20 August 2020
Ryan Potts
[FYI request #13472 email]
File No: DOIA 2021 – 0298
Dear Ryan Potts
Thank you for your email on 6 August 2020, requesting the fol owing information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
According to figures obtained from the Migration Data Explorer there were a total of 2,217
work visas approved for the occupation "Fruit or Nut Picker" in June 2020.
I request the fol owing information:
The number of these visas that were subject to Labour Market Testing; Confirmation that there
were New Zealanders considered suitable and/or trainable for the job; and If any New
Zealanders were considered suitable and/or trainable for the job, then please explain why visas
were not declined.
Our response
The number of these visas that were subject to Labour Market Testing
We can advise that none of these 2,217 visa approvals during June that you refer to required labour
market tests, as they were Variation of Conditions (VOC) approvals on existing visas held by individuals
under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme. This information is publicly available using
the Migration Data Explorer tool online:
Date
Application Criteria
Count
2020-06-30
RSE Variation of Conditions
2,217
The above data can be generated using the following criteria:
Dataset: ‘W3 Work Occupations’
Time period: ‘Monthly’
Variable: ‘Application Criteria’
Filter: ‘Decision type CONTAINS Approved’ and ‘Occupation CONTAINS Fruit or Nut Picker’
We can advise that VOC applications allow for conditions to be varied on visas that are already held,
as long as the varied conditions stil meet the objectives of the instructions which the visa was granted
under.
Confirmation that there were New Zealanders considered suitable and/or trainable for the job; and If
any New Zealanders were considered suitable and/or trainable for the job, then please explain why
visas were not declined.
Recognised Seasonal Employers are required to apply for an Agreement to Recruit (ATR) before
offering the role to a non-New Zealand citizen or residence class visa holder. The availability of suitable
workers who are New Zealand citizen or residence class visa holders would have been assessed in
consultation with the Ministry of Social Development prior to the ATR being approved. More
information on the RSE programme can be found on the Immigration New Zealand website:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/apply-for-a-visa/about-visa/recognised-
seasonal-employer-limited-visa
As stated above, the labour market check was not conducted for these 2,217 approvals as they were
VOC applications. We can further advise that in the instance of these approvals, they related to a
specific situation of RSE workers who are in New Zealand and unable to depart due to COVID-19
circumstances. The Government has made changes to allow RSE workers who were unable to return
to their country of citizenship to vary the specific employer that they could work for, while they
awaited the opportunity to depart New Zealand.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, please contact Chung Man
Charmaine Ho, Business Advisor, Operations Support, Immigration New Zealand at
[email address].
Yours sincerely
Nicola Hogg
General Manager - Border and Visa Operations
Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
