New Zealand is tweaking its immigration settings further to help attract the skilled workers it needs to meet labor shortages.

The changes to the Skilled Migrant Category visa will mean there will be clearer criteria and a faster pathway to residence for highly skilled people, Immigration Minister Michael Wood said Wednesday in Wellington. They include removing an existing cap on applications and making the threshold for residence simpler to understand, he said.

“We know many industries are calling for workers as the global labor shortage bites,” said Wood. “The new settings will help attract and retain skilled migrants to fill medium-to-long-term skills needs that would take time to fill by workers already in New Zealand.”

New Zealand is already experiencing a flood of foreign workers after the government relaxed restrictions to address labor shortages that became acute when the border was shut during the Covid-19 pandemic. A record net 98,391 non-New Zealand citizens arrived in the year through April 30.

Discarding the cap on skilled migrants removes an artificial constraint that set an indicative number of residence places available each year and prevented skilled migrants settling in New Zealand even when there was a demonstrable need, Wood said.

“The government has heard from businesses that giving certainty that skilled migrants and their families will be able to gain residence in New Zealand will be a big draw card for attracting skilled workers,” he said.

From early October, a simplified system will be introduced outlining the skills, the education and the income that immigrants must have. All visa applicants need to have a job or a job offer from an accredited employer, and be paid at least the median wage.

“Highly skilled people will have a faster route to residence, and others will have a clear route to residence if they work for a period in New Zealand,” said Wood. “The clear requirements will provide temporary workers with clarity about their status, addressing a long-standing issue where some people with no pathway to residence were given false hope.”