Summary:
- New ANZSCO version for mid-2020 adoption – Dairy Herd Manager may be skilled
- Positions above Dairy Herd Manager (i.e. 2IC / Assistant Farm Manager), may also be considered skilled
- Potential additional work experience points: Farm Managers with 5 years of work experience may also be able to claim further points for skilled work experience.
Please note that these changes have not been implemented by Immigration New Zealand yet but are likely to come into effect soon.
Changes to ANZSCO 121313 Dairy Cattle Farmers
On 5 November 2019, ANZSCO version 1.3 was released. This brought some long-awaited changes to Dairy Cattle Farmers in particular. Specifically, ANZSCO 1.3 now states that “Dairy Herd Managers” is a skill level 3 occupation as a specialisation of a Dairy Cattle Farmer.
A number of other roles previously considered low-skilled, have also been included, meaning that they can now be considered eligible for mid-skilled work visas as well as residence providing their income was high enough. See our blog: INZ provides a ray of hope for some level 4-5 occupations – October 2019 for details. Most of these were included in interim immigration instructions issued on 29 October 2019, but Herd Manager was not added to that list as it will involve different treatment.
ANZSCO 1.3 will only be officially adopted by Immigration NZ in mid-2020 when the changes to the employer-assisted work visa process come into effect. However, Immigration NZ has indicated that they may try to use the changes in ANZSCO version 1.3 where it would potentially benefit an applicant to do so (again, see the above-mentioned blog for details of how this has worked so far).
Therefore, for Herd Managers in particular, we do expect that Immigration NZ will soon issue a special process to handle this ANZSCO change. This would advise Immigration NZ staff on how to deal with these cases in the lead up to full adoption of ANZSCO version 1.3. Please feel free to contact us as you may be positively affected.
Herd Managers and Assistant Farm Managers may be considered mid-skilled for temporary visas – Partners and children may be eligible for family visas
As Dairy Herd Manager is listed as a Skill Level 3 role in ANZSCO version 1.3, Herd Managers may become eligible for a mid-skilled work visa, dependent on remuneration per hour. This also means that partners of herd managers and assistant farm managers could become eligible for partnership work visas, and their dependent children could become eligible for dependent child student visas.
Herd Managers and Assistant Farm Managers could be eligible for residence
As Herd Manager is listed as a Skill Level 3 role in ANZSCO version 1.3, people working as a Herd Manager (and possibly also Assistant Farm Manager) may become eligible for residence, subject to the normal requirements for English, hourly rate of pay, points, etc.
Farm Managers with 5 years of work experience, who are currently short of points, could be eligible for additional skilled work experience points
Whilst we are still waiting for INZ clarity on this, our early assessment is that you may be able to claim points for skilled work experience from the time you became a Herd Manager (rather than Farm manager) as Herd Manager will potentially be considered skilled. Therefore, if you are only missing a few points to be eligible for residence, you may find that this change makes you eligible for residence sooner.
Please contact us if you think you might be eligible. We are dairy farming immigration experts and can assist you to make the most of these changes.
Steven Dunning
Licensed Immigration Adviser