New border exemptions have been approved to allow overseas building staff to work on the state house construction programme.
Photo: 123RF
The Kāinga Ora build and urban development programme has been added to government-approved exemptions, which came into force this month.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) said four engineers, two system programmers and a supervisor had been approved so far, although none of them had yet arrived.
Kāinga Ora said contractors could use the policy criteria to bring in builders for the 3200-home programme.
A spokesperson said it had used the exemption for an expert in planning, design and implementation logistics "to assist us with further ramping up our state house builds".
It had the option to bring in more, given the scale and pace of the building programme, he said.
INZ border and visa operations general manager Nicola Hogg said the category criteria for coming to New Zealand for less than six months under the 'other critical worker' category included undertaking a time-critical role which was essential for the delivery of an approved major infrastructure project or an approved major government programme.