Mayors urge migrants to call Northland home

Whangarei mayor Sheryl Mai says skilled migrants who wished to open up new businesses are welcome.

Northland mayors are calling on migrants to invest in new business and generate employment in the region in order to take advantage of a government initiative to help gain permanent residency.

Whangarei mayor Sheryl Mai and her Far North counterpart John Carter were responding to an announcement that migrants who skipped Auckland and settled in regional towns would be awarded 30 extra qualifying points, instead of the current 10.

The points for immigrants on an entrepreneur work visa will double to 40 if they set up business outside the Super City.

Ms Mai said new migrants with business skills should invest in sectors with critical labour shortages such as tourism, hospitality, forestry, retail and marine.

Skilled migrants who wished to open up new businesses were particularly welcomed to Whangarei, she said.

"Being close to the commercial hub of Auckland, and with plenty of zoned industrial land available and relatively cheap rates, our district is the ideal place for businesses and industry to establish and flourish," Ms Mai said.

"With our district now the confirmed landing site for the $400 million trans-Pacific, submarine internet Hawaiiki cable, we'll also soon be welcoming more people with ICT skills.

"Businesses bring jobs, and people with jobs spend money at local businesses. That's a boost for our economy and a win for everyone here in the long term."

Mr Carter said he hoped the new policy would include provisions stopping new migrants from using the rules as a back door to achieving permanent residency and then moving to bigger cities.

"If they quickly procure residency and then simply move to larger urban centres such as Auckland as soon as an opportunity arises, it is not going to be of any long-term benefit to the Far North," Mr Carter said.

But any increase in residential settlement would help boost local economies, particularly if it brought skill sets suited to the farming, forestry, horticulture or tourism industries, he said.

"If they are also prepared to invest in new businesses and generate new employment opportunities this would be an added bonus."

The real challenge for the Far North was to upskill the existing labour pool to provide improved employment opportunities, Mr Carter said. The new immigration rules come into effect from November 1.