grant r

Good morning and thanks for reading, does anybody know if accredited trucking companies are allowed to employ directly from overseas? Or is my only way into NZ as a trucker through the skills shortage list via Canterbury? I'm abit confused about this 🤔
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

MrsFychan

if a company is accredited then they can employ from overseas without having to go through the labour market test.
SO your visa options are: Skill level visa.
From what I read on the Constructions and Infrastructure skill shortage you have to have been driving in NZ for at least 12months

grant r

Ok, thank you for the reply

jarv5116

Hi,

Go on Google and search accredited employers list NZ. Go on transport and there is a list of companies that can employ workers from overseas.
If you get a job offer you will get a work to residence visa.

grant r

Cool will do thanks

BEVS

Morning Grant.

Totally agree. It can be very confusing.

An NZ Immigration Accredited employer which employs truck drivers is allowed to offer an overseas truck driver a job and to then employ them.

Yes. Truck driver is on the Canterbury Infrastructure and Construction Shortage list. That is not a skill shortage list as such. It is more about occupations where there are not enough employees to fill vacancies.
An employer in Canterbury could offer to employ an overseas truck driver to fill a vacancy . The person would apply for an essential skills temporary work visa. That does not lead to residency unless other criteria can be fulfilled.

Please note that NZ Immigration does not list this occupation as skilled. Therefore unless one might be a tanker driver with an accredited employer it could be nigh on impossible to gain Nz residency.

Does this help a bit please?

BEVS

Only if certain criteria is met. I believe the base salary still is and must be $55K pa.

grant r

Ok thanks

jarv5116

All the accredited employers will pay 26.50 a hour.

grant r

Thank you

MrsFychan

thats a very general statement. lots of things to factor in with salary, local drivers will often make less per hour than the long distant ones.
https://nz.indeed.com/salaries/Truck-Driver-Salaries

jarv5116

it doesnt matter.
If trucking company is an accredited employer and want to import foreign drivers or workforce they need to pay them 26.50 a hour to satisfy visa requirements for a work to residence visa.
A work visa gets paid less what ever the company wants to pay the employees.
That link is more general than my statement.
That will include any truck driver even class 2 which is equivalent to British 7.5 ton licence.
https://www.enz.org/salary-heavy-truck-driver.html
There 28-32 per hour for class 5 truck driver in Auckland.

jarv5116

Also trucks are completely different in NZ so be prepared. there mostly still manual and completely different combos and axles ect. You will see what I mean if you come out here. It's very rare you see a normal Arctic to me and you in NZ. A normal truck n trailer here has 8 or 9 axles.
The reason haulage companies are accredited employers and there real shortage of hgv and heavy machinery operators in NZ. It's very hard for kiwis to gain a C+E licence. There C+E is a class 5. You have todo 3 theory test and 5 actual driving test one for each class. There time limits beween the test aswell depending on your age ect. Even a car licence for kiwis is a ball ache.
If you have had your C+E for 2 year or more you just transfer it over to there class 5. it's pretty straight forward I done it a couple of months ago. You have todo a doctor's medical take your paper work to a AA or a NZTA which are walk in places like our DVLA. book a theory test for foreigne conversion. Get 33 out of 35 questions on test. then you have a class 5 Kiwi licence.
You can drive on British licence for a year before you need to convert it. depending on company insurance regulations whether they will let you drive on it thou.
if you like driving trucks. Truck driving would be a good job out here as full time job as there no Bullshit like the UK. No tacho they still use log books mate. there hardly any bridges either.jobs like Truck driving, Machinery and cranes are well paid jobs out here. All jobs involving heavy machinery is good pay in NZ.

BEVS

Where do you get this from please?

There is no requirement for an NZ immigration accredited employer to pay that rate. Any job offer will need to be of the going rate for the occupation. Too low or too high and it is flagged as not being comparable to NZ job offers using Work and Income stats.

To be clear, an NZ Immigration accredited employer pays to be able to fill a labour shortage when needs be. That employment need not be skilled. Nor is it a requirement that the employer pay a rate of at least $26.50.

BEVS

The reason many of the haulage companies paid to become accredited employers was that Heavy Goods Driver was removed from the Immediate Shortage list. The industry and sector was relying on overseas people to fill vacancies and that became more difficult once the occupation was removed fromt he shortages list.
The government took a stance that haulage companies should be employing or training home grown kiwis to do that work. Of course many Kiwis don't want the work because it is long irregular hours and not too good pay in their opinion .

When the occupation was removed from the Immediate shortage list , overseas truck drivers were faced with the prospect of not being able to renew their work permits & so having to return to their home country. I know this to be the case as I know several this happened to. They could not apply to stay via the skilled migrant route as truck driving is not seen a s skilled here -- it should be. They were not able to apply under work to residence as their pay never met the criteria.

Now. Due to the industry shortage caused there may have been a bit of a rise in $ rates. I do hope so. For years it was only tanker drivers really that could meet the criteria needed.

For any heavy goods vehicle driver out there , it is imperative that they obtain a firm solid job offer of a good 2 years & that it is also stated in black and white on the contract that the annual pay will be $55K pa. If not , they will find themselves with no pathway to remain.