From Visas to Vet Clinics: Unravelling the Complexities of NZ Veterinary Immigration

Julie South [00:00:03]:
Welcome to Veterinary Voices episode 203. I'm your host, Julie south. This podcast, Veterinary Voices, celebrates all that's great about working in New Zealand's veterinary industry. It reaches 1400 cities worldwide. For back copies, visit veterinaryvoices.nz when it comes to hiring overseas vets and nurses in New Zealand, there's quite a few questions Tanya and I are regularly asked. For example, who pays for the visa and what are job checks? Just like a veterinarian is a protected word here in New Zealand, in that only registered veterinarians with the Veterinary Council of New Zealand can call themselves veterinarians. So too do similar laws apply to immigration. Immigration in air quotes at Vet staff we won't and don't discuss anything to do with immigration.

Julie South [00:01:05]:
We'll answer very top level questions, but anything beyond a cursory answer will always recommend whoever it is we're speaking with that they speak with a New Zealand licensed immigration consultant. And here at Vetstaff we work very closely with Catherine Neazor Brady of Neazor Brady Consultants, who are like me. Hamilton based Veterinary Voices is brought to you by VetStaff, New Zealand's only recruitment agency specializing in helping veterinary professionals find jobs they're excited about going to on Monday mornings in Kiwi vet clinics. That's vetstaff.co.nz. Catherine Neazor Brady Catherine is a New Zealand licensed immigration advisor. She has over 20 years experience working with New Zealand employers in the immigration and the HR space. As a partner at Neazor Brady, Catherine specialises in providing international recruitment, immigration and resettlement services to New Zealand employers. Catherine started her HR career in Paris, in Paris at the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Julie South [00:02:23]:
Since then, Catherine has held multiple HR roles in New Zealand, including several senior ones and management positions in government departments. In 2003 2003, Catherine and her husband Connor set up their HR in immigration consultancy. They and their team are fully focused on helping New Zealand employers find, retain and support migrant workers. This is the first half of a two part chat that Catherine and I had around immigration, specifically as it relates to New Zealand. She answers my questions, for example. These are questions that we, Tanya and I hear often. Who pays for the visa, the employee or the employer? What financial obligations do employers have when they hire overseas veterinary professionals? What are Immigration New Zealand job checks and how does Immigration New Zealand assess veterinary nursing qualifications? We join this conversation here where I ask Catherine what came first, her work as a recruitment consultant or an immigration advisor. Katherine, what came first, immigration consulting or recruiting?

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:03:43]:
It was recruiting, actually. We started our first business in Hamilton in 2004 and it was an HR and recruitment consultancy, and in the two thousands we had a massive skill shortage in New Zealand. So not much has changed in some ways. And we started recruiting in the UK for our clients who couldn't find the staff that they needed in New Zealand. And at that time we were using an overseas based immigration agency to handle the visas. And then in 2008 they brought in immigration adviser licensing and we wanted to be able to control the whole process for clients. So we thought rather than relying on an external licensed person that we should get immigration advisor licenses and then we can handle the whole process. So the HR side was first recruiting first, and then since then immigration as well.

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:04:36]:
And now when we work with clients that are coming from overseas, we bring that immigration focus into helping them understand, you know, what's going to be needed right the way through from first inquiry, helping you guys with the immigration screening and then making sure they understand what's going to be required to get their visas and what the timeframes will be.

Julie South [00:04:54]:
From our side, I really appreciate the fact that you also know the recruiting side of the whole picture as well, because I think it's really beneficial that you understand that everybody understands the different steps that are involved.

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:05:13]:
And, you know, it's a balancing act because there's also the employers requirements and the employers are your clients as well. So you need to look after both your employers and your candidates. And sometimes people have a much more complicated situation than it looks like on the surface. And then we need to find a way to inform people and be able to deal with it and discuss that through the process.

Julie South [00:05:34]:
So let's talk about some of those requirements, because in or coming up recently, Immigration New Zealand announced some fee changes and they kick in on the 1 October here in New Zealand.

Julie South [00:05:51]:
What are those fee changes, what's brought.

Julie South [00:05:54]:
It about and how do they affect veterinary professionals?

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:06:00]:
Under our immigration system, to hire a migrant from overseas on a temporary visa or residence and residence means a permanent visa, so a temporary one has an end date, it'll be granted for five years, and the resident visa is an open ended visa. The employer has to get registration with Immigration New Zealand so that certifies that they're a suitable employer, they pay properly, they have fair work conditions and things like that. Now that employer registration process is only two years old and so some employers are still having time getting used to that. So they need to get registered, they need to do what's called a job check, which is proving that there's no New Zealanders who could be hired or trained for the job if they're going to support someone for a temporary visa, and then we move on to the actual visa application part of it. I would say, actually, if we look at immigration fees, for a long time, they haven't been covering the cost of operating the visa system. People might be surprised to learn. But a couple of years ago, it only cost a few hundred dollars to apply for a temporary work visa or a five year temporary work visa. And even right now it's only $750 for the migrants temporary work visa application.

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:07:15]:
On the 1 October, that's going to go up to $1,540 New Zealand. But there's still not very much when you think about the amount of work that goes into processing the application, because immigration's evaluating people's credentials, their qualifications, whether they meet medical requirements, whether they meet all the character requirements, and if we compare it to, say, Australia, which is one of our biggest competitors for migrant talent, currently, our work visas cost half what they do to apply for Australia. So on the 1 October, we're actually going to be costing about the same as Australia for a temporary visa. And to get residents in New Zealand at the moment is around $4,300, just roughly, and that's going to go up to around $6,400. So for a single applicant will be slightly more expensive than Australia, but for a family of four to get residents in Australia costs more than NZd10,000, then we're still going to be only 6400 for that family of four. So we're 40% cheaper. So I guess to put it in perspective, it's a bit of a shock because it's a doubling of what the fees have been up till now. But in my opinion, we're seeing the fact that they weren't charging enough in slow processing times, poorly implemented it systems at immigration, and not really great levels of customer service right now.

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:08:32]:
So if they do what the government has said they're going to do and use that extra money to improve the services, I think it's kind of a win win.

Julie South [00:08:38]:
Who pays for these visas?

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:08:40]:
So the employer has to pay the cost of being a registered employer and doing that job, check that. Proving that there's no New Zealanders available, and then it's up for negotiation between the migrant and the employer really is part of agreeing the terms and conditions of employment. Who picks up the tab? The employer is not legally obliged to, but a lot of employers do offer to cover the costs and then they might bond the migrant to stay with them for a particular amount of time or repay if they leave early. In some cases, employers that we work with might pick up the tab for the temporary visa and leave it up to their migrant employees to pay the cost of a residence application. So it's quite variable.

Julie South [00:09:20]:
What other financial obligations do accredited employers face or have to put their hands in their pockets for?

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:09:30]:
So the cost of being a registered employer depends on how many employees they want to hire on visas. At the moment it's $740 a year if they want to have less than six migrant employees and 1220 if they want more. And every time they apply for a job check to prove that they can't hire in New Zealand and they're paying an extra dollar, 610 per application to do that.

Julie South [00:09:56]:
Mentioned job checks a few times, what exactly are they? Is it just something that, for example, a vet clinic can say, yes, I've put this advert up on job boards and I haven't had any applicants or any suitable applicants, we're good to go? There's nobody in New Zealand that can do the job or is it something a lot more than that?

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:10:21]:
So it actually depends on the job immigration. New Zealand operates what they call Ansco, the australian and New Zealand standard classification of occupations, and they have something called a green list. So a green list is jobs that are in high demand, long term shortage and so they've made special rules for those. So if we think about vets, vets are on the green list. So someone who has New Zealand veterinary registration, immigration recognises that we have such a shortage of vets that an employer can go to immigration and when they're doing their job check, they can say, I want a vet who's got registration. They don't actually need to prove that they've advertised and they're out in New Zealanders because immigration already knows that they're out. So the employer can apply for the job check on that basis. And as long as the person they want to sponsor for a visa has registration, that job check will go through and be approved.

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:11:13]:
But in the case of a vet nurse, which isn't on the green list, the employer would actually need to advertise the job for at least two weeks. They'd need to demonstrate there weren't any New Zealand applicants that they could hire or that they could train within six months on the job. And then if they can prove that to immigration, then immigration will give them approval to recruit from overseas for that role and they have to offer minimum guaranteed hours of work and a certain amount of pay and various other things and whatever the employer puts in their job check. In their job ad. Immigration will hold them to that when they're hiring the migrants. So let's say they said we want someone who's got five years of experience and then they try to sponsor a visa for someone who only has three years. That's not a match for what they specified and therefore they might actually have a problem getting that visa approved.

Julie South [00:12:04]:
I just want to interrupt this chat for a very brief moment. To share something important. For clinics who are doing their own recruitment, visit vetclinicjobs.com. you probably already know and agree that traditional recruitment methods just aren't cutting it anymore, which means a different approach is necessary. This means also that you need to differentiate and showcase what makes your clinic a great place to work. Vet Clinic jobs is all about boosting your clinic's employer brand, which isn't to be confused with your clinic client brand. And what's more, vet Clinic jobs is affordable. So please give your recruitment marketing the oomph that it needs and it deserves@vetclinicjobs.com.

Julie South [00:12:58]:
now let's get back to today's show.

Julie South [00:13:05]:
How about recognising or creating parity with let's talk about vet nurses because we've just agreed that not quite, but provided a veterinarian can be registered in New Zealand as almost a rubber stamp when it comes to vet nurses. How does Immigration New Zealand apply or compare an overseas qualification with a New Zealand diploma in veterinary nursing or bachelor's in veterinary nursing? What's the criteria there?

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:13:42]:
There's an assessment process. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority carry out an assessment. You have to pay for that. It's $445 New Zealand per qualification that you want to get assessed. And that could come out with one of two outcomes that may come out and say your overseas qualification is directly equivalent to a particular named New Zealand qualification and that means they've looked at your curriculum that you studied and that if you studied the same course in New Zealand you would get a particular qualification that exists here. If they can't do that, but they can see that if you had done that amount of study for that number of hours in New Zealand, you might have a level four certificate or a diploma or a bachelor degree. Your assessment result might come out saying it's equivalent to a New Zealand bachelor degree but without specifying which one.

Julie South [00:14:29]:
Let's take for example.

Julie South [00:14:31]:
I don't know whether you can answer this question. The Royal Veterinary College in the UK, which is where many british and irish vets are registered, does Immigration New Zealand recognise as like a global yes. Or a global no that nurses who are registered are CV's registered, that automatically their qualification has this level, so they don't need to go through this Ansco NZQA match.

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:15:09]:
I'd actually need to check that specific school. So immigration does have a list of some schools in some countries that have been pre recognised or they've done so many applications that they can look it up and they say, yes, that one is an automatic match and sometimes they limit it to people that studied between this year and this year get an automatic match. If you're not on that list, then you're going to have to go through that assessment process.

Julie South [00:15:35]:
How much does that slow down the visa application?

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:15:40]:
It can take several months at the moment because there was a rule change in April this year where they said previously they weren't that worried about the NZQA level of the assessment. And if you've got three years of verifiable work experience, you still may not need the assessment for an accredited employer work visa, for a temporary work visa. But the majority of people applying for work visas who don't have three years work experience will need to get their overseas qualification assessed. And suddenly there's been hundreds, if not thousands more people applying for assessments and the processing time has really slowed down. So we could be adding three to four months, actually, to the preparation time that you need to make before you start looking for a job offer. If you're going to need an assessment.

Julie South [00:16:26]:
Gosh, that's a long time. That means that somebody applying right now.

Julie South [00:16:30]:
As we record this in the last week of August, may not actually get here until the new year 2025, potentially.

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:16:39]:
Now, if they've got three years of verifiable overseas week experience as a vet nurse, I'm talking about, not a vet that can substitute for getting their qualification assessment.

Julie South [00:16:49]:
Right now, we are working with a very experienced veterinary nurse because it's only in the last, possibly 1012 years or so, that nursing has been vet. Nursing in New Zealand has been recognised as a profession in its own right, albeit it doesn't have registration yet. That's a process that's still going through. But there are lots and lots, thousands, millions squillions of vet nurses that. That are unqualified yet very, very experienced. So are you saying that experience can trump qualifications for a temporary work visa.

Catherine Neazor Brady [00:17:35]:
For an accredited employer work visa? Yes. And that would give someone up to five years working in New Zealand. But at the moment, someone who has experience and no formal qualifications would not be able to apply for residence in New Zealand.

Julie South [00:17:53]:
I hope you found that conversation interesting and helpful. I'll put Catherine's contact info at VeterinaryVoices.nz. This is episode 203, where you can find her links there. Can I ask you to do Catherine and me a favour, please? One way of helping to spread this word is to use the power of digital and social media algorithms. Please share this episode with your veterinary friends. Not only will it help get the word out about the importance of working with licensed immigration consultants, it will also help spread celebratory word about how great it is to work in the veterinary industry in New Zealand. So thank you for doing that. Remember to come back next week for the second half of our chat, where Catherine talks about some of the pitfalls to watch out for when you diy your or your clinic's own visa applications.

Julie South [00:18:52]:
We talk about what an immigration New Zealand job token is, why Immigration New Zealand made its recent fee increase changes, and why recruitment consultants like vet staff can't legally answer immigration and visa questions. I look forward to sharing that time with you, so thank you for being here with me and Catherine today. This is Julie south signing off and inviting you to go out there and be the most fantabulous version of you you can be. Until next week. Ka keti ano.