Photo / Dean PurcellNational wants to give the green light to residency for skilled migrants already in the country. The party's proposing a three-year Covid Contribution Visa to keep the about 35,000 essential skills workers and their families on New Zealand shores. Due to Covid's impact on the immigration office, the Government suspended Expressions of Interest (EOI) selections for the skilled migrant category (SMC) in 2020. National's plan would unfreeze the residency pool and streamline and fast-track residency processing to clear the backlog of more than 30,000 applications, she said. "Then we need to offer our migrant workers here a pathway to residency.

Source: New Zealand Herald August 04, 2021 07:07 UTC