THE work of Fijians who are part of the Recognised Seasonal Employment scheme in New Zealand has been hailed by employers as well as Immigration New Zealand.

The scheme began in 2007 but Fiji only joined after being invited following the 2014 election, and according to Immigration New Zealand’s manager Pacific Labour and Skills, George Rarere, Fijian workers impressed from day one.

“Fiji has come on in the last two years and as time goes, opportunities for Fiji have increased,” he said.

“A lot more employers are seeing their workforce and saying that they would like to come and recruit from Fiji so we see Fiji being a very formidable country in terms of the growth of RSE into the future.”

Head of Immigration New Zealand Nigel Bickle said they were impressed by both the workers and the Government of Fiji.

“We were really, really impressed with the co-operation that we had from the Fijian Government and the government departments concerned,” he said.

“I think this season we have about 70 workers and as the scheme continues to expand in NZ, I think the thing that all of your colleague Pacific Island nations are concerned about is that Fiji will get all the work which I think reflects a few things.

“One, I think Fijian workers have a very good reputation, they obviously have very good English language skill, they’ve had very good schooling and training in similar industries and their services are excellent.”

He added the airfares were also lower from Fiji to New Zealand and he was positive that the program would continue to grow and benefit both countries.

The program has more than 9000 workers from around the Pacific Islands working in New Zealand.