Federated Farmers is set for an urgent meeting with the Government to discuss recent changes to work visa rules that are causing huge concern and confusion among farmers.

On April 7, the Government announced several changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme, which came into effect immediately and retrospectively.

Richard McIntyre, Federated Farmers immigration and labour spokesperson, says his phone has been running hot ever since with calls from distressed farmers across the country.

“What’s concerned farmers the most is just how suddenly the changes have been made. For many employers, they came out of the blue and have caused a lot of confusion.

“It’s already challenging enough to find and keep farm staff. These sudden changes will only make things harder for those trying to bring in staff from oversees to fill a gap in their team.

“For those farming families already short-staffed and under real pressure, it’s the last thing they wanted to see before the start of the new dairy season.”

Changes include a shorter visa length of two years, with a maximum continuous stay period of three years, and the introduction of a 12-month stand-down period at the end of the visa.

“This means staff will essentially need to get two separate visas if they want to stay for the full three years: a two-year visa and then a further one-year visa,” McIntyre says.

“That adds a lot of unnecessary cost and uncertainty for both the employer and the staff. It will also mean more work for already-stretched immigration staff who need to process the visas.”

Employers will need to advertise vacancies on their farm for 21 days, up from 14 days previously, and will now have an obligation to engage with Work and Income.

There are also new minimum requirements that applicants need to prove they have at least three years’ relevant work experience, or a relevant qualification at Level 4 or above.

Workers applying for some roles will also now be required to prove they can speak and understand English.

“It’s safe to say Federated Farmers don’t support all of the Government’s changes and have concerns that we want to see addressed,” McIntyre says.

“Because the changes came into effect immediately, they have put a number of farmers in a difficult and unforeseen situation where they may not be able to fill roles this season.

“Staff shortages are a serious issue that can have a huge impact on health and safety, animal welfare, environmental compliance, and farmers’ mental health.

“Whether you’ve got staff or not, the work still has to be done. It’s not like you can just not feed or milk your cows for a few days.

“You just end up working longer hours or taking less days off. That’s when you start to get tired, your mental health suffers, and you come under real pressure.”

McIntyre is also concerned about the impact the 12-month stand-down requirement will have on New Zealand’s ability to attract and retain talent in a competitive global market.

“What kind of effect is that going to have on on-farm workflow, and to the migrant themselves, if they have to leave New Zealand for a year before they can progress into a skilled role or visa?

“We aren’t the only farming country struggling to fill farming roles. Our international competitors like Australia and Canada are facing the exact same labour shortages.

“There’s a very real risk that any standdown period will see skilled employees, who Kiwi farmers have invested a lot of time and money in, picked up by those other countries.”

We need to be making it as smooth as possible for these farming families to put down real roots and properly integrate into our rural communities, McIntyre says.

“If we create too many hoops for them to jump through, or make things too difficult, they might just choose to call somewhere else home.”

McIntyre says he’s also concerned about how the changes will increase wait times and costs to farm employers, and how they’ll add further pressures to the immigration system.

“Farmers have already been experiencing huge delays when it comes to processing visas, and these changes are only going to make that worse.

“The ongoing impact of these changes is likely to result in a need for increased processing effort across visa applications.

“That means farmers should be factoring in more time, rather than less, for applications to be processed by immigration.”

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