Covid 19 Update Level 2 - We welcome all our vaccinated clients who would like to see us in person back into our offices. Please note you will be required to wear a mask as per government requirements. All our employees are fully vaccinated. If you prefer we can meet with you online or by phone.
Level 2 - We welcome all our vaccinated clients who would like to see us in person back into our offices. Please note you will be required to wear a mask as per government requirements. All our employees are fully vaccinated. If you prefer we can meet with you online or by phone.

Get immigration advice

“Staff that are placed by Greenstone are of high integrity, honest and reliable. Using Greenstone takes the stress and gamble out of employing staff.”

Pieter & Beth Ackermann – Employers

Meet Our Team

Phil Hughes

Recruitment Manager

Mobile: 027 9111 343

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John Paul Nistal

Recruiter: Trades and Engineering

Mobile: 027 284 8807

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Louise Spence

Recruiter: Dairy

Mobile: 027 239 6821

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Graydon Sharratt

Director & Licensed Adviser – IAA 200900399

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Vanessa Sharratt

Director & Licensed adviser – IAA 200800527

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Ruth Ouwehand

Client Manager

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Kay Annett

Office Administrator

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Barbara Sherson

Finance Administrator

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Haley Sykes

Licensed Immigration Adviser – IAA 201700609

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Jim Ennion

Licensed Immigration Adviser – IAA 201900048

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Steven Dunning

Licensed Immigration Adviser – IAA 201600793

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Carol Wright

Licensed Immigration Adviser – IAA 201002037

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Stephan du Plessis

Licensed Immigration Adviser – IAA 201501091

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Marie Hunt

Licensed Immigration Adviser – IAA 200900318

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Renee Asici

Licensed Immigration Adviser – IAA 201900887

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Lucille Hatley

Licensed Immigration Adviser – IAA 201600451

Christchurch branch

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Abigail Hilario

Client Manager – Christchurch branch

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Nicky Smith

Client Manager

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Right from the word “go” Greenstone got things going and introduced and subsequently placed us with high quality employers. Their service is professional, effective and efficient. We will gladly recommend Greenstone Recruitment’s service to anyone.”

Nathan & Elri Levin – Dairy Farm Worker now Farm Manager

Phil Hughes

Phil Hughes is our Lead Recruiter.  He has been in the recruitment and HR industry for over 12 years, working in large corporates and HR companies including Kelly Services, with a focus on customer service (both clients and candidates). He enjoys placing people into a role where they can succeed and grow from their experience.  Phil has a passion for the outdoors and lives on a lifestyle block with his wife, where he dabbles in small scale dairy and beef farming. He has a Masters Degree in Business and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business from Waikato University.  Originally from the United Kingdom, Phil has been in NZ for 25 years.

John Paul Nistal

John is our Trade Recruitment Consultant.   He is originally from the Philippines and graduated Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Starting a career in the Philippines, he worked as Recruitment Officer in the Overseas Placement agency, specialising in Trades and Engineering. John has over 12 years’ experience working at Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) handling Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) programs and services. He wasdirectly involved in recruitment, organising Job Fairs  together with recruitment agencies, coordinating with Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO) to resolve welfare cases and providing scholarship/livelihood assistance to OFW Families and their dependents.

 John then moved to New Zealand in February 2016 and earned a Diploma in Business Level 7 at Edenz Colleges in Auckland. At Greenstone, John continues his passion of being a Recruitment Consultant helping migrants find work in New Zealand.

Louise Spence

Louise joined Greenstone as Dairy Recruitment Consultant, having previously worked for Livestock Improvement and more recently spending five years with the Primary ITO as a Training Adviser.

Louise Studied Media Arts at Wintec and worked for seven years in Advertising. She is currently working towards completing her New Zealand Agribusiness Diploma.

Louise and her husband have 3 Children and a Dairy Farm in the Waikato.

Graydon Sharratt

Graydon is a director of Greenstone Recruitment and also a fully licensed immigration adviser. He started Greenstone Recruitment in early 2006 after recognising the need for quality employees while working as a senior Rural Bank Manager for Bank of New Zealand.  He is well known as an industry specialist in his field. Graydon has been a finalist in the NZAMI Immigration Adviser/Lawyer of the year awards.

Graydon has an Honours degree in Economics and 10 years of banking experience: 3 years as a Senior Rural Banker with the BNZ and 7 years of Investment Banking experience in South Africa.  He is a keen sportsman and has completed multiple Ultra-marathons and marathons. He grew up on a beef and sheep farm in South Africa and he and his family moved to New Zealand in 2001.

Vanessa Sharratt

Vanessa is a Licensed Immigration Adviser and Director of Greenstone. She was one of the first advisers to be licenced in 2008. Vanessa was a finalist in two categories of industry awards hosted by the NZAMI in 2013 - Immigration Adviser/Lawyer of the year and NZAMI Service Award.  She enjoys challenging residence cases and appeals.

Vanessa grew up in South Africa.  She has a Masters degree in Economics from Rand Afrikaans University and 8 years of Banking experience in New Zealand and South Africa.  She has served as a Board Member of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI), and on the Immigration Advisers Authority Reference Group.

Vanessa is fluent in Afrikaans.

"Choosing Greenstone was probably the best decision we made after deciding to immigrate to New Zealand.  Vanessa’s professionalism and expertise combined with her personal touch made the whole process a lot easier and less stressful.  Greenstone was the only immigration consultancy that presented different options from the start and made us feel positive about our chances to succeed.  Our application was approved a lot quicker than anticipated and thanks to their assistance we are residents of this beautiful country.  We would highly recommend Greenstone Global."

Angie & Jan Cronje

Ruth Ouwehand

Ruth is one of our Client Managers, and works with the Licensed Immigration Advisers to ensure that documentation is correct. She started her career with the ANZ Banking group, progressing through the ranks to Branch Manager during her 10 years with the Bank. While raising her three children, Ruth has worked in a part time capacity at various entities, most recently as Financial Administrator. She has also been very involved with the swimming community in the Waikato.

Ruth has a National Certificate in Business Studies.

Kay Annett

Kay is Greenstone's Office Administrator and will be your first port of call, either in person or by telephone.  Kay was born in Martinborough in the Wairarapa and has worked and lived in Wellington, Auckland and Hamilton.She began her career in Banking, working for two different Banks in Wellington and Hamilton for a total of 18 years. While her daughter was growing up she had other part time roles with an Export and an Import company in Auckland. She then spent 13 years at a Chartered Accountants firm. Kay loves people and enjoys spending time with her family and friends while enjoying cooking, travelling and reading.

Barbara Sherson

Barbara has been with Greenstone  since 2008. She started as the Office Administrator before progressing to her current role of Finance Administrator.  Barbara has a New Zealand Certificate of Commerce and has worked in various office roles during her career. She is married to Grant, and has four children.

 

Haley Sykes

Haley is one of our Licensed Immigration Advisers.  Haley joined Greenstone in 2014 in the role of Administrator before moving into a Client Services Manager role. Haley took some time off when she had her son Jack at the end of 2015 and now returns to Greenstone Global as a Fully Licensed Immigration Adviser. She has a Bachelor of Business majoring in Marketing from Unitec and Graduate Certificate in Immigration Advice from Toi Ohomai, where she received the runner up award for second highest marks over courses B and C (Temporary and Resident visas).

Haley was born in New Zealand and grew up in the small town of Pauanui on the Coromandel Peninsula where she now lives with partner Greg and son Jack.

"The processing was really smooth.  The processing of my application didn’t take long and Haley Sykes kept updating me with the status of my application.  Haley prepared all my supporting documents in order and informed me of any additional requirements INZ needed.  I appreciate Haley and the rest of the Greenstone Global team for making it happen in a short period of time.  Cheers!"

Imo

Jim Ennion

Jim is completing his Graduate Diploma in New Zealand Immigration Advice and is a provisionally licensed adviser.  Jim was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland. He has a Master of Laws from Victoria University, a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws conjoint from Auckland University and a Diploma in Project Management from the Southern Institute of Technology. He worked as a lawyer in Nelson before he and his family moved to Mae Sot, Thailand for 2 years and worked with a local NGO. They recently returned to New Zealand in 2017.

Jim is married with 5 young children and loves spending time with his family. He is also a keen musician and bikes or runs regularly.

"My thanks to Mr Jim Ennion for my application which was successful and quick, only taking three weeks! All the best"

Milan Vladisavljevic

Steven Dunning

Steven is one of our Licensed Immigration Advisers.  He completed his Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice from the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic in Tauranga in 2016, and served his two year period as provisional license holder at Greenstone before become a fully Licensed Immigration Adviser in June 2018.  Steven has dealt with the full spectrum of immigration cases and is valued by all his clients.

Steven was born in New Zealand and grew up in a multitude of places including Christchurch, Thames, Mussoorie (India), Suva (Fiji), Palmerston North, Auckland, Osaka (Japan) and Shanghai (China). He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Massey University but his career has taken him in other directions including teaching, banking and marketing.

After 13 years living abroad, Steven is now based in Hamilton, New Zealand.  He is well versed in speaking business Mandarin.

"I would just like to pass on how fantastic the service and advice provided by Steven was.  He went above and beyond to make sure the visa was approved as quickly as possible and we would not have been able to do this without his expertise. This is a very stressful situation for a small business like ours and we are relieved to have this approved."

Emillie Tamarapa

Carol Wright

Carol joined Greenstone Global in 2010 and is a fully licensed senior adviser in the Hamilton office with many years’ experience with all types of temporary and resident visa applications.

Originally from Ohio, USA she holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Miami University and she previously worked for the Ohio state legislature.  She spent 14 years in the tertiary education sector in New Zealand prior to working at Greenstone.  Now a New Zealand citizen, Carol is married to her Kiwi husband, Blair. They met in Te Aroha when Carol was an exchange student in high school. They have three adult children who are involved in tertiary studies and her eldest is making a mark at Weta Digital in Wellington.

Carol and her husband enjoy the beautiful New Zealand walks and will spend most weekends hiking or going to the beach. During the week, Carol can be found dancing at Zumba classes or walking with friends along the Hamilton River.

"On the behalf of Alfredo, Nicolas and Mario we would like to thank Carol Wright for all the hard work and passion she has put into obtaining Alfredo’s 3 year work visa. We are extremely happy to have Alfredo in the team and have nothing but respect for all that Carol has done."

Alfredo Gonzales & Mario Lopez

Stephan du Plessis

Stephan is one of our Licensed Immigration Advisers. Stephan is experienced and leaves no stone un-turned in preparation of visa applications and other complex immigration issues.  Before joining Greenstone, Stephan worked for a prominent law firm for more than seven years. Towards the middle of 2015 he sat and passed all the required papers (A+ average) to meet the Immigration Advisers Authority's licencing requirements.

Stephan also sat on the the Immigration Advisers Authority reference group for 2016, where he worked to make a valuable contribution to the Adviser industry.

Stephan grew up, studied and married in South Africa. He was later admitted as a lawyer in the High Court of South Africa. Stephan gained more than 13 years legal experience in South Africa before he and his family immigrated to New Zealand in 2008.

"Extremely satisfied from the service of Greenstone, my visa outcome was excellent but I would like to make special comment on communication with Stephan de Plessis regarding my visa application documents. He was in touch with me 24/7. Thank you so much for all you are hard work Stephan –“you are a great man”

Amanjot Singh

Marie Hunt

Marie started working as a Licensed Immigration Adviser in 2009, while working as a Recruitment Consultant in the Agricultural Sector for eight years. In this role, Marie travelled to Indonesia and the Philippines to recruit dairy farmers to New Zealand.  Just prior to joining Greenstone, Marie worked for five years in a busy immigration specialist company, where she worked with a wide range of clients and application types.  Marie enjoys being able to advocate and support those from all backgrounds to achieve their immigration goals.

Marie grew up in Christchurch and completed her Bachelor of Communication Studies at Waikato University.  She also studied International Business in Turin, Italy. Marie currently lives in Cambridge with her young family, and she enjoys the outdoors and mountain biking.

 

Renee Asici

Renee was born in New Zealand and grew up in Hamilton. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy from Waikato University. She completed her Graduate Diploma in Immigration Advice in 2019 and holds a Certificate in Adult Teaching 2010. Renee worked in the Telecommunications Industry for 18 years and then moved to work at Inland Revenue for 5 years. Renee is also a business owner and was self-employed for 2 years as an Immigration Adviser.

In 1995 she returned to NZ after her OE and founded the Waikato Turkish Society with her Turkish husband. She has 2 adult children who live in Hamilton

 

Lucille Hatley

Lucille Hatley joined Greenstone in August 2021 as a fully Licensed Immigration Adviser, based in the Christchurch office. Lucille has a Masters’ Degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management, a National Diploma in Adult Education and Training and completed the Graduate Certificate in Immigration Advice.

Lucille has a background in tourism and hospitality including working for a hotel group and owning her own café. She also has over twenty years of experience in tertiary education in various roles including lecturing and middle to senior management positions.

She grew up in South Africa and immigrated to New Zealand in 2006. Lucille has three independent children.

Abigail Hilario

Abigail is our Christchurch Client Manager and assists the advisers in ensuring all documentation is prepared correctly. Originally from the Philippines, Abigail has over 10 years of work experience as a visa officer and consular officer with the Embassy of Norway in the Philippines. In these roles, she gained first-hand experience with immigration, visa processing, and consular assistance.

Abigail holds a New Zealand Certificate in Project Management from the Southern Institute of Technology in New Zealand and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Lyceum of the Philippines University.

Abigail loves traveling and enjoys developing relationships with people of all cultures.

Nicky Smith

Nicky moved over from the UK 9 years ago. She completed a Ba(hons)Sports Development and Physical Education degree prior to becoming a Football Development Officer for the Football Association in England for 8 years. Sport has been a large part of Nicky’s life having played International hockey for England over many years which took her around the world, prior to settling in beautiful New Zealand. Nicky spent 8 years working for Midlands Hockey in an Operations and Development Managers role alongside coaching  Regional and National representative athletes.

Nicky now has a young family to keep her entertained away from her work life.