Skilled migrants welcome

A programme to encourage people with IT industry skills and experience to migrate to New Zealand is bearing fruit.

Since early last year, three Labour Department marketing directors based in the United States have promoted New Zealand's high-tech sectors and other parts of the economy where there are skill gaps.

Terry Murphy, who is based in Portland, Oregon, home of Intel, says interest started picking up about August, then got serious after the re-election of George W. Bush.

"A lot of them have visited New Zealand for holiday or work and have had good experiences. They have been thinking about moving for some time," Murphy says.

Because of relatively low immigration numbers, people who get 100 points or more on the Immigration Service scale can get residency without a job to come to.

"For the sorts of people we are looking for, with an advanced degree and good job experience, they should qualify," Murphy says.

"The level of skills we are seeing is high. We are getting two sorts of applicants. There are the 30-year-olds, who may be about to get married or have children, and want to make life decisions. Then there are people in their 40s who want a change in lifestyle."

While there is a cut-off for skilled migrants at 55, Murphy says some older people who are interested in migrating could come in as investors.

Murphy and his colleagues ensure the potential candidates know what sort of money, conditions and lifestyle changes they can expect.

The dotcom crash has caused many IT workers to realise there may be more to life than working 10-hour days in the hope their stock options may eventually be worth something.

Not just Americans - the US green card visa system means people can lose their right to be in the country if their job disappears.

"There are so many talented Indians and Taiwanese on the market. Canada was making it easy for them to shift there, but there is a lot of competition for the best people," Murphy says.

Murphy almost made the shift himself. A former product manager at Lotus in its pre-IBM days, he worked for a number of technology start-ups during the late 1990s before being recruited by a Christchurch technology firm.

"They reorganised and the job disappeared before I was able to get down, but I had already done due diligence about New Zealand so I looked at what else was available."

He says migrants bring with them hands-on cultural understanding of the markets New Zealand exporters want to get into.

They may also have worked for companies which grew faster and bigger than local ones can hope to achieve.

"I have seen success, so I can map it to wherever I want to go next. That can be helpful to small businesses," Murphy says.

The department is working on an online CV search database so employers can identify people with the skills they need who are eligible for residency and keen to move. It should be ready for launch mid-year.

In the meantime the HiGrowth Project has CVs of some candidates on its website who would be suitable for jobs in companies signed up with the project.