The changes include measures such as introducing an English language requirement for low-skilled jobs and setting a minimum skills and work experience threshold for most employer work visas. The maximum continuous stay for most low-skilled roles will also be reduced to three years from five.

“The government is focused on attracting and retaining the highly skilled migrants such as secondary teachers, where there is a skill shortage,” Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Gone for good — dwindling number of South African emigrants return

“At the same time we need to ensure that New Zealanders are put to the front of the line for jobs where there are no skills shortages,” she said.

In 2023, a near-record 173,000 people had migrated to New Zealand.

New Zealand, which has a population of about 5.1 million, has seen a rapid growth in its migrant numbers since the end of the pandemic, raising concerns in 2023 that it was fanning inflation.

Neighbouring Australia, which has also seen a big jump in migrants, has said it would halve its migrant intake over the next two years. Reuters/DM

(Reporting by Praveen Menon)