South Island Contribution Work Visa

At a glance

The South Island Contribution work visa is a temporary work visa for Essential Skills work visa holders who have worked full-time in the South Island for five years or more. It aims to recognise well-settled temporary migrants contributing to regional labour markets, while minimising displacement of New Zealand workers. [WR7.1]

The visa is granted for a period of 30 months, allows multiple-entry travel, and includes a condition that the holder must work in the industry associated with their recent Essential Skills visa occupation and in the South Island region of their current employment. [WR7.15]

How to apply

Applications must be lodged using the INZ form Work Visa Application (INZ 1015). [WR7.5] The application must:

• meet Generic Temporary Entry instructions for lodging a temporary entry class visa (see E4), except that evidence of funds for maintenance or sponsorship is not required; [WR7.5]
• include evidence the applicant has been employed full-time in the South Island for five years or more while holding an Essential Skills work visa; [WR7.5]
• include an offer of employment or evidence of ongoing full-time employment that meets the requirements for employment under the South Island Contribution work instructions; [WR7.5]
• include evidence of full or provisional registration, or eligibility for registration, if full or provisional registration is required by law to take up the offer of employment; [WR7.5]
• include evidence that the applicant meets the health and character requirements for applicants for residence. [WR7.5]

Note: The health and character evidence must be at the level required for a residence class visa, not the standard temporary visa standard. [WR7.5]

Eligibility criteria

The substantive eligibility criteria for the grant of a South Island Contribution work visa are set out in the South Island Contribution work instructions. This section describes the documentary evidence required when lodging an application.

Visa duration and conditions

Work visas granted under South Island Contribution work instructions:

• are valid for a period of 30 months; [WR7.15]
• allow multiple-entry travel; and [WR7.15]
• are subject to the condition that the applicant must undertake employment that is:
  • in the industry associated with the occupation specified on their most recent Essential Skills work visa; and
  • in the region in which their current employment is situated. [WR7.15]

For the purposes of these instructions:

• "region" means one of the seven South Island regions – Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, Otago, Southland, Tasman, and West Coast. [WR7.15]
• "industry" is defined by level 2 of the Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 2006 (ANZSIC 2006). [WR7.15]

Subsequent applications

An applicant who holds a South Island Contribution work visa may apply for a further work visa of the same type after 23 May 2018, despite the usual limitation in WR7.10(h), provided they meet the criteria set out below. [WR7.25]

To be granted a subsequent visa, the principal applicant must:

• hold a current South Island Contribution work visa; [WR7.25]
• have made an application for residence under the South Island Contribution residence instructions and that application has not yet been finalised; and [WR7.25]
• provide evidence that they meet the requirements of WR7.10(b) to WR7.10(f). [WR7.25]

The subsequent visa may be granted to allow the holder to:

• undertake employment in another industry in the same South Island region; or [WR7.25]
• undertake employment in the same industry in another South Island region, [WR7.25]

provided the applicant meets the requirements for a variation of conditions under E3.26.1.15. [WR7.25]

The visa granted under these rules is for the length of time needed to decide the pending residence application. [WR7.25]

An application made after 23 May 2018 will be declined if the principal applicant does not have a residence application under the South Island Contribution residence instructions under consideration. [WR7.25]

Immigration officers may apply these subsequent application instructions to any undecided South Island Contribution work visa application that was submitted before the effective date of these instructions, despite E7.10(a)(ii). [WR7.25]

Interpretation & edge cases

• Exemption from funds/sponsorship evidence: Unlike most work visa applications, applicants under these instructions are not required to provide evidence of funds for maintenance or sponsorship, even though they must meet other generic temporary entry lodging requirements. [WR7.5]
• Residence‑level health and character: Applicants must provide medical and character certificates that satisfy the requirements for a residence class visa, which is a higher standard than the usual temporary entry health/character tests. [WR7.5]
• Registration evidence: If registration is required for the offered employment, the applicant must show they hold full or provisional registration, or at least eligibility for it; mere application for registration is not sufficient. [WR7.5]

Special exceptions: Filipino dairy workers with previous false documents

Despite the requirement that applicants be of good character (WR7.10(e)), a South Island Contribution work visa may still be granted to an applicant who:

• is a national of the Philippines; and
• is subject to A5.25(i) because an immigration officer established, on the balance of probabilities, that in the course of applying for a New Zealand visa they provided any statement, information, evidence or submission regarding their work experience that was false, misleading or forged; and
• was granted an Essential Skills work visa to work on a dairy farm prior to 1 September 2015; and
• is applying for a South Island Contribution work visa and has ongoing employment, or an offer of employment, on a dairy farm.

The applicant must:

• not have withheld information or provided further false information to Immigration New Zealand since 3 November 2015; and
• meet all other criteria for the grant of a South Island Contribution work visa, including character requirements other than A5.25(i). [WR7.30]

Citations

• WR7.5 — Applying for a South Island Contribution work visa
• WR7.1 — Objective
• WR7.15 — Duration and conditions of work visas granted under South Island Contribution work instructions
• WR7.25 — Applications for a subsequent South Island Contribution work visa
• WR7.30 — South Island Contribution work visas for Filipino dairy workers who have provided false documents