WK1.11 Essential skills visas for Filipino dairy workers who have provided false documents (to 27/08/2017)

Note: The instructions in this section cease to be effective from 28/08/2017.

1. The intent of this section of Essential Skills instructions is:
   1. to recognise that the dairy industry is of particular importance to the New Zealand economy, particularly in regional and rural New Zealand;
   2. to acknowledge significant levels of false and misleading information have been identified in previous work visa applications to work in the dairy industry; and
   3. to acknowledge that declining a large number of work visa applications for failing to meet the requirement to be of good character would have a detrimental effect on the dairy industry.
2. These instructions apply to people who:
   1. are nationals of the Philippines;
   2. are in New Zealand holding an Essential Skills work visa (or an interim visa based on holding an Essential Skills work visa at the time they made an application);
   3. are subject to A5.45(b) as an immigration officer has established that, on the balance of probabilities, in the course of applying for a New Zealand visa they provided any statement, information, evidence or submission that was false, misleading or forged;
   4. were granted an Essential Skills work visa to work on a dairy farm before 1 September 2015; and
   5. are applying for a further Essential Skills work visa to work on a dairy farm.
3. Despite the character requirement set out at A5.45(b) a person to whom (b) above applies may be granted an Essential Skills work visa if they:
   1. have not subsequently withheld information or provided further false information to INZ, in particular with regard to the application in which they originally supplied false information; and
   2. meet all other criteria for the grant of an Essential Skills visa.

Effective 03/11/2015