The government of New Zealand will allocate 500 MIQ spots every fortnight for skilled, critical workers. According to Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins, the move was intended to support the country’s economic recovery. The 500 spaces would include room for about 300 RSE workers every month from June. The government expects about 2,400 of these workers to arrive by March next year, in addition to the 7,300 already present.
Four hundred spaces would be set aside for international students arriving in June for the start of the second semester, as the government had announced in in January it would be giving 1,000 international university students - who met certain criteria - a border exemption.
A further 240 spaces would be allocated for construction workers between June and October. Hipkins said these would include engineers, project managers and technical workers.
“This is great news for the construction sector and will help us deliver on our strong pipeline of critical infrastructure work that will accelerate our recovery,” he told tvnz.co.nz. “It gives certainty for planning projects with specialist workers from overseas, maintains construction jobs for Kiwis and will bring new knowledge to New Zealand for employers and employees.”