Great news for anyone considering a move to Christchurch, as the rebuilding gets under way & should be ongoing for a number of years to come there will be great demand for skilled people in all sectors of the construction industry.
This is very good news, it's great to see the demand for work growing at last.
Unfortunately this doesn't necessarily translate into more work for immigrants.
The Christchurch office of the immigration department is declining more applications for work visas this year than it did last year, even though less people are applying. It would appear that they think there are more than enough Kiwis available to do the work and quite right too. It's good that they're insisting that they employ locals who've been doing it tough these last three years. Plus new people don't have NZ experience and have to be trained up to the current standards, whereas locals can hit the ground running. If they're not given work New Zealand will continue to lose its skilled workers to Australia.
This was in the local news earlier this week
"Immigration New Zealand's (INZ) Christchurch branch has received the lowest number of applications since 2003 as immigrants leave the earthquake-hit city.
Despite this, people who want to stay in Christchurch are struggling to get work visas.
INZ figures show that for the 2011-12 financial year, 9939 people applied for visas at the Christchurch office. In 2009-10, more than 13,500 applications were received.
INZ has declined more work visas this financial year than last.
The operations manager at migration law firm Malcolm Pacific, David Cooper, said unemployment across the country has led to an "increase in the amount of applications being declined".
"Obviously, it's jobs for Kiwis first. That's how it has always been and when someone applies for a work visa, then [INZ] does its own labour market research," he said.
This involved receiving information from Work and Income.
"So if it's a retail job, Work and Income might turn around and say, 'We've got 15 people registered as unemployed in Canterbury who could do that work'," he said.
Difficulties arose because often an "employer wants the best person for a job, not just a person", he said.
Of 9939 applications received, 9153 have been approved and 786 have been declined so far.
Figures show more people had applied for reconsideration of visa decisions since the earthquakes.
On Saturday, The Press published a story about 29-year-old Briton Lance Burke, who was struggling to obtain a work visa because INZ said New Zealanders were available to do the work.
His employer, Lawry Hanafin, of Hanafins Camera and Video, said the information supplied to INZ proved that other applicants for Burke's position were not suitable.
Press readers said yesterday they disagreed with INZ rules.
One said: "Immigration has been making it impossible for educated people to stay and with all the talent and young people moving off to Australia, what will NZ be left with if they don't ever let people in?"
Another said: "Immigration need to look at Christchurch as a special case."
Labour and Immigration Research Centre general manager Vasantha Krishnan said the criteria for obtaining a work visa had not changed.
People qualified for visas on the basis of skill-shortage lists identified by the Labour Department, he said."
Sorry I can't post the link yet.
