Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult told the Otago Daily Times early last week he remained "very concerned" about the labour shortage issues facing the Queenstown-Lakes district.
At that time, he was awaiting a call from Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi’s office to discuss what could be done to bolster Queenstown’s workforce this winter, as international visitors return for the first time in more than two years.
While he is still to have a conversation with anyone from Mr Faafoi’s office, Mr Boult told the ODT on Friday he had since had a "long discussion" with a representative of Immigration NZ, during which he impressed upon them the "desperate situation facing employers here".
Along with a dearth of workers, there remained concerns about tourists having a "less-than-satisfactory experience" due to the staffing squeeze.
"I was assured that migrant workers would flow back into the country when Government adjusts settings in July, and that would signal a return of workers of the type that we seek in the town."
On July 4, employee applications will open for the new accredited employer work visa.
Under the twice-delayed scheme, an employer first must apply for accreditation under one of two categories — standard accreditation, for up to five migrants at any one time, will cost $740, or "high-volume", for six or more, will cost $1220.
Those applications are now open and will take 10 working days to process.
Employers must then apply for a "job check" for each job a migrant worker is being sought for, which costs $610 — that opens on June 20, and will take another 10 working days for processing.
If a job is paid at least 200% of the median wage, increasing to $27.76 an hour from July 4, the role does not need to be advertised.
While all other jobs must pay at least the median wage, earlier this month the Government announced an exemption for tourism and hospitality employers under which they will have to pay $25 an hour, until next April.
If employers pass the job check, employees can then apply for an accredited employer work visa, from July 4, which will cost $540, along with an "immigration levy" paid by the worker of $55.
That process will take 20 working days, meaning the earliest the entire process could be concluded is July 29.
However, Mr Boult said he did not expect to see any significant uplift in migrant labour until after the ski season, which is scheduled to start in a fortnight.
"[I asked] ‘why don’t we start [processing visas] now?’
"They will not change the date."
That was "disappointing" and "worrying for winter", Mr Boult said.
In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Faafoi’s office said the office could not respond to a conversation it was not part of, but at this stage there would be "no value" in bringing forward the employee application.
"Since the five-step plan was announced earlier this year, the Government has continued to review the timing and phasing of the border reopening in light of the evolving pandemic," the spokesman said.
"It has brought forward the reopening to the remaining visa categories as soon as it has become clear that it is safe to do so."
