NZTech Critical Worker Border Exemption Survey

For the past five years between 4000-5000 IT professionals have immigrated to New Zealand. With border closures the demand for talent by the fast growing tech sector has outstripped the local education system. Moreover, the main shortage of talent is for complex roles that require experience. There is now strong anecdotal evidence that the growing tech talent shortage is detrimentally impacting the digitalisation and recovery of other sectors. It is also hampering the growth of the digital exporting companies who are responding by shifting roles out of New Zealand to the talent.

This survey has been designed to quickly capture data to enable a more structured conversation with Immigration New Zealand on behalf of the tech sector. The survey data will remain confidential and individual responses will only be seen by the survey team. We will however publish a list of the companies that have submitted a completed survey to avoid duplicates.

You can check the list here 

This information is critical as policy will not be changed by individual complaints or anecdotes. The aggregated information will help inform next steps in terms of industry advocacy.