32 new healthcare roles added to immigration fast-track scheme

A further 32 health care roles will join an immigration fast track to help fill acute labour shortages, the Government announced today.

The National Party supports the move but says it should have been done a long time ago.

The changes mean some overseas workers will have a more immediate path to residency in New Zealand - a so-called 'Green List'.

Immigration Minister Michael Wood and Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall made the announcement by joint statement.

Wood said it was vital New Zealand’s immigration settings presented a competitive offer to attract health workers to New Zealand.

He said the Government had listened to the health sector and the changes ensured immigration settings were "as helpful and competitive as possible."

Skippers and deckhands would also be included, Wood said, to ensure ferry service operators had staff supply to improve reliability.

“The market rate for skippers is already above the median wage. Operators will need to continue to pay migrant worker skippers the market rate and migrant worker deckhands will need to be paid at least the median wage to utilise this sector agreement.

“The Government is providing a time limited pathway to residence for skippers piloting boats essential to public transport routes, our supply chain, along with tourism operators and other operators who use skippers and deckhands.

“Final details of the transport sector agreement will be confirmed shortly, with implementation expected to begin from late May."

Verrall said workforce was one of her priorities and the announcement was a "significant step" in attracting more people to come and work in the health system.

She said the 32 health roles spanned the health sector from enrolled nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists and dental technicians, MRI scanning technologists, paramedics, optometrists and pharmacists to counselling.

The list now had 48 health roles, all of which were "nationally important" she said.

“The list already includes midwives and registered nurses, which were added to the Green List in December. Last month alone we saw almost 900 overseas nurses apply to register to work in New Zealand.

“These immigration settings will be among the most competitive in the world, and are yet another positive step, along with better wages for nurses and immigration support, to influence the number of health workers who come to New Zealand.

“These changes are in addition to the steps we have taken to make pay fairer for nurses working in our health sector, some of whom saw up to a 15% increase to their base pay last month."

Last week, the General Practice Association of NZ claimed there was now a pay discrepancy of up to 27% between hospital and community nurses and nurses in GP clinics, after Government changes raised hospital nurses' salaries.

Verrall said the Government wanted to train and retain as many local health workers as possible, but today's changes as well as pay improvements would "go some way" to address immediate shortages and remove barriers to working in New Zealand.

National MP Chris Bishop said the Government had been "gaslighting" the public over health staff shortages.

He said National had called for the move a year ago, including Immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford writing to Wood months ago saying the health system was under crisis and suggesting more roles be added to the Green List.

"The Government said, for many months, there's no need, nothing to see here, move on, we don't need to take the National Party's advice. Now we find... they're doing exactly what we suggested.

"It's incredibly frustrating."

He believed the Government had a "stick in the mud mentality" which prevented adding the additional jobs to the list earlier.

ACT Immigration spokesperson James McDowall said the changes were "far too late" as New Zealand was "losing the global war on talent".

“This is governing in slow motion. The health sector is in disarray and experiencing shortages in every profession, all of these professions should have been added to the list months ago.

“The Government has been carrying out a dangerous experiment where they’ve tried to increase wages by strangling the labour market. They’ve crippled the health system and brought the country to a stand still."

Green Party Immigration spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March welcomed the changes but said pathways to residency should be available "not just to plug gaps" where there are labour shortages, but "rather as recognition that migrants do not deserve to be kept in limbo on a temporary visa".

"Having your visa attached to a single employer contributes to exploitation which is an unfortunate reality for many migrants.

“Migrant workers deserve the certainty of being able to put down roots in their communities and their contributions to be honoured, instead of precarious and often exploitative conditions."

Addiction practitioner/alcohol & drug clinician

Audiometrist

Chiropractor

Clinical dental technician

Clinical physiologists (sleep, renal, exercise, respiratory, neurology, and cardiac)

Counsellor

Dental specialists

Dental technician

Dental therapist

Dentist

Dietician

Dispensing optician

Drug and alcohol counsellor

Enrolled nurse

Genetic counsellor

Medical laboratory pre-analytical technician

Medical resonance imaging technologist

Nuclear medicine technologist

Nurse practitioner

Optometrist

Oral health therapist

Orthotic and prosthetic technician

Orthotist/prosthetist

Osteopath

Paramedic/emergency medical technician

Perfusionist (cardiac)

Pharmacist

Physiotherapist

Play therapist (hospital)

Social worker

Speech language therapist

Sterile processing technician

Anaesthetic Technician

Audiologist

Medical imaging technologist

Medical laboratory technician

Medical radiation therapist

Occupational therapist.

Podiatrist

Sonographer

Clinical Psychologists

Medical laboratory scientist

Medical practitioners (doctors)

Midwife

Orthoptist

Physicist (Medical)

Psychologists

Registered Nurse

Eligible people will be able to apply from May 29 2023.

Before an applicant can apply for residence, they must meet the requirements as set out in the Green List. For example, if registration is required, this must be obtained before submitting a residence application. More information will be available on the Immigration New Zealand website.

Care and support workers are not covered by these changes as they already have a two year work to residence pathway which is tied to the pay legislation under the Care Workforce Sector Agreement.