A loosening of border restrictions will give businesses some confidence that things are getting restarted, the Employers and Manufacturers Association says.
Sectors which have been suffering due to the lack of overseas skilled workers include technology and research and development, Alan McDonald says. Photo: 123rf
Yesterday Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announced, from next month, those who can demonstrate a strong and ongoing connection to New Zealand will be eligible to return, with their partners and dependent children.
There will also be a new border exception for some temporary work visa holders who have been unable to enter the country. They have had to wait while New Zealand citizens and permanent residents took priority.
Alan McDonald from the Employers and Manufacturers Association says the entry of specialist workers will reinvigorate stalled businesses and projects.
"For business that means that some projects that are currently stalled or slowed because they don't have access to those skilled people who are either waiting in the queue or trying to get back - that will give them some confidence that things are getting restarted."
McDonald said a business exemption process has been operating since mid June but since then the system's capacity has not been meeting the demand.
He said some highly skilled people got stuck overseas after having gone home for a holiday, while others have been approved to come to New Zealand because of their skills but are unable to get here.
"That is we know slowing some projects and stopped others from starting and there are jobs dependant on the skills that these people bring, so unless they get here obviously there's more jobs waiting in the queue based on the skills that they bring."
Sectors which need these people include the mining sector, the waste recycling sector, research and development and technology, he said.
McDonald said a week ago fewer than 2000 of the 7000 business exemptions had been approved.
"The numbers that the minister was talking about yesterday were five and a half thousand roughly, so that's adding to that queue, that pressure, so hopefully the resources within Immigration will be applied to get that trickle turned up to a bit more of a flow."
McDonald said the other issue is that returning New Zealanders are taking up the bulk of the quarantine spaces.
"So until we've actually got the capacity in the quarantine system to accommodate both business exemptions and now these new exemptions, you know there will still be some pressure on getting those people into the country."
Some couples to be reunited after border issues
The relaxed border regulations are good news for some New Zealanders who have partners stranded offshore who have been unable to return because they were not exempt.
Christchurch man Liam Upson-Maguire has spent more than six months apart from his partner Molly who travelled to England to be with her sick father, who died in February.
The pair were thrilled to learn that Molly can now return home.
Upson-Maguire said they were stuck in limbo and he had been planning to get tickets to the UK next week so he could collect Molly and bring her back to New Zealand because that was the only way she could return - but now that will not be necessary.
He said the situation has been incredibly stressful for them both.
Upson-Maguire said he travelled to the UK in March for the funeral of his partner's father and got back to New Zealand just before the border was closed.
He said the loosening of border rules is great news for them, but not for everybody.
"She's from a visa waiver country, but there is still a huge huge group of people from non-visa countries like India and South Africa who are still stuck in limbo unfortunately, and there's no news."
Upson-Maguire said it would have been better if the government had processed all the partnership visas.