A health recruiter says the Government's decision to add 32 healthcare roles to an immigration fast track is overdue, while National leader Christopher Luxon suggested authorities had been "way too slow" on the issue.
Recruiter Prudence Thomson told Breakfast that the changes were "phenomenal news" and that people in her industry were "excited" by the prospects of new staff coming in quickly.
Yesterday, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced that more job roles would be added to the so-called "Green List" in order to relieve acute labour shortages.
The changes mean some overseas workers will have a more immediate path to residency in New Zealand.
Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said yesterday: "The 32 health roles being added to the Straight to Residence pathway span across the wider health sector from enrolled nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists and dental technicians, MRI scanning technologists, paramedics, optometrists and pharmacists to counselling."
Thomson said that a database of prospective overseas hires was more than 4000 names long.
Prudence Thomson says authorities had been "a little bit slow" to fast-track more health occupations for residency. (Source: Breakfast)
"We've probably got about 4000 around the world that can now apply," she said.
"We met up with just over 150 nurses, allied health GPs, anesthetic techs, and radiographers in Singapore and the UK last week. It's absolutely fabulous to go back to them now and say: 'Hey, update, great news that you can get residency in New Zealand.'
"All the employers now have the confidence that each medical professional will be able to get residency and come to New Zealand with residency."
When asked whether the move was overdue, she added: "It's good news, but it's taken a bit."
One physiotherapist Thomson had helped bring into Aotearoa said that there were "absolutely" people who had given up on the process as a result of the previous immigration arrangement.
Speaking to Breakfast, Oliver Smith said he had friends back in the UK who had put off applications as a result of the time and paperwork involved.
The National Party says it's a long time coming. (Source: 1News)
"I started the process in November 2021. The process originally took quite a while. The Registration Board took about four months to get my registration through and do all the applications," he said.
"Quite a few friends at home just put the application off for quite a long time because just life gets in the way, and four months of work takes a decent chunk out of your day."
He said "express pathways" now streamlined the process for people overseas like himself.
"The great thing that the Government's doing, by putting this on a Green List, is giving people the opportunity to come and stay for the longer term as well."
Thomson added: "We could have changed the Green List in December when we got specialists and nurses on it. I was disappointed, and I've been frustrated."
That frustration is shared by Opposition leader Christopher Luxon, who said he had been calling for the change for more than a year.
The National leader says wait times in the healthcare system are "heartbreaking". (Source: Breakfast)
"We've been way too slow on that," he said, referring to the Government.
"We've been calling for it. You've had experts calling for it, the sector calling for it for over a year and a half now.
"And honestly, if you're sitting in the Philippines or in Wales or South Africa, weighing up where to go, New Zealand hasn't been competitive, and we haven't been doing this for over a year and a half."
But some specialist health roles, like radiation oncologists, were part of a global staff shortage.
Thomson said it was important for those roles to increase the available salaries to help attract overseas workers.
She said Immigration NZ had already streamlined the process where residency applications for the roles could be processed in less than 20 days and that existing health authorities were working hard to recruit them.
Nurses and midwives have been added to the Green List along with specialist doctors, something the migrant community have been demanding for a long time. (Source: 1News)
"It's unheard of to move around the world and get residency in a new country in 20 days," she said. "New Zealand really has to increase the salaries to compete for them."
Luxon said one solution to the issue was to increase the appeal of the jobs for the domestic workforce and for people training to fill the roles.
"We've got to be able to encourage more young people to go into those professions, we've got to make them rewarding, we've got to make the two, you know, the conditions of the healthcare system attractive, so they stay in the system."
"We have major challenges on workforce. We've got to build and build our own pipeline from within domestic New Zealand, but we also need to open it up internationally."
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