Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced yesterday working holiday-makers already in New Zealand, with visas due to expire between now and September 30, would have their visas extended by six months - affecting about 7500 such visa holders.
They would have open work rights, meaning they could work for the same employer for longer than three months, where maximum work durations currently applied.
Mr Wood said to date more than 52,000 working holiday visas had been approved, but about 15,500 of those had not yet arrived.
Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sharon Fifield said businesses she had spoken to were finding it easier to find labour, thanks largely to the working holiday makers, which was assisting the economic recovery of the area, but "obviously, housing is a big issue".
"If they have to leave [because] they don’t have anywhere to stay, that is an issue.
"More working holiday visa-holders, if they’ve got nowhere to live, is that just more people sleeping in cars?"
Anecdotally, hospitality employers struggled to hold on to staff for more than about a month because staff, many with working holiday visas, could not find rental accommodation.
Ms Fifield said the Chamber heard the stories, however, "we don’t know the extent of it".
"A lot of workers on visas are hidden - they can’t find housing, but they can’t go to [the Ministry of Social Development] for support. So how do we tell that story? How do we quantify it? We need to ask employers how many staff are they losing because of the housing issue ... to quantify it, which will be the next step for us."
Te Anau business owner Sarah Greaney said the extension was great news and would be a good boost for businesses in the town.
She said it took some time to train new people and get them up to speed, and when they did it was time for them to move on under the old three month restriction.
"It is good that someone is listening to us and we’ll be happy with that."
Out of 22 staff, six were on working holiday-makers visas, so they were a decent part of the staff. She said it was still hard to get staff.
