In mid-December, some details of the new points calculation system became known. An important caveat: points should be counted for the person (the principal applicant) who took the IELTS language exam at the British Council and scored at least 6.5 points. The same applies to the secondary applicant: their points will be added to the total if they also scored at least 6.5 on the IELTS.
Such are the new rules. How do they differ from the old ones? And what do these innovations mean for potential immigrants? Igor STEPANOV, head of the New Zealand immigration firm North Island Immigration & Education Consultants Limited, answered these questions for "Inostranets".
- Currently, confusion and panic reign among potential immigrants to New Zealand. But there is no reason for this. First, nothing unexpected happened. As early as July 2, 2003, the New Zealand government announced that it was abolishing the existing General Skills category, introducing an interim General Skills category, and beginning to prepare the legislative base for a new Skilled Migrant category. Which it did.
Second, from my point of view, the situation has not changed for the worse. Let us recall how points were awarded before November 12. The pass mark then was 29. As a rule, a person without a job offer in New Zealand could not score more than 24-25 points. That is, only having an employment contract ensured the passing score and a real chance to become an immigrant.
Immigration authorities, together with the immigration application, required the following documents: birth certificate, passport, diplomas with the conclusion of the New Zealand Qualifications Commission, work record book, certificate of no criminal record, and medical commission conclusion. As well as an IELTS result of no less than 6.5 points and a job offer.
Now the passing score is not announced: the right to immigration will be obtained by an applicant who scores at least 100 points and is selected on a competitive basis. That is, those with more points will win the competition.
Many will be eligible to be admitted to the selection committee (that is, those who score the mandatory minimum of 100 points). This is easy to calculate: a 28-year-old man (he gets 30 points for age) who has a technical college diploma in "electrician" (50 points), 6 years of work experience (20 points), and passes the language exam, scores 100 points. Or: a 38-year-old woman (25 points for age) with an accountant diploma (another 50 points), with 10 years of work experience (plus 30 points), scores 105 points.
I note that New Zealand now prefers young people over experienced specialists. Under the old system, a 45-year-old lost very few points for age, but gained a lot due to 20 years of work experience. Now the maximum "work" score is given for 10 years of experience, so additional years of work add nothing, while you can lose significantly on age. And if earlier I did not take on cases of people under 25-26, now I will take on even 22-year-olds.
Thus, we have shown above that most who pass the language exam at the proper level will score the required minimum of 100 points or even exceed it slightly (105 points). If a family member (secondary applicant) who has a diploma also passes the exam with a score of 6.5, then such a family will have 115 points.
However, having been admitted to the selection, they are unlikely to win the competition. After all, those who receive a job offer in New Zealand increase their points by as much as 50 points, and if the job is outside Auckland, then by all 60. So real chances for immigration, as under the old system, will be obtained by those who present an employment contract to the selection committee. This makes the new system little different from the old one.
- From this we can conclude that all your clients whom you supply with employment contracts will receive at least 160 points and win the competition. But the new system is not introduced by chance. From the minister's statements it follows that he not only wants to settle immigrants throughout the country, but also to attract specialists in certain fields. What specialties are we talking about?
- And there is nothing new in this matter. Just as I previously did not take on helping humanities graduates, I will not now: it is extremely difficult to provide them with employment in New Zealand. But builders, electricians, electronics specialists, economists, accountants, mechanics, all maritime specialists, specialists in the food and meat-and-dairy industry, and junior medical staff - that's welcome. Doctors are also needed, but they usually take at least two years to register - passing a professional exam and obtaining a work permit. Who will sign an employment contract with them? School teachers find it easier to register: they do not take a professional exam, but only fill out special forms - this can be done without leaving their homeland. True, they are required to have particularly good language knowledge: if usually when applying to educational institutions around the world, IELTS results are assessed by the average score for each of its component tests, and, as a rule, it is enough to get an average score of 6.5 (for example, you demonstrate genius abilities in reading and writing, getting 9 points each for these IELTS components, but pass oral speech and listening comprehension somewhat weakly - at 6.5) - then in our case, teachers must get at least 7 points for each of the listed IELTS components. Then there will be no problems with their employment.
The new system is generally intended to facilitate immigration. After all, in addition to the point calculation procedure, the entire immigration application process is also changing. As I already said, previously a certain package of documents had to be attached to the application. Now the same package of documents will be attached not to the immigration application itself, but to the application for intention to immigrate - Expression of Interest, that is, to a request to be considered by a selection committee. This committee is obliged to review the submitted application within three months and issue its verdict. An applicant who receives a positive decision from the committee will be offered to submit an immigration application.
Interestingly, a negative verdict from the committee is not a final decision, but merely the result of a competition among applications submitted over a certain period. Theoretically, the same documents can be submitted to the selection committee an unlimited number of times.
- For goodness' sake, this is a pig in a poke. How am I supposed to know what indicators my competitors brought to the committee? Where are the guarantees of the committee's objective work? Everything is shrouded in a veil of secrecy. Previously, the passing score was announced, and there were no questions: if you scored 29 points, pack your bags; if you didn't, hustle and scrape up the missing points or forget about New Zealand. And now what? You've gathered everything you could and have no idea what to expect. If they don't like the way I look in my photo, they'll say everyone else scored more...
- That cannot be. The government stated clearly that it will select the best among those who submitted applications within a certain period of time.
- But perhaps at least it is known how many applicants are to be selected during this very certain period?
- No, the government has not announced any such quotas.
- Is anything known about the amount of payment for the selection committee's work?
- Not yet. Previously, the review of an immigration application cost $720. Whether this service will become more expensive is not yet known. In fact, only general details are known about this entire procedure so far - the forms of the new applications and the list of attached documents have not yet been published. We are expecting this any day now.
We, too, will have to be patient. Honestly, there are still too many questions: about the work of this very selection committee and the possibility of checking or contesting its conclusions; in addition, it is interesting which professions belong to the 'developing industries and spheres where there is a catastrophic shortage of labor' and for which they give small but still bonuses; and we would also like to know the prices for services. In the meantime, we have to trust the specialist, believe in his awareness and intuition that the new immigration system to New Zealand, introduced for qualified specialists, is no worse than the old one.