Iain Lees-Galloway is happy with the current Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme and has increased the cap.

The new Immigration Minister has pledged that regions with "genuine skill shortages" will get the migrants they need.



Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said during a visit to Marlborough the new Government did not have a set target to cut migrants arriving to New Zealand.



Under current policy, Labour estimated net migration would fall by 20,000 to 30,000 a year, mostly by tightening the number of people granted student and work visas.



Lees-Galloway said the Government's plan to "regionalise" migration would make it easier for regions with shortages to gain migrants and move migrants away from Auckland.

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"My commitment to employers in Marlborough is that we will ensure that where genuine skill shortages exist and where people are needed and you can demonstrate that people are needed and demonstrate that [people are needed] as a result of a shortage, not because of low pay or poor conditions, we will ensure you get the people you need.

STUFF Lees-Galloway says one way of meeting regional skill shortages is to create region-specific skill shortage lists, similar to the post-earthquake shortage list in Canterbury.

"We do not have a target for reducing overall net migration and actually as our plans take a more regional approach to migration, [the plan] will actually serve the Marlborough region extremely well," he said.

One way of meeting regional skill shortages was to create region-specific skill shortage lists, similar to the post-earthquake shortage list in Canterbury, Lees-Galloway said.

"What that would mean for a lot of regional employers is that getting an occupation on the skill shortage list makes it much easier to employ a migrant.

"If we regionalise them and say you get a visa by virtue of having a skill that's on a regional list, then the expectation is you live and work in that region and provide your skill in the area that it is needed," he said.

A regional shortage list would mean it would be easier for a region with skill shortages that did not qualify as national skill shortages to gain migrants, Lees-Galloway said.

He said the Government would also stamp out exploitation of migrants.

"We've got students coming to New Zealand on very dodgy courses and their experience in New Zealand is pretty appalling. So we need to clamp down on poor providers, we do need to have a look at the labour market to make sure the immigration system is working well."

But addressing skill shortages would also require balancing between new migrants and getting more young people in employment.

"We want to make sure that those labour and skill gaps are being filled both by immigration and by other means because we do need to make sure those 70,000 young people in New Zealand who are not in work or training have opportunities to get into work as well," Lees-Galloway said.

Lees-Galloway said he was happy with the current Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme and had increased the cap.

"We have just increased the cap by 600 places, taking the cap to 11,100 places for 2018 and 80 of those places are going to Marlborough. I think it's a great scheme, it provides the workers that are needed for that seasonal work," he said.

Lees-Galloway was on a visit to Marlborough to meet with members of the region's forestry and wine sector.

He also met with the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce and said immigration dominated the discussions in the meeting.