Stuff reports, a team of five immigration officials - including one in Europe and another in North America -are still promoting "investor interest in New Zealand" so high net-worth investors can enter the country as soon as the borders re-open.

However, according to the New Zealand Government, priests and religious workers are considered unnecessary to New Zealand.

As well as the courted wealthy, exemptions to COVID border restrictions see fishing guides, beauticians, knitting machine operators, insurance investigators, industrial spray painters, bicycle mechanics and tour guides as exempt border occupations.

The list of exempted occupations also includes civil celebrants.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi says he is considering a revamp of the skilled migrant category.

"Decisions around the scope and timing of any such review are currently under consideration. No decisions on settings or planning range have been made at this stage."

Nor have any decisions been made on re-starting the selection of expressions of interest for skilled workers. This will be looked at again by the end of next month, Faafoi says.

Immigration lawyer Elly Fleming has some suggestions for the skilled migrant category review. As an example, it could look at adjusting settings, such as minimum remuneration limits for lower-level skilled jobs, she says.

"It's really difficult to predict what the government's priorities are.

"I think it all depends on what their goal is. If their goal is to make it harder for migrants to get residence, if that's the goal then there are several ways they can go about doing this," she says.

"Or if the goal is to actually fill gaps in the labour market, they can say 'yes, we know there are these shortages, we can't get enough registered nurses, we can't get enough doctors or engineers, let's make it easier for them to get residence'."

Fleming says Australia had been more strategic than New Zealand in assessing its skills needs and getting workers it needed into the country.

Source

• RNZ
• Stuff
• Immigration New Zealand
• Immigration New Zealand
• Archdiocese of Wellington
• Image: Woburn International

Most visibly in the list of Wellington appointments, is the announcement of Fr Bill Warwick as the new parish priest of Holy Trinity parish, Wellington East.

Warwick replaces the Capuchin Friars, who have served in the diocese for 62 years. He will have responsibility for the Kilbirnie, Lyall Bay, Miramar, Strathmore and Seatoun communities.

Originally the Wellington East parish was to be staffed by a religious community, the priests of the Society of the Divine Word, however, with the government deeming religious workers as non-essential, the SVD priests cannot gain entrance.

A missionary country, New Zealand, continues to rely heavily on overseas clergy to fill essential positions, but with no wriggle-room, religious workers, without New Zealand passports, remain abroad.

The Archbishop of Wellington, Cardinal John Dew, asks the archdiocese to continue to pray for the five seminarians the Archdiocese has training for the priesthood at the National Seminary, Holy Cross College.

Sources

• Archdiocese of Wellington