Residence visa - SMC 160 points.
What does this mean?
The last part of the big news from this week's change to the immigration instructions is that applicants for the Skilled Migrant Category must have 160 points to be invited to apply for residence.
The minimum is still 100 points, but there is no way for this to be drawn now, so the reality is that you must have 160 points or more to have a chance. There are many ways to gain the required amount of points, but as a guide:
To gain 160 points an average applicant will need to have at least:
- a skilled job or job offer
- to not live in Auckland
- to be qualified for the job
- work experience (including in NZ)
- to be relatively young and/or have a partner with similar skills and qualifications
This will be the biggest change for many people. Already there are people who applied before the change who now find that they don't meet the criteria. If you have applied and suddenly find you don't meet the criteria, there may not be much you can do. If you haven't used an immigration adviser on your application it may pay to check because you might have missed some potential points.