The New Zealand government has announced that it will grant a 12-month Open Work visa to offshore students affected by the situation caused by spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants.
According to a statement from New Zealand immigration, the new open visa will be granted to those who obtained a Post Study Work Visa (PWSV) but couldn’t use it due to the restrictions imposed by authorities in this country to contain the further spread of the virus, VisaGuide.World reports.
“This 12-month open work visa will allow eligible people to be able to enter New Zealand between 30 March and 29 September 2023 and will give them the ability to pursue work opportunities for 12 months from entry,” the statement notes.
Persons can benefit from the new changes announced by the government of New Zealand if they were granted a PSWV for a period between March 19 and August 10 2020 and they were outside the country, are not currently in New Zealand, or do not hold another valid New Zealand visa.
Local media report note that eligible visa holders are able to enter New Zealand on March 30, 2023, and September 29, 2023, and leave this country multiple times, after their first entry and while the visa is still valid.
Despite the fact that the number of overseas students and workers in New Zealand has not made quick progress, still it is steadily picking up, according to the Interest report.
The data provided by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment revealed that a total of 16,692 people reached New Zealand on work visas in the first month of this year.
The restrictions imposed due to the Coronavirus in late March 2020 led to a significant increase in the number of arrivals who hold a work visa, declining from 20,511 in February 2020, to 12,399 in March and then just 237 in April 2020.
It was reported that they remained below 1000 a month from April 2020 to March 2022, then started to increase and passed 10,000 a month in September last year.
For a period from August 2022 until January 2023, a total of 76,836 people reached the country on work visas.
In an effort to facilitate the entry rules for arrivals from other countries, authorities in New Zealand have continuously applied new changes to their rules.
In December last year, authorities in New Zealand announced new changes to Partner Work Visas, which however will not take effect until April 2023, as confirmed by the Immigration Minister of New Zealand, Michael Wood.
The post New Zealand to Grant Open Work Visas to Offshore Students Affected by COVID-19 appeared first on VisaGuide.World.
