French midwife’s visa Catch-22
A French couple who fell in love with the South Island on their honeymoon say they are stuck in an immigration nightmare that could drive away valuable future residents.
Thibaut Delafontaine and his wife Virginie want to bring their children up in New Zealand, saying the people, the education system and the landscape are completely different to their home country.
‘‘We discovered a natural place with people who smiled all the time,’’ Delafontaine said.
‘‘You pass someone on the street and they smile at you and you can smile at them. In France, when you smile at a person, they are afraid, and they ask, ‘what’s the problem?’’’
But the couple found they could not get a work visa without a job offer, and they were struggling to get a job offer without a work visa.
Delafontaine, a midwife, and his wife, a registered nurse, sold their house and moved to Marlborough in December on a visitor visa. They had budgeted for up to six months of renting, but could not find anywhere to rent and were paying $900 a week at a motel while they looked for work. Their two children attended St Mary’s School, in Blenheim, which they loved, Delafontaine said.
‘‘In France your kids have to sit at their desk, stay in their seat and look at the blackboard. Here, it’s completely different.’’
But the couple was unsure if they would find work before they ran out of money.
Midwifery was on Immigration New Zealand’s Immediate Skill Shortage List, but migrants had to be registered with the New Zealand Midwifery Council and have been offered a job. Wairau Hospital, in Blenheim, was advertising for a midwife and would accept applicants that had yet to get a visa if they were registered with the council. But Delafontaine was struggling with the extensive registration process. Many potential immigrants would be turned off by the process, he said.
Immigration New Zealand area manager Marcelle Foley confirmed that Delafontaine needed a job offer to be eligible for a work visa.
Eligibility criteria changed in August last year, including criteria for migrants aged over 30-years-old. Delafontaine, 47, was eligible for a temporary work visa without a job offer before the changes.
‘‘Changes ... under the Essential Skills policy are designed to strike the right balance between ensuring New Zealanders are at the front of the queue for jobs and preserving access to the temporary migrant labour necessary for New Zealand’s continued economic growth,’’ Foley said.