Seasonal Employment Schemes

Our Seasonal Employment Unit is Samoa’s gateway for labour and employment overseas. Working collaboratively with New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and also the Labour Mobility Assistance Program of Australia; the Unit is able to implore devoted employers with the valid license to recruit labourers/workers from Samoa for the viticulture and horticultural sectors of New Zealand and Australia. An understanding between the Labour demanding countries and the Government of Samoa resulted in participating as part of the RSE and SWP programs.

1.Recognized Seasonal Employer Scheme (RSE)

Samoa’s involvement with the NZ based RSE scheme commenced in April 2007, which allows for the temporary movement of labour for seasonal work and it has been 10 years since Samoa joined this program. RSE is strictly for the horticulture and viticulture sectors and employment period for workers ranges from 3 to a maximum of 7 months. [Read More]

2. Seasonal Workers Program (SWP)

Samoa’s involvement with the Australian based program commenced in July 2011 when it was referred to as the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme (PSWPS), and has continued on from its official launching as the Seasonal Workers Program (SWP) in July 2012. Much similar to the NZ based RSE program, SWP was designed with the intent that it would become a vital tool for meeting the needs of the horticulture industry for recurrent labour, while also contributing to the economic development of participating countries which now include: Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. [Read More]

3. Canterbury Trade Employment Initiative

The initiative by the New Zealand Government, which is currently in its first trial year, is primarily aimed at recruitment and settlement of 24 semi-skilled trade workers from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa for 12 months. This program was piloted for Samoa in 2012 with two employers in NZ. It is expected that the lessons learnt from the full trial/pilot will shape any expansion of the initiative to other employers and Pacific Island Countries. [Read More]

4. Approval In Principle (Meat Processing Industry)

Currently, Samoa has workers recruited and working (work visa arrangement) under this scheme in various New Zealand meat processing industry. [Read More]

Our recruitment pathways involve

1 Government of Samoa’s Work Ready Pool (WRP)

SEU arranges a ‘pool of workers’ who have been screened to certain criteria and found ready for a suitable assignment

2 Recruitment via Local Licensed Agents or Representative

An Approved Employer may already have a pre-established relationship with a particular local community or church in which they find suitable to recruit from. An Approved Employer may also entrust a leader or local contact person in which they find suitable to recommend or recruit workers for them

3 Direct Recruitment by Employers

SEU arranges a ‘pool of workers’ who have been screened to certain criteria and found ready for a suitable assignment

To date the recruitment of Samoan workers for Seasonal workers is entirely sourced from the Work Ready Pool. The logic behind it is so that Samoa can easily manage issues related to recruitment and to mitigate possible exploitation of workers by local representatives outside of government. Though the WRP remains the only source of recruitment, worker selection is primarily based on requirements of an approved Employer and whether a registered individual is able to satisfy those requirements.