2026 New Zealand election: immigration policies and hospitality workers

For a café owner, the important question is not simply which party supports more or less immigration. It is which party would make it easier to recruit, retain and legally employ experienced hospitality workers without creating excessive costs or uncertainty for a small business.

There is a significant difference between the parties on this issue, particularly around:

• Access to migrant workers when local recruitment is difficult.
• Accredited Employer Work Visas (AEWVs).
• Whether hospitality experience counts towards longer-term residency.
• How easily migrant employees can change employers.
• The balance between training New Zealand workers and recruiting from overseas.

One important qualification: immigration is only one part of your business pressures. It won't directly solve high food prices, electricity bills, lower customer spending or the cost of dealing with burglary.

1. How the main parties compare

The following reflects published policies and announcements available as at 1 November 2026. I distinguish election promises from policies already implemented by the current government.

Party	General direction	Implications for a café
National	Targeted skilled migration	Maintains employer-sponsored recruitment, but skill, wage and residence rules can restrict some hospitality roles.
Labour	Managed immigration with stronger worker protections	More flexibility for migrant employees to change accredited employers, potentially helping recruitment and retention.
Greens	More inclusive immigration and migrant rights	More supportive of long-term settlement and worker mobility.
ACT	Immigration tied closely to demonstrated labour demand	Supports overseas recruitment where shortages are proven, but proposes additional visa conditions and costs.
NZ First	Substantially reduce non-essential immigration	More emphasis on employing and training New Zealanders; potentially less flexibility for migrant recruitment.
Te Pāti Māori	No sufficiently detailed hospitality-specific immigration proposal identified	Difficult to assess the practical effect on café recruitment.
The Opportunities Party (TOP)	Generally more open to skilled immigration	Has advocated reducing salary barriers for skilled visas and encouraging workers into regional areas.

National

National's approach is to maintain employer-led migration while tightening certain requirements.

Relevant developments include:

• Accredited Employer Work Visas remain an important recruitment route.
• English-language requirements were extended to skill-level 3 AEWV roles from 1 June 2026.
• New skilled residence pathways took effect on 24 August 2026.
• Café and restaurant managers, chefs, bakers and pastrycooks are on the amber list for the new skilled residence pathways.

That last point matters: an amber-listed occupation faces additional experience and wage requirements for residence.

Potential benefit: You retain access to overseas recruitment.

Potential drawback: Some experienced hospitality workers may struggle to qualify for residence, even when they are valuable employees.

Sources: Immigration NZ and government announcements. Accredited Employer Work Visa » Immigration New ZealandFurther changes to the Skilled Migrant Category to come into effect on 24 August 2026 :: Immigration New ZealandEnglish language requirement extended to AEWV skill level 3 roles

Labour

Labour's September 2026 immigration policy includes:

• Allowing migrant workers to move between accredited employers after three months of employment.
• Strengthening protections against migrant exploitation.
• Planning immigration around workforce, housing and infrastructure capacity.
• Extending the time before permanent residence eligibility from two to four years.
• Reviewing English-language and other immigration requirements.

Potential benefit: Greater employee mobility could make it easier to recruit people who already have New Zealand work experience and are looking for a better employer.

Potential drawback: A longer wait for permanent residence could make it harder to offer long-term certainty to experienced staff.

Labour's policy is particularly relevant if your café depends on retaining good employees rather than constantly recruiting replacements. ImmigrationImmigration

Green Party

The Greens favour a more inclusive immigration system.

Their published policies include:

• More pathways for migrants who have settled in New Zealand long-term.
• Greater ability for migrant workers to change employers.
• Removing the 12-month maximum-period-of-stay stand-down.
• Equal pay and working conditions for temporary migrant workers.
• More humane treatment and protection of migrant communities.

Potential benefit: Better opportunities to retain experienced staff and recruit migrants who already live in New Zealand.

Potential drawback: Stronger worker protections and equal employment requirements need to be factored into business costs and employment arrangements.

The Greens' position is more focused on migrant rights and settlement than on a specific hospitality labour-shortage programme. Manifesto 2026Immigration and visas: party comparison 2026Immigration Update- September 2026

ACT

ACT supports immigration where there is genuine evidence of demand.

Its May 2026 proposals include:

• Accredited Employer Work Visa skill categories expiring annually unless labour demand is demonstrated again.
• Extending basic English-language requirements to all AEWV types, with an exception for seasonal workers.
• A proposed $6-per-day infrastructure surcharge on temporary work visas.
• Stronger enforcement against overstaying and employer non-compliance.

Potential benefit: Employers with demonstrable shortages could continue recruiting from overseas.

Potential drawback: Additional visa charges, English requirements and annual reviews could increase recruitment costs and uncertainty.

For a small café, the proposed infrastructure surcharge is particularly worth watching. ACT New ZealandImmigration and visas: party comparison 2026

NZ First

NZ First takes a more restrictive approach.

Its September 2026 proposals include:

• Substantially reducing non-essential immigration.
• Prioritising New Zealand workers for employment.
• Longer residence and citizenship qualifying periods.
• A proposed referendum on an annual resident visa cap of 20,000.
• A 10-year welfare stand-down for migrants.

NZ First has also previously supported extending existing work visas by three years rather than granting new residence pathways.

Potential benefit: Greater emphasis on developing the domestic workforce.

Potential drawback: If you cannot find suitable local workers, a more restrictive migration environment could make recruitment harder.

It is important to distinguish NZ First's 2026 campaign proposals from its earlier positions on skilled work visas. NZ First Announces Immigration Reform PoliciesImmigration Update- September 2026Immigration and visas: party comparison 2026

TOP and Te Pāti Māori

These parties have less directly comparable hospitality-specific policy detail.

• TOP: Its more open approach to skilled immigration, including proposals to reduce salary barriers and encourage migration to regions, could be relevant to hospitality recruitment. However, it has not established a detailed café-specific visa programme in the material reviewed.
• Te Pāti Māori: I could not identify a sufficiently detailed 2026 hospitality-worker immigration proposal to make a confident comparison.

I would avoid assuming that a party's general position on immigration automatically translates into a particular visa entitlement for your employees. Immigration Policy: Where NZ Parties Stand in 2026Immigration Update- September 2026

2. What the hospitality industry itself is asking for

There is another useful perspective beyond political party promises.

Hospitality New Zealand published its 2026 election manifesto on 18 August.

Its immigration priorities include:

• Practical residency pathways for experienced hospitality workers.
• Recognising work experience, rather than placing too much emphasis on formal qualifications.
• Immigration settings that help hospitality businesses attract and retain staff.

This is particularly relevant to cafés because an experienced cook, barista or kitchen supervisor can be extremely valuable without necessarily holding a qualification that fits a skilled migration pathway.

MEDIA RELEASE: Hospitality New Zealand releases 2026 Election Manifesto

3. How this affects your café in practice

A few immigration details are worth understanding before deciding which policies matter most.

Recruitment: The current AEWV system requires an accredited employer, an approved job check and an eligible job offer. The visa generally requires at least two years of relevant experience or an appropriate qualification, subject to the applicable occupation requirements. Accredited Employer Work Visa » Immigration New Zealand

Retention: A worker who cannot see a realistic future in New Zealand may leave. Residency pathways and the ability to change employers therefore matter to hospitality businesses.

Costs: Visa application fees, accreditation requirements, wage thresholds and recruitment administration all affect small employers.

Staff availability: More restrictive immigration settings might encourage domestic training, but they do not guarantee that trained local workers will be available when your café needs them.

4. Comparing the parties against your business concerns

Here is a practical way to interpret the differences.

Your business priority	Policies worth examining
Finding reliable kitchen staff	National, Labour and ACT approaches to employer-sponsored visas
Retaining experienced migrant staff	Labour and Green proposals on employer mobility and residency
Reducing recruitment uncertainty	National's existing visa framework versus ACT's proposed annual reviews
Reducing immigration-related costs	ACT's proposed visa surcharge and the parties' employment policies
Developing local workers	NZ First's emphasis on domestic employment and training
Keeping experienced workers in NZ	Green and Labour approaches to migrant settlement

One important distinction: none of these immigration policies directly addresses your electricity bills, food input costs or the decline in discretionary customer spending.

For those issues, you would also want to compare the parties' small-business taxation, energy, competition, employment and cost-of-living policies.

And for the break-in, compare their crime prevention, retail and hospitality security, policing and victim-support policies separately.

5. Where I would focus before voting

Rather than looking for the party that promises the most immigration or the least immigration, I would look for answers to these five questions:

1. Can a small café recruit an overseas worker when it genuinely cannot find someone locally?
2. Can an experienced cook or hospitality supervisor build a long-term future in New Zealand?
3. Can migrant employees change employers without excessive restrictions?
4. Are visa charges and compliance requirements proportionate for small businesses?
5. Will the government invest in training local hospitality workers as well?

These questions expose some meaningful differences between the parties.

For further independent comparisons, two useful resources are:

• Policy.nz – 2026 election policy comparisons.
• Retail NZ – party immigration policy positions.

One question that would help narrow the comparison

Does your café currently employ migrant workers, or are you considering recruiting them?

That distinction matters. If you already employ migrants, residency and employer mobility may be your biggest concerns. If you are struggling to recruit, access to work visas, wage thresholds and recruitment costs may matter much more.

I can then compare the parties specifically against the realities of running a small New Zealand café, rather than just their general immigration philosophies.