Bowen had sold the family home to offset costs and wife Loren has been unemployed since July. On an essential skills work visa, he said he was supporting his family in South Africa and himself. “They are taking enormous strain. They are heartbroken.” Immigration New Zealand (INZ) said 49,984 people hold an essential skills visa – 890 of them are education professionals. But the visas of about 145 education professionals will expire on or before December 31, 2021. “An individual who wants to remain in New Zealand beyond the date of expiry of their current visa needs to apply for a new visa,” a spokeswoman said.