New Zealand announced today that they have made changes to their skilled foreign worker visa program that requires immigrants to meet certain income levels to be eligible for the visa. In order to qualify as a skilled immigrant they must get a job in which they earn at least the median income, to qualify as higher skilled the immigrant will need to earn at least 150% of the median income.
This change comes one day after Australia ends their visa program for skilled foreign workers and Pres. Trump signed his new executive order that will review the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers in the U.S.
The skilled visa programs have come under attack for being used by businesses to bring in cheap foreign labor and replace native workers.
"We are absolutely committed to the principle of kiwis first," New Zealand’s Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse said, using an informal term for New Zealanders.
New Zealand has seen a huge influx of immigrants due to its thriving economy. In February net immigration reach a record high of 71,300 people or 1.5% of the overall population. This is a huge increase from just five years ago when net immigration levels were negative with more people leaving than country than coming in.
Woodhouse said these changes would help control the number and improve the quality of immigrants coming into New Zealand.
Read more on this story at NewsObserver.com.
