The Government says changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa should make hiring migrants easier, and protect Kiwis in low-skilled jobs. 

Amendments from March include altering the median wage threshold - and reducing minimum experience requirements for lower-skilled roles. 

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says previous settings skewed the market, as low-skilled immigrant workers had to be paid the median wage. 

"Which is paying them more than the Kiwi standing next to them - and it's caused huge problems for employers, who've got their Kiwi workers living there doing the same job."

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