes were taken off), the intake of new kiwis was significant, albeit many of these arrivals actually had no clear pathway to residence.

Fast forward two and half years later, and with an economy fighting back after the covid financial stimulus sugar rush, more New Zealanders are leaving and we have fewer arrivals … arriving. Considering New Zealand has traditionally been a very popular destination for migrants (and arguably still is), something is clearly amiss.

There are several parts of the visa process that create both a lot of questions and also a lot of confusion - and medical assessments (the way INZ assesses your health for a visa) is certainly one of them. It is confusing because there are various forms of assessment that take place and what is being considered or assessed will vary depending on the visa you are applying for. There are different assessments for temporary visas, as compared to residence and different again for partners (of NZ citizens or residents), than to anyone else. Some visas allow for medical waivers and some don’t and then there are all the thresholds to consider, in terms of cost, risk and burden to the NZ health system.

For the vast majority of applicants, who are medically fit and well, there will be no real cause for concern, however for anyone with a blip on the medical radar, the process can be very different. Applications can be delayed due to the assessment process, requests for more information and then securing follow up appointments (particularly with specialists).

So this week, in what might be a bit of a lengthy article, we are going to break this all down and demystify the medical process for New Zealand visas, explain how the different medicals are assessed, the process for a medical waiver and how to prepare for your medical, to avoid the potential lengthy delays that the medical assessment process can bring.

During the course of this week, I had the unfortunate opportunity to engage in some spirited Facebook debate over a proposed petition to reduce English language requirements for a specific group of Visa holders, looking to apply for Residence. The author of this post and it appears the individual behind the petition, was arguing that the existing English language testing standard was too high for Truck Drivers.

His argument, which appeared to be more about self-promotion than anything that came close to common sense, was that Truck Driver’s dont need to speak English as well as every other migrant, because…well because they drive Trucks. What he failed to appreciate is that our English language testing, particularly under the Skilled Migrant category is not just about your ability to do your job, through the use of English but also how well you can integrate in to society more generally. You might not need to use fluent English, when you are behind the wheel (although I would argue its still important), but when you are in urgent need of medical care, need to speak to your children’s teachers or require any other form of assistance, being able to converse in one of the key languages in your new home, is incredibly important.