4,000 places are available in New Zealand for a new, pilot seasonal work permit. The permit is intended to alleviate the country’s seasonal labour shortages.

Permits can be granted to:

• people from visa-free countries (see below), or
• people from a visa-required country who were present in New Zealand on a valid temporary permit from 22 December 2005 until the date they make their application.

Successful applicants will be granted permits to do seasonal work for any employer in the horticulture and viticulture sectors. Seasonal work includes planting, maintaining, harvesting, and packing crops.

At the moment two regions have been identified as experiencing a labour shortage and may issue permits. These are Marlborough and Central Otago. Other regions may be added later.

Permits will be granted to allow a maximum stay up to 1 July 2006.

Visa-free countries are: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea (South), Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vatican City.