{"id":467786,"date":"2026-06-09T03:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T03:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/467786\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T03:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T03:35:10","slug":"election-2026-act-exempts-proposed-rural-workforce-visa-from-6-day-charge-follows-criticism-from-erica-stanford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/467786\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: Act exempts proposed rural workforce visa from $6 day charge, follows criticism from Erica Stanford"},"content":{"rendered":"

Act leader David Seymour then told the Herald the party<\/a> was open to feedback about whether \u201cthe levy should not apply or be reduced in rural areas\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement today, Act\u2019s agriculture spokesman Andrew Hoggard confirmed the party\u2019s proposed Rural Workforce Visa would be exempt from the levy. <\/p>\n

\u201cRural New Zealand faces different pressures from urban New Zealand,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn many communities, the problem isn\u2019t too many people arriving, it\u2019s not enough workers being available. Applying an infrastructure levy in those circumstances would make no sense, which is why Act\u2019s Rural Workforce Visa would be exempt.\u201d <\/p>\n

The proposal is being announced ahead of Fieldays at Waikato\u2019s Mystery Creek, which kicks off on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Act, which will be represented at the agricultural event, said on Tuesday it wants to create a three-year visa specifically for dairy, sheep and beef, and general farm workers. <\/p>\n

A migrant who attained the visa would be attached to accredited rural employers and able to transfer between these employers without a new application, regardless of region. However, they could not move into non-rural sectors. <\/p>\n

Near the end of the visa term, the employer can re-advertise. If no \u201csuitable New Zealander\u201d is found, the visa can then be reissued for another three years, which Act said \u201cremoves the repeated annual compliance loan on employers\u201d. <\/p>\n

A worker who holds the new visa for 72 cumulative months \u2013 six years \u2013 with an accredited employer and who meets standard requirements, would become eligible for residence. <\/p>\n

\"Act'sAct’s agriculture spokesman Andrew Hoggard. Photo \/ Alex Burton<\/p>\n

Hoggard said the policy was designed to give farmers a \u201creliable, year-round pipeline of workers\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand\u2019s farms, orchards and fishing fleets generate $60 billion in exports every year. Right now, they can\u2019t find enough capable workers to do the job, held back by a chronic labour shortage that the current immigration system simply isn\u2019t equipped to solve.\u201d <\/p>\n

Federated Farmers\u2019 Farm Confidence Survey released in January showed recruitment difficulty for skilled and motivated employees had worsened since last July\u2019s survey. However, there has been a trend of improvement since 2022.<\/p>\n

Hoggard said the Government had made progress with the Global Workforce Seasonal Visa and Peak Seasonal Visa, both of which helped \u201cmeet seasonal demand\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut they do not address the year-round roles that keep farms running every day. Labour shortages don\u2019t just make it harder to run farms. They also make it harder to keep productive land in farming at a time when many rural communities are already under pressure from the expansion of forestry.\u201d <\/p>\n

The two new seasonal visa pathways were announced by Stanford last August to \u201cmake it easier for employers to bring back experienced seasonal workers and to fill short-term roles that are hard to fully staff locally\u201d. <\/p>\n

Migrants can currently apply for the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV), while there are also agricultural roles on the country\u2019s Green List. <\/p>\n

With the AEWV, migrants are linked to employers. If the migrant then wants to change jobs or their location, they have to apply to vary the condition of their visa or apply for a new visa. <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Rural Workforce Visa announcement follows Act\u2019s broader immigration policy released<\/a> in May. It included the infrastructure surcharge, an expansion of deportation powers, an extension of English language requirements, and a dedicated overstayer enforcement unit. <\/p>\n

Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald\u2019s Chief Political Reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Act leader David Seymour then told the Herald the party was open to feedback about whether \u201cthe levy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,2325,26504,119802,4619,5750,5432,32294,5232,3054,5972,40869,5903,3116,1122,5031,236727,7803,71,35653,2683,111,43,139,69,4762,15483,29056,3175,12975,5032,10708,29591,102,1339,4478,18370,2963],"class_list":["post-467786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-2325","tag-ability","tag-accredited","tag-act","tag-application","tag-between","tag-charge","tag-create","tag-criticism","tag-day","tag-dedicated","tag-election","tag-employers","tag-employment","tag-erica","tag-exempts","tag-follows","tag-from","tag-migrants","tag-move","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-party","tag-promising","tag-proposed","tag-rural","tag-sector","tag-stanford","tag-visa","tag-wanting","tag-with","tag-without","tag-workers","tag-workforce","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}