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Amendment Circular 2020-15 contains immigration instructions that form part of Immigration New Zealand’s response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Changes have been made to immigration instructions to relax visa restrictions for students already employed (as at 3 April) in essential health care roles (including aged care).  This change will enable those students to work for more than 20 hours per week for a limited period of time (from 3 April 2020 to 3 July 2020 inclusive).    This change applies to both student visa holders and interim visa holders (who held a student visa immediately prior to their interim visa).   A similar change was recently made for student and work visa holders working in supermarkets (see Amendment Circular 2020-12), and this change has now also been expanded to include those students and workers on interim visas.

These instructions are effective on and after 3 April 2020.