General Skills passmark cut
Immigration Minister Lianne Dalziel today confirmed that the General Skills category passmark had decreased from 30 to
29 points.
The passmark sets the number of points a person requires to gain New Zealand residence under the General Skills Category
(GSC).
"Reducing the passmark means people with a wider range of skills may be eligible to apply for residency, which will help
us attract the sort of skilled migrants that New Zealand needs", said Lianne Dalziel.
“The difficulty with the passmark being this high is that it tends to cut out people with trades qualifications and
experience, and this reduces New Zealand’s opportunity to attract such people to live and work in New Zealand”, Lianne
Dalziel said.
Lianne Dalziel said that this reduction was signalled at the time she announced the changes to the English language test
for skilled and business migrants.