The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has completed its annual review of two of the Essential Skills in Demand (ESID) Lists – the Long Term Skill Shortage List (LTSSL) and the Immediate Skill Shortage List (ISSL).

Migrants applying for residence under the Skilled Migrant Category may gain bonus points towards their application if they have an offer of employment, work experience or qualifications in an area of absolute skill shortage identified on the LTSSL.

The outcomes of the review of the LTSSL are to:

• remove the following two occupations for which there is no longer a shortage:
  • Registered Nurse (Critical Care and Emergency)
  • Registered Nurse (Medical)
  • Registered Nurse (Perioperative)
  • Ship’s Engineer
  • Ship’s Master
  • Ship’s Officer
• retain Chef on the LTSSL
• move Registered Nurse (Aged Care) from the LTSSL to the ISSL, for all regions of New Zealand.

Immediate Skill Shortage List

The ISSL identifies occupations that have an immediate shortage of skilled workers either throughout New Zealand or in certain regions. Migrants wishing to work in occupations on the ISSL may be granted work visas under Essential Skills instructions if they meet the specified qualifications and/or experience requirements.

The outcomes of the review of the ISSL are to:

• add the following 7 occupations:
  • Bricklayer (a)
  • Cabler (Data and Telecommunications) (c)
  • Composite Technician (c)
  • Floor Finisher (b)
  • Stonemason(a)
  • Telecommunications Cable Jointer (c)
  • Telecommunications Technician (c)

(a) only for the Auckland/Upper North Island region.

(b) only for the Auckland/Upper North Island and Waikato/Bay of Plenty regions.

(c) for all regions of New Zealand

• remove the following 2 occupations for which there is no longer a shortage:
  • Registered Nurse (Mental Health)
  • Upholsterer

Submissions to remove Apiarist from ISSL to the LTSSL have been declined.

Timing of changes
The ESID changes will take effect on 27 February 2017.  Further work is currently being carried out to review the requirements which migrants need to satisfy to apply for a work visa or a residence visa using the skill shortage lists. This includes a review of qualifications in association with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, and some other changes to ensure that the requirements for using the lists are appropriate for the shortages.