2016-Apr 01: Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers – Visa Requirements

Visa Pak 253 - Information about visa requirements for Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers for full registration, provisional registration, provisional licence, limited certificate, limited licence, notification of exemption under supervision.

Visa Paks

01 April 2016

Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers – Visa Requirements

In New Zealand, plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying are restricted trades that may only be carried out by an authorised tradesperson, as set out in the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 2006 (the PDGA). Section 4 of the PDGA defines drainlaying, while section 5 defines gasfitting and section 6 defines plumbing.

Immigration instructions at SM19.5 state that in New Zealand registration is required by law in order to undertake employment as a plumber, gasfitter or drainlayer. The aim of requiring occupational registration is to ensure that applicants seeking employment in New Zealand have the legal ability to undertake that employment.

The term used to describe the type of registration is irrelevant to the decision regarding whether a person is appropriately registered (i.e. the relevant legislation and registration boards may refer to authorisation, full registration, provisional registration, provisional licence, limited certificate, limited licence, notification of exemption under supervision etc.).

Assessment of visa applications
If a visa application for a plumber, gasfitter or drainlayer is submitted, the first step is to see if the applicant has provided any evidence of legal authority (registration, authorisation) to perform the work stated in the job description. If evidence has not been provided, assess the job description in line with the ANZSCO and sections 4-6 of the PGDA. If the tasks listed in the job description are clearly listed under sections 4-6 of the PDGA, then some form of authorisation to legally work in New Zealand is required from the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board (PGDB).

In the past, if an Immigration Officer could not determine if an applicant’s position required legal authority to work in New Zealand, the applicant was sent to the PGDB to obtain confirmation as to whether or not legal authority to perform the job was required.

New process
A new process has been decided upon as follows to ensure we are granting visas only to those applicants who are legally allowed to perform work as a Plumber, Gasfitter, Drain layer (ANZSCO 3341):

  • Has evidence of legal authority to perform the work been provided? If yes, continue assessing application as normal.
  • Check question B11 – “Does the worker require occupational registration in New Zealand” – of the Employer Supplementary Form (INZ 1113). The employer is ultimately responsible for ensuring any legal registration requirements for any occupation that requires legal authority to work in New Zealand are adhered to. This process is to ensure we have systems in place to verify this where concerns arise from the job description provided.
  • If no, nothing has been provided, assess the job description against the ANZSCO and the relevant section of the PGDA (sections 4-6) to determine whether legal authority to perform the work is required. If following your assessment you deem no, legal authority to perform the work is not required, continue assessing application as normal – confer with your Technical Advisor (TA) if required. If the work still falls under ANZSCO 3341 an Exception to Instructions (ETI) will be required.
  • If you determine that yes, legal authority to perform the work is required, PPI the applicant. If the applicant’s PPI response argues that legal authority is not required, the below bullet points can also apply.
  • If an Immigration Officer cannot determine whether or not the tasks listed in the job description fall under the meaning of plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying as defined under sections 4-6 of the PGDA and the employer has not indicated that registration is required, discuss with your TA/Immigration Manager (IM).
  • If a determination cannot be made as to whether legal authority is required based on the job description provided, the TA or IM should contact Operations Support. Please include a copy of the job description.
  • Operations Support will then send the job description to the PGDB for comment. Do not ask the applicant/employer to contact the PGDB for confirmation.
  • Operations Support will get back to the TA or IM to advise if legal authority is required for the work.
  • If the PGDB advises that legal authority to perform the job is required, PPI the applicant.
  • If the PGDB advises that legal authority to perform the job is not required, consider whether the correct ANZSCO code has been selected. Consider whether the position applied for is actually skilled, and whether it has been advertised in such a way that a New Zealand citizen or residence class visa holder without legal authorisation to perform the duties would have or would have been likely to apply for the position.

This process is being put in place to ensure we are not denying New Zealand citizens and residence class visa holder’s employment, as well as working towards reducing the occurrence of migrant exploitation. The PGDB will be able to follow up with employers where they feel job descriptions are being underinflated. As the information is coming directly from the PGDB to Immigration New Zealand, this will mitigate the risk of receiving fraudulent advice.

Immigration instructions
If the PGDB confirms that legal authority to perform the work on offer is not required, and the position has been assessed as a substantial match under ANZSCO Unit Group 3341 – Plumbers, the application will need to be approved as an ETI based on the advice of the PGDB.

We will be looking into the relevant immigration instructions in light of this advice.

Action
Please discuss with your team(s) and ensure staff processing work visa applications are aware of this new process.