Apology to overseas chef
Man waited nearly four months to get work visa approved due to Immigration New Zealand holdups
Immigration New Zealand has apologised to an overseas-based chef who has waited a frustrating 3.5 months to receive a visa to work in New Zealand.
The long visa wait for both Chinese-born Zhicheng Huang and his employer the Invercargill Licensing Trust comes when the hospitality sector is screaming out for chefs to hire.
Currently living in South Korea, Huang is one of several overseas-based chefs the licensing trust has offered jobs to in Invercargill, having exhausted attempts to hire chefs for its restaurants from within New Zealand.
Trust chief executive Chris Ramsay said it was proving to be a nightmare to get chefs into the country with any speed.
Nicola Hogg, of Immigration New Zealand, apologised to both Huang and the licensing trust, saying she acknowledged the situation must have been difficult.
Since reopening the borders, there had been a high demand for skilled workers for New Zealand businesses and applications took longer to process in periods of higher volumes, she said.
Huang, 28, previously studied at the Southern Institute of Technology [SIT] in Invercargill in 2016 and worked for a trust restaurant in the city from 2017 to 2019.
He left New Zealand and currently lives in South Korea with his wife and young child, but is returning with his family to again work for the trust.
A level five qualified chef, he liaised with the trust so he could apply for an accredited employer work visa on July 4, the same date all work visa categories were opened for applications.
He was eligible to apply because he had a job offer from the trust and possessed the required skills and qualifications to work as a chef in New Zealand.
However, he said a delay by Immigration New Zealand meant he was unable to submit his application until August 10, and the delays had mounted.
Huang, speaking from Korea shortly before his application was approved, said the New Zealand immigration process had frustrated him, with multiple attempts to find out where his application was at with Immigration New Zealand having failed. ‘‘I feel really upset because
. . . I don’t know what the reason is for the delay. I have studied in Invercargill and worked in Invercargill before, so what’s the problem for my visa?’’
Ramsay also said it was frustrating Huang’s application had taken so long to approve, given he had worked for the trust previously and met the criteria to work as a chef in New Zealand.
‘‘We wrongly assumed the process would be relatively quick to get him back into the country.
‘‘Hank [Huang] is probably the best example of how the system just isn’t working. The processing of these applications is painfully slow and in his case we have been waiting six months [since beginning to organise his visa application].
‘‘And we have a number of other chefs lined up from overseas that we have offered employment contracts to, and we are now waiting for the immigration process to get them into the country.’’
The trust has nine restaurants in Invercargill. ‘‘Every one of our kitchens, I could safely say, could handle another employee.’’
Chefs were scarce in New Zealand, Ramsay said.
‘‘We know our [trust] pay rates are competitive and we are drawing blanks in the national market, so we have gone international in our recruiting search. Finding the people to get over here isn’t the issue, it’s getting them through Immigration New Zealand’s systems, it’s just a nightmare.’’
Hogg, of Immigration New Zealand, said along with slower processing times during high demand, application times also depended on factors such as what manual checks needed to be made, or whether Immigration NZ was waiting on further information from an applicant or agency.
She confirmed Huang’s application had been completed and his accredited employer work visa approved this week.
Huang said he was excited to return with his wife and child, whose visas had also been approved. ‘‘I will come back to Invercargill with my family as soon as possible.’’
‘‘Finding the people to get over here isn’t the issue, it’s getting them through Immigration New Zealand’s systems, it’s just a nightmare.’’ Chris Ramsay Invercargill Licensing Trust