The Tongan Government will at the end of February begin its pre-selection process of labourers from around the country who are interested in applying for New Zealand's seasonal labour scheme.

Sione Moimoi of Tonga'’s Ministry of Labour and Commerce said today, that although the scheme would begin on April 30, the seasonal workers would not go to New Zealand until September.

Meetings will be held throughout Tonga at the end of February to inform people of the scheme and to allow them to present their criteria for application. They would also seek the help of town officers and church leaders to identify individuals who are "honest, obedient, reliable and hardworking," he said.

"The biggest risk is overstaying, and we do not want to jeopardise this great opportunity that will help Tongan families increase their source of income as well as support the country's economy.

"After we complete the pre selection process of our workers we will then submit the information to the New Zealand Department of Labour, and a team that will consist of employers will come to Tonga to conduct interviews of the identified workers before their recruitment," explained Sione.

He said that to date the New Zealand Government had set up a new Recognised Seasonal Employer policy that will kick start the scheme in April.

The policy was introduced to meet New Zealand's horticulture and viticulture industry labour needs with the first priority given to New Zealanders and if none are available then the policy allows employers to seek migrant workers from overseas. This scheme looks at temporarily employing 5,000 unskilled labourers from the Pacific island countries of Samoa, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Tonga.

At the moment the New Zealand Labour Department is meeting with employers who are interested in registering for the scheme.

Sione said that there are no quarters assigned to Tonga on how many workers to send as it depended solely on the demand by the two industries and how many workers an employer wanted from and which of the five Pacific islands it prefers.

He also added that the processes of interviews, recruitment and signing of work contracts will take place before labourers are sent to New Zealand.

One of the criteria that the Ministry of Labour will be looking at is individuals over the age of 20 to below 55.

Sione said that a mission team from New Zealand was also expected to arrive in Tonga sometime next month, for further talks with Government before signing the Memorandum of Understandings in regards to the scheme.