Genuine attempts to recruit New Zelanders

[Catherine&Rory]

Hi,

We just received news from New Zealand immigration about our Essential Skills Work Visa application.

My boyfriend is a Metal Fabricator (which is on the immediate skilled shortage list) and he is the main applicant.

We read the following on the immigration NZ website:

You must provide an ‘Employer Supplementary Form’ completed by your employer describing the work you’ve been offered. Your employer must also provide evidence they have made genuine attempts to recruit New Zealanders, unless one of the following applies:
- The job you’ve been offered is on one of the Essential Skills in Demand Lists and you meet the qualification and work experience requirements listed for your occupation.[/B]

As his occupation is on the immediate skilled shortage list we thought he wouldn't need to ask his employer to supply proof he tried to recruit New Zealanders.

Unfortunately we received the following e-mail from immigration:
We have made an initial assessment on your application and require further documentation.
Please respond to this email with the following documentation attached:

• Evidence that your employer has made genuine attempts to recruit a New Zealander: we note that your employer stated that they have made efforts, however no evidence has been provided in support of this. Please provide evidence of genuine advertising and of its outcome.

Please note that if you fail to provide the above information, a further assessment will be made based on the information available to Immigration and it is unlikely that your application will be approved.

We just phone NZ immigration and they told us that because the employer said he tried to hire New Zealanders in the Supplementary form he needs to provide proof of this even though my boyfriend is on the immediate skilled shortage list...

So now we don't really know what to do.. Yes we can ask his employer to show evidence that he advertised the vacancy but he hired my boyfriend because he has a higher skill level than other who have applied (good references, pictures of past fabrication work etc), not because there was no New Zealander that could do the job. We think other people applied but they were not as good as my boyfriend to do the job, this is why he got the job... However the employer could probably have employed a New Zealander with less experience and skills.

We would be happy to hear from anybody to know what kind of proof the employer needs to supply to show that he employed my boyfriend because he was more fit for the job than the other applicants.

We are panicking a bit here as we thought we wouldn't need to supply this information to immigration as he is on the immediate skilled shortage list.

Thank you all.
Catherine & Rory

[ptol]

On my visa application we provided the following:

1. Evidence of where the job was advertised, and for how long.
2. A statement of the number of applicants, broken down between NZ resident and non resident categories
3. A statement of the number of applicants that were selected for interviews, and the outcome of interviews for 1st and 2nd stage interviews
4. Company statement that this particular job role is one which is in world wide demand, that is highly skilled and they have struggled with recruitment in the past.

I believe that NZ look for at least one month of recruitment effort.

However, having filled in the INZ form myself on my application, it sounds like your problems may be caused by not reading the instructions. The last section should only have been filled in if the vacancy is not on an immediate skills shortage, if it was me, I'd check to see if I'd filled in that form correctly, and if not, ask NZ immigration if i can resubmit it correctly filled in.

Note I am a fellow applicant, not an advisor, so am quite capable of doing / saying the wrong thing, if you want good advice, find a licensed professional!

[Catherine&Rory]

Hello ptol,

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.

We told the employer not the fill in this section as we believed it was not needed being on the skill shortage list.. He did not read our recommendations carefully and filled the section anyway...
We thought this wouldn't matter anyway as the occupation was on the list and left the section filled in (we didn't want to bother him neither by asking him to refill the form again).

When phoning immigration, the person we spoke to said that we couldn't change anything in the application we have made and that we now need to supply proof of recruitment effort.

Anyway, this is a bit confusing.. but thank you for your help.

[gcapd]

Any news about yet?

[ag]

On my visa application we provided the following:

1. Evidence of where the job was advertised, and for how long.
2. A statement of the number of applicants, broken down between NZ resident and non resident categories
3. A statement of the number of applicants that were selected for interviews, and the outcome of interviews for 1st and 2nd stage interviews
4. Company statement that this particular job role is one which is in world wide demand, that is highly skilled and they have struggled with recruitment in the past.

I believe that NZ look for at least one month of recruitment effort.

However, having filled in the INZ form myself on my application, it sounds like your problems may be caused by not reading the instructions. The last section should only have been filled in if the vacancy is not on an immediate skills shortage, if it was me, I'd check to see if I'd filled in that form correctly, and if not, ask NZ immigration if i can resubmit it correctly filled in.

Note I am a fellow applicant, not an advisor, so am quite capable of doing / saying the wrong thing, if you want good advice, find a licensed professional!

Would the employer be willing to share this information? Is that not confidential information?

[JandM]

The employer only needs to tell the CO. He doesn't have to tell the applicant anything he feels is not right to be told between him and his employee - INZ keep absolute confidentiality.

[jnfr]

Happened to our friend this October. He works as a carpenter which is in the Construction & Infrastructure Skill shortage list, that should exempt his employer to advertise. But his employer answered that same part and to prove that they badly needed him, even submitted all their ads more than 6 months ago. CO contacted him and asked for new ads. Employer tried to reason out that he no longer needs to do it as he is exempted being in the demand list but CO said employer need to comply. Employer put a new ad. After 2 weeks of submission, friend got his 3 yrs eswv.