W2.5 Work visa/permit streams (26/11/2007)

1. There are three streams that mirror residence policy within work visa and work permit policy:
   1. The Skilled stream;
   2. The Family stream; and
   3. The International/Humanitarian stream.
2. There is also a Horticulture and Viticulture Seasonal Work stream which facilitates work permits and limited purpose visas and permits for seasonal work in the Horticulture and Viticulture industries.

W2.5.1 Skilled stream

1. The Skilled stream consists of four broad policies under which New Zealand facilitates the entry of skilled people:
   1. Work to residence (see WR);
   2. General work policy (see WG); and
   3. Specific purpose or event (see WS); and
   4. Students/trainees (see WE)
2. The ‘work to residence’ policy facilitates the entry of people whose skills are in demand and provides them with a pathway to residence.
3. The ‘general work’ policy facilitates the entry of people required on a temporary basis to fill shortages where New Zealand citizens or residents are either not available or cannot be readily trained.
4. The ‘specific purpose or event’ policy facilitates the entry of people who have demonstrated skills, expertise or attributes that are likely to benefit New Zealand, where there is no risk of negative impact on opportunities for New Zealand citizens or residents.
5. The ‘students and trainees’ policy facilitates the entry of students and trainees to gain practical work experience or to train as part of their studies.

W2.5.5 Family stream

1. The Family stream (see WF) policies enable the following people to undertake temporary employment in New Zealand:
   1. the spouses, intended spouses, de facto partners of New Zealand citizens or residents, and spouses and de facto partners of Long Term Business Visa/Permit holders, whose ultimate intention is likely to be to apply for residence; and
   2. the spouses and de facto partners of holders of work visas and permits.

W2.5.10 International/Humanitarian stream

1. The International and Humanitarian stream consists of:
   1. working holiday schemes to allow people from other countries to be granted permission to work on a reciprocal basis; and;
   2. provisions to enable New Zealand to meet its humanitarian and international obligations.

W2.5.15 Horticulture and Viticulture Seasonal Work stream

1. The Horticulture and Viticulture Seasonal Work stream consists of three policies under which New Zealand facilitates the entry of seasonal workers to support the horticulture and viticulture industries:
   1. the Recognised Seasonal Employer policy (see WH1); and
   2. the Working Holidaymaker Extension policy (see WH2); and
   3. the Transitioning to Recognised Seasonal Employer policy (see WH3).
2. The 'Recognised Seasonal Employer' policy allows horticulture and viticulture businesses to supplement their New Zealand workforce with non-New Zealand citizen or resident workers when labour demand exceeds the available New Zealand workforce and employers have made reasonable attempts to train and recruit New Zealand citizens and residents.
3. The 'Working Holidaymaker Extension' policy allows for the grant of a three month work permit to people who have undertaken seasonal work in the horticulture or viticulture industry for a period of at least three months while holding a work permit granted under a Working Holiday Scheme policy.
4. The 'Transitioning to Recognised Seasonal Employer' policy allows employers in the horticulture and viticulture industries, who are committed to working towards utilising RSE policy, to supplement their New Zealand workforce with onshore non-New Zealand citizen or resident workers when labour demand exceeds the available New Zealand workforce.

Effective 26/11/2007