Dear Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment,

INZ will continue to prioritise people with occupational registration and those earning twice the median wage (currently NZD $51 per hour and NZD $106,080 per year) for SMC and RFW applicants.

My questions are:
1. Does INZ consider the total combined earnings of both partners who are working in NZ and are in the same application?
2. If answer to question 1 is YES, what is the total combined earnings to warrant prioritisation? Is there a minimum earning for each of the partner?
3. If answer to question 1 is NO, what is the basis of INZ on considering ONLY the salary of the principal applicant. A principal applicant may earn NZD $106,080 per year and included an onshore partner who does not work or earns no more than NZD $55,000 per year will be prioritised based on the criteria. Arguably, the applicants who earn between NZD $80,000 and NZD $82,000 (for a combined earning of NZD $162,000) is better to the NZ economy.

I can confirm that we have been living in New Zealand since May 2018.

Yours faithfully,
M S Medina

M S Medina

Dear Dongrui Pang,

Thank you for your response. I would like to know and understand the basis / rationale on why Immigration New Zealand only considers the salary of the principal applicant.

Yours sincerely,

M S Medina

Dear Dongrui Pang,

Thank you for your reply but i don't quite get it as an answer to my request - I would like to know and understand the basis / rationale on why Immigration New Zealand only considers the salary of the principal applicant.

I have sent you an email instead and i hope to receive a response from you.

Note: as far as i understand the Immigration Manual A16.1 General Instructions as to the order of processing visa applications -
It does say that priority will be given to Applicants who have an hourly rate equivalent to or higher than twice the median wage (currently $51.00 per hour or an annual salary of $106,080 or more). Having said this, a husband and wife or partners who both have claimed points as skilled and jointly submitted the application are applicants.

it does not explicitly say that priority will be given to the principal applicants who have an hourly rate equivalent to or higher than twice the median wage per hour. This does not apply to the combined income of the principle applicant and their partner(if any).

Yours sincerely,

M S Medina

Dear Dongrui Pang,

Thank you for your response. I should have been more clear - what is the definition of Applicants as mentioned in A16.1 please?

Yours sincerely,

M S Medina

Dear Dongrui Pang,

I would like to get more clarity as under A16.1 of the immigration instructions, the order of processing visa applications says -
For the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC), priority will be given to applications with job offers where:
Applicants have an hourly rate equivalent to or higher than twice the median wage (currently $51.00 per hour or an annual salary of $106,080 or more);
Applicants hold current occupational registration where registration is required by immigration instructions;

This instruction does not say "principal applicant", hence i would like to request for the definition of the word "applicants" as used in the A16.1 immigration instructions.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

M S Medina