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Teachers' residency rejected
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wo local beginner teachers have had their residency application rejected because their starting salary is too low. The husband and wife, who have asked not to be named, arrived from South Africa in March and within three days had started working in two Auckland primary schools. The wife, 24, who works at Clevedon Primary School, says they are shocked that despite the teacher shortage, they are not eligible for residency under the Skilled Migrant category. “Moving here is not a decision we made lightly. We did it because we want to start a life here, start our family here, buy a house and invest here,” she says. “And we have every intention of being teachers until the day we retire.” They are currently on a one year work visa. She says knowing the residency application process could take anywhere from several months to several years, they wanted to start the application process straight away. They paid more than $500 to send an expression of interest and were excited when their application was selected from the pool. However within two weeks they received notice that their application had been declined because
they did not earn enough per hour to meet the requirements under the Skilled Migrant category. Beginner teachers in primary education start on around $47,980 per annum. Based on a 40 hour week, she says this equates to around $23 per hour. To qualify for residency under the Skilled Migrant category you need to earn at least $25 per hour, a total of $52,000 per year based on a 40 hour working week. “It feels demeaning to know that we studied four years, packed up our whole lives to come here... and despite the shortage of teachers in this country, we are being told there we do not qualify as skilled workers,” she says. She adds that until they have residency they can’t buy a home, join Kiwisaver, or get health insurance. Recently she has encountered unexpected health issues and has already forked out hundreds of dollars in doctors and specialist non-resident fees. “You start to feel like ‘why did I come here?’ and you don’t want to feel that way when you have moved your whole life over here,” she says. Clevedon School, she says, has been doing everything it can to help her through the process of applying for residency. ➤ Turn to Page 5
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