Chefs, diver are ‘critical workers’
Am Cup exception aggravates irritation at immigration difficulty
Ameteorologist, nutritionist, diver, drone pilot and chef are among the workers that visiting America’s Cup syndicates have been 98 per cent successful in getting border exemptions for.
With 422 successful requests for getting “critical workers” into New Zealand, and only 10 declined, the strike rate for the yacht teams owned by some of the US and Europe’s richest people has been high.
By comparison, New Zealand businesses have been only 19 per cent successful in their critical worker applications since July last year.
Some of the roles Ineos Team UK, American Magic and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have got into the country include: a drone electronics worker, six photographers, three nutritionists, seven PR and marketing staff, a driver, a diver, TV production manager, a meteorologist and a “measurer”.
The discrepancy in successful applications by New Zealand businesses and America’s Cup teams is a source of irritation for South Auckland immigration lawyer Aaron Martin.
The principal of NZ Immigration Law says he has got in a small number of critical workers since the border closed in March last year, but it has generally been “extremely” difficult and there is no explanation or consistency to the decisions.
“New Zealand businesses are being starved of serious crucial skills and you’ve got siloed bureaucrats who don’t really understand the businesses,” Martin said.
“There’s no guidance other than these very waffly definitions that immigration officers look at as to what employers should put forward.”
Martin said Immigration NZ (INZ) letters declining critical worker applications never provide justification and detail for the decision.
“These are people’s jobs. That’s what annoys me. If certain lobby groups shout loud enough, they’re getting preferential clearance and for one-time events like the America’s Cup where there are no tourist dollars being brought in for it.
“New Zealanders’ livelihoods are being put on the line because businesses are being starved of the skill and expertise that they need.”
An INZ spokesperson said its role is to assess border exception requests based on categories and relevant instructions set by the Govern- ment.
“All requests to bring workers in under the ‘other critical worker’ border exception category must meet the strict criteria as set out in immigration instructions. INZ has no ability to apply discretion when assessing these types of requests,” the INZ spokesperson said. One of the two criteria under which a worker can be brought into New Zealand as a short-term (less than six months) “other critical worker” is if they are undertaking a time-critical role which “is essential for the delivery of a government approved event”.
The 36th America’s Cup is just such a government-approved event. INZ stressed that since September