MEDIA RELEASE

11 DECEMBER 2014

Agreement heralds Fiji’s inclusion in RSE scheme

An agreement has been signed today by the head of Immigration New Zealand (INZ) and his Fijian counterpart setting out the arrangements for Fiji’s inclusion in New Zealand’s successful seasonal worker scheme.

Nigel Bickle and Taito Waqa, from Fiji’s Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, signed the Inter-Agency Understanding at a ceremony in Suva.

As part of the agreement 30 Fijian workers will come to New Zealand early next year in a pilot phase of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme and work for employers in Hawke’s Bay, Bay of Plenty and Nelson. An assessment of the pilot will be carried out before Fiji’s formal inclusion in the scheme.

The RSE scheme allows the horticulture and viticulture industries to recruit workers from overseas - mostly from the Pacific Islands - for seasonal work when there are not enough New Zealand workers. Under the scheme employers can bring in up to 9,000 workers a year.

Mr Bickle says the signing of the agreement is a significant step for New Zealand’s relationship with Fiji following the lifting of all travel sanctions by the New Zealand Government in March 2014 because of the restoration of democracy in the country.

“The RSE scheme has been hugely successful and a recent survey of employers found that nearly all of them believed that the benefits of taking part in the scheme outweigh the costs,” Mr Bickle says. “RSE workers have benefitted significantly from gaining invaluable work experience and being able to send money back to their communities at home and I’m delighted at the progress made towards including Fiji in the scheme.”

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