Changes in visa requirements for temporary workers in the music, screen and entertainment industry

Monday, 30 April 2012 (Source – Immigration New Zealand

Changes in visa requirements for temporary workers in the music, screen and entertainment industry take effect on 30 April 2012.  The changes apply to entertainers, performing artists and associated support personnel, film and video production and post-production crew, producers and directors.

What has changed?

Previously all such applications needed to be referred to the relevant professional association, industry guild or union such as the New Zealand Film and Video Technicians’ Guild, the Screen Production and Development Association, the Screen Directors’ Guild of New Zealand, New Zealand Actors Equity, the New Zealand Actor’s Guild, or the musicians’ branch of the Service and Food Workers Union.

New rules

From 30 April 2012 there will be a streamlined process, without any professional association, industry guild or union referral, for applicants whose engagement in New Zealand is:

• for 14 days or less, or
• on an official co-production, or
• with an accredited company.

Applications that fall outside these criteria will be subject to the same industry-led labour market testing that currently applies.

Accreditation

New Zealand companies who seek to engage entertainment industry personnel will be able to apply in advance to Immigration New Zealand (INZ) to become accredited. They must demonstrate that they:

• are financially sound,
• have a sound industry track record,
• have a commitment to engaging and training New Zealanders, and
• have good work place practices.

The relevant professional associations, industry guilds and/or unions will be consulted as part of consideration of applications for accreditation.

For more information on the accreditation criteria, please see Entertainment industry accreditation.

Approved arts and music festivals

Performers and direct support staff attending an ‘approved’ arts or music festival will be able to enter New Zealand as visitors, without having to apply for a visa if they are from one of the more than 50 countries with which New Zealand has a visa-waiver agreement.

For an arts or music festival to become ‘approved’, its organisers will have to submit a proposal to INZ demonstrating that their festival meets certain criteria. See the Checklist for Arts and Music Festival Approval Status PDF [334KB] for further information.

Rationale for changes

The key objective of the changes is to reduce red tape and compliance costs on entertainment industry businesses and to support economic growth. This will ensure that these businesses can get the people they need when they need them, while still providing protection for New Zealand workers. The previous ‘one size fits all’ immigration process, where all applications are referred to industry guilds or unions irrespective of whether there is a risk of displacing New Zealand workers, does not necessarily reflect the requirements of different industry sectors, types of production or other government objectives.

Benefits of the changes

The changes will make it easier for entertainment industry companies to bring workers to New Zealand. Inbound productions can create a significant number of jobs for New Zealanders across a range of roles.  The changes will reduce the risk of the immigration process reducing New Zealand’s attractiveness to overseas productions.

For more information regarding your immigration and visa requirements please contact Auckland law firm Quay Law NZ.

Steps towards gaining residence in New Zealand

Siva Shanker Rajadurai

Working temporarily in New Zealand can be used as a step towards gaining residence and settling here permanently. 

If your talents are needed by New Zealand employers, or you have exceptional talent in the arts, culture or sports, you can apply to work in New Zealand under the Work to Residence category. 

If you are already in New Zealand on a Work to Residence permit, after two years you can apply for residence.

Which policy you apply under depends on your occupation and your circumstances.

Your choice of lawyer to attend to your immigration needs is an important decision.  For relevant service or for more information please contact a friendly Auckland lawyer at Quay Law.

Which visa / permit best applies to you?

Before one submits an application for New Zealand residency, it is highly advisable to check the various immigration visas/permits leading to residency. 

 Consider which visa/permit best applies to you, as a wrong application could cost you your future. 

The various visas/permits are :

1. Work to Residency,
2. Skilled Migrant Category,
3. Investment/Investment Plus,
4. Long Term Business Visa/Permit,
5. Entreprenuer /Entrepreneur Plus. 

For more information regarding your immigration requirements contact a friendly  lawyer at Quay Law.

By Siva Shanker (Auckland Lawyer – Quay Law)

Siva Shanker joins the team at Quay Law

Auckland Lawyer Siva Shanker Rajadurai joins the legal team at Quay Law.

The team at Auckland Law Firm, Quay Law welcomes Siva Shanker Rajadurai to the team.

Siva Shanker Rajadurai holds a LLB from the University of London and a Diploma in Electronics Engineering from  Malaysia.

Prior to serving with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Malaysia, Shanker held numerous legal related roles in New Zealand Shanker is able to provided legal services in English, Malay and Tamil.

He is people orientated and knowledgeable in the areas of property law, family trusts, commercial law and immigration.

Welcome aboard Shanker.

Quay Law goes to India

Please find attached a link to some pictures taken on a recent business trip to India  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_87ouadwQ24  .

Taking into account the ongoing bilateral Free Trade Agreement negotiations between India and New Zealand, and looking at the potential trade and investment opportunities between the two countries, there could not have been a more opportune time to hold the New Zealand Invest 2010 in India.

New Zealand Residence Programme: Skilled Migrant Category fortnightly selection

Source : immigration.govt.nz

A selection of Expressions of Interest (EOI) under the Skilled Migrant Category took place on 27 January 2010.

The following EOIs were selected. 

27 January 2010

Selection criteria	No. of EOIs
All EOIs at or above 140 points.	376
All EOIs with a job or a job offer claiming points between 100 and 135 points.	119
All those claiming 15 points for work experience in an area of absolute skill shortage and with a points total between 130 and 135 points.	48
TOTAL SELECTION	543

 The next selection will take place in a fortnight.

Residency ‘carrot’ lures rich investors

By Lincoln Tan : Source – New Zealand Herald

Thousands of wealthy foreigners are lining up to move here, just weeks out from the introduction of business migration laws that will grant them residency almost immediately.

Under a new Entrepreneur Plus immigration category – effective on November 30 – entrepreneurial migrants who create at least three fulltime jobs and invest $500,000 in their business will be offered a fast track to residency.

Currently, entrepreneur migrants are issued with a long-term business permit and can apply for residency only after two years.

Although there is no minimum investment capital required, neither is there a guarantee their residency application will be approved.

The new scheme will grant conditional residence virtually as soon as an application is made.

“There is no time requirement that you must have operated your business for to be successful under this category,” the Immigration New Zealand website says.

“The Entrepreneur Plus category provides a faster track to residence for migrants who can demonstrate they have been actively participating in business and contributing to New Zealand’s economic development.”

About 12,000 people have registered their interest in the scheme through the service’s website, with 189 looking to invest $1.5 million or more – a total potential investment of at least $283 million.

The service said it has also received formal expressions of interest from 63 potential investors, and 47 had been invited to apply.

The most interest had come from would-be business migrants in the United States, Britain, India, the Philippines and Ireland.

Property development, education, training and tourism were among the most popular areas for potential investment, an Immigration NZ spokesman said.

The Association for Migration and Investment said the Entrepreneur Plus category would provide an incentive to invest more money – and create more employment – as it removed migrants’ concerns about the need for future residency applications.

“Previously, the only option available for business applicants was the long-term business visa, which is not a residence visa, and many applicants under this policy sought to minimise their business investment,” it said.

But chairwoman Coral Wong believed only a small percentage of the 12,000 would apply. “It’s easy to get excited at the numbers, but $500,000 is still a lot of money for migrants to be investing in NZ and there won’t be masses who have that amount to spare.”

Marco Chan of Hong Kong, who plans to open a restaurant in Auckland, said the offer of “immediate residency” was key to his decision to apply under the new category.

CHANGE OF FORTUNES

PREVIOUS POLICY
Investment capital: None.
Job-creation requirement: None.
Length of time to residency: Available after two years.

NEW POLICY
Investment capital: $500,000.
Job-creation requirement: Minimum three fulltimers.
Length of time to residency: Conditional as soon as requirements met.

EARLY INTEREST
* 12,000 looking to invest at least $500,000.
* 189 want to invest $1.5 million or more.

UK Immigrants unknowingly entering into NZ Sale and Purchase Agreements

A new Blog Post by Steve Koerber regarding new immigrants purchasing homes with major leaky home issues, got me thinking; I back Steve up completely on this stuff and there is also another key issue when it comes to new immigrants buying NZ property, specifically people from the UK.

According to Statistics NZ – 18,361 people came to live in NZ from the UK from July 2008 – July 2009. The house buying process in the UK is somewhat different to NZ. In the UK, a ‘Offer of Purchase’ is made to the vendor from the buyer via an Estate Agent. Ok, so you may be thinking, this is not too different to the NZ way of putting in an offer on a property via a ‘Sale and Purchase Agreement’; but here is the difference: The UK offer is not a legally binding contract like the NZ one is. You can walk away from the UK one at any time and you are also at risk right up until the day of Exchange (our Unconditional day) of being Guzumped or Guzundered.

So, my issue is that UK immigrants are at risk of unknowingly making offers on NZ property and not understanding at the offset that the offer is a legally binding document and they are at risk of losing their deposit or worse.

To aid in this issue, I think that NZ Real Estate Agents should at all times ensure that Immigrants are made aware of the risks of an unconditional Sale and Purchase agreement and advise to set conditions especially a full building report in support of Steve’s blog post as mentioned above. Posted by Jodi Cottle

http://jodicottle.blogspot.com

Net migration at five-year high

 

Dr Ganesh Nana, chief economist at BERL

 

The latest annual net migration figure of more than 17,000 is the highest in five years.

The figure is still well down from 2003’s high of more than 40,000, but it is much higher than last year’s paltry 4400.

 Source : http://www.3news.co.nz

Innocent buyers in need of protection

Monday Aug 24, 2009

By Anne Gibson – NZ Herald

Immigrants are being saddled with leaky homes, unwittingly buying into our national disaster, says a Remuera real estate agent.

Steve Koerber of Barfoot & Thompson has pointed the finger at vendors and other real estate agents, saying there is a lack of information about houses.

John Gray of the Homeowners and Buyers Association agreed that some agents were reluctant to let potential buyers know of weather-tightness issues, but an agency boss has rejected criticism.

Bryan Thomson, Harcourts chief executive, said agents were upfront if they were made aware of leaks. But not all vendors told agents about leak issues, he said.

Mr Koerber said migrants were particularly at risk because so many were unaware of the dangers of buying a New Zealand house. “I have a big problem with the fact that hundreds of new immigrants and some locals are literally stitched up into potentially leaky or actually leaky homes. Their eyes are wide shut and some owners and agents are genuinely relieved to find them,” Mr Koerber said.

He wants to meet Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson and persuade him of the need for Government-controlled inspections, particularly of houses built between the risky period 1991 to 2003.

He believes this is a viable solution to the country’s leaky-home crisis, thought to affect about 80,000 places.

A new law to protect buyers and sellers of plaster homes that demanded state inspection reports of at-risk houses attached to listing and sale and purchase agreements would help, he said. Homeowners would pay about $1000 for the reports, but the Government should subsidise this.

Mr Koerber said he knew some assessment reports on houses were inadequate but he suggested reports would need to comply with stringent guidelines highlighting risk factors including cladding, roof construction, location and when the house was built.

“If a house leaks and is bought ‘eyes shut’ by a new immigrant for $1 million, the actual value of that house could be, say, $800,000 if the problems had been/were found/known. If this immigrant stays a few years then sells under the same circumstances to another naive buyer, then the problem is hidden again,” he said.

The Government’s Weathertight Homes Resolution Service offers written assessments of homes not more than 10 years old which are suspected of leaking. A full assessor’s report costs $500 for a stand-alone property or single unit claim, $1000 for a duplex of two or more units or $1500 for a multi-unit complex.

Mr Gray said many of Mr Koerber’s suggestions were noble but ill-founded and impractical. “Unfortunately the Government does not have any appetite to get close to the problem nor to regulate anything. So it is left to us as a self-funded organisation to try to educate people about the risks of buying any home. Some people have jumped through hoops when looking at buying what is perceived to be a high-risk home and shied away to buy a perceived low-risk home only to find that is a disaster.

“Don’t drop your guard no matter what type of home you are intending to buy. It is unfortunate also that some owners who have had their homes remediated to a very high standard find themselves being victimised by naive agents and conveyance lawyers who advise their clients to stay away from a remediated leaky home.

“Every home should be subject to a pre-purchase inspection undertaken by a suitably qualified person when someone is committing to the biggest purchase of their lives. However, the real problem is the lack of suitable qualified, experienced and competent pre-purchase surveyors – with professional indemnity insurance – upon whom you could rely,” Mr Gray said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10592715&ref=rss