The Immigration Minister of New Zealand, Michael Woodhouse announced a package of changes on 19 April 2017 and hinged it on improving the quality of migrants coming to New Zealand.

Changes to Permanent immigration: Introduction of two remuneration thresholds for applicants applying for residence under the Skilled Migration Category (SMC):

1. One remuneration threshold will be set at the New Zealand median income of $48,859 a year for jobs that are currently considered skilled.
2. The other threshold will be set at 1.5 times the New Zealand median income of $73,299 a year for jobs that are not currently considered skilled but are well paid.

The SMC points table, under which individuals claim points towards their residence application will also be realigned to put more emphasis on characteristics associated with better outcomes for migrants.

The changes will be implemented in mid-August 2017.

The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton made the Specification of Occupations, a Person or Body, a Country or Countries Amendment Instrument 2017/040 on 18 April 2017, and it commenced on the day after registration (i.e. 19 April 2017)

On 19 April 2017:

• ·         Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) replaced the previous ‘Skilled Occupation List’ (SOL) and is available in Schedule 1 of the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL)
• ·         Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL) replaced the previous ‘Consolidated Sponsored Occupation List’ (CSOL) and is available in Schedule 2 of the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL).

This article will shed light on the occupations listed in the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) and the Short-term Skilled Occupation List (STSOL).

With the current climate of confusion engulfing the 457 visa, the Migration Institute of Australia has come forward in urging people affected by these changes to stay calm as this is a re branding exercise.

On 18 April 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that the Temporary Work (Skilled) visa (subclass 457 visa) was abolished and replaced by two new streams (a 2 year and a 4 year) of the Temporary Skill Shortage visa (TSS).

With a view to uphold and safeguard Australian values, the Prime Minister announced reforms to the citizenship process on this basis of feedback received from the 2016 Productivity Commission Report: Migrant Intake Into Australia and the National Consultation on Citizenship, conducted by Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and the Hon Philip Ruddock MP in 2015.