The Government needs to address it's Green List amid health care worker shortages, according to health recruiter Prudence Thomson.
New Zealand's Green List is a list of highly-skilled occupations that allow migrants to have fast-tracked residency to fill certain jobs vacancies in Aotearoa.
But Thomson told Breakfast the list misses some important professions which is contributing to the country's healthcare worker shortages.
"This Green List is really concerning me, gastroenterologists, paediatricians, oncologists, to name a few are not on the Green List.
"It's really confusing and we need to smooth the pathway for medical migrants, nurses are one a second-tier list as are midwives, so they can't get residency from offshore."
Currently, jobs like food technologists and multimedia specialists are on the list but Thompson says those professions aren't priority right now.
"It's crazy and I cannot understand, I've asked several questions since July and again in August and again this month.
"Why aren't these specialist oncologists [for example] why aren't they seen as a priority."
Thomson says if the issue isn't addressed quickly, wait lists will get longer and people will get sicker.
Health recruiters say the Government is excluding key roles from its fast-track to residency programme. (Source: 1News)
She said patients won't be able to be seen for things like colonoscopies or other medical investigations and people could die.
"We need to boost our workforce, we need to train more New Zealanders sure, but we need to boost our workforce with offshore, 62% of our doctors come from offshore and we need to make it a smoother pathway for them."
Also speaking to Breakfast this morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern defended the Green List, saying it has a "wide range" of medical professionals.
"Some of the examples I can't speak to but if they're an area of high demand it would surprise me if they weren't on it.
"When the list was pulled together it was based on where we had shortages so if it's that it's incomplete in any way, we gave ourselves the ability to update that list so it's just a matter of Health NZ ensuring that with Immigration NZ that when we do that next review those are added."
Ardern said just because a profession isn't on the list, it doesn't mean that person isn't able to enter the country, it just means they won't have as much certainty moving to New Zealand.
She also said it isn't just Aotearoa experiencing shortages, many other countries are in the same boat.
"We have made changes to our immigration system to try and speed up the ability to access those skills we need, we have now from memory more than 60,000 jobs that are in places that employers are able to recruit people in to with approval from Immigration New Zealand.
"So now it just comes down to us recruiting and making sure we're appealing to those individuals to come and choose New Zealand."
Authorities respond
A spokesperson for Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Health said it's "worked closely with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to ensure that immigration settings remain favourable for health and disability workers and Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand continues to do so to smooth the process for bringing people into the country".
"The Green List was established in a tight timeframe, which did not allow widespread consultation with the sector. MBIE has advised that the Green List is due to be reviewed in mid-2023 and health entities are working to gather the relevant information to support recommendations for the list at the review point."
Immigration Minister Michael Wood told 1News this afternoon that apart from the Green List, other residence pathways available to health professionals are the Highly Paid residence pathway and the recently reopened Skilled Migrant Category.
"The Green List was launched in July 2022 as a new pathway for high skilled migrants to gain residence in New Zealand. The Green List contains a number of highly skilled roles that have been identified as being in high demand globally, are nationally significant, and in ongoing shortage in New Zealand.
"Ministers continue to monitor progress on implementing the rebalance, and have indicated they will not be afraid to act before the previously signalled Green List review in 2023 if required," Wood said.
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