Nurses and midwives will finally be added to the straight-to-residence pathway after months of criticism from the sector towards the Government's "sexist" Green List decision.
The occupations will be added to the fast-tracked pathway from Thursday, with Immigration Minister Michael Wood admitting "we need to do more to encourage nurses to choose New Zealand".
"Adding these roles will further build on the attractiveness of New Zealand to those looking to set themselves and their families up long-term," he said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asked on Monday why it took so long to make the change. She said New Zealand is in a globally competitive environment, nurses have already been applying to the nurisng council in "record numbers" but it's important to have a clear message.
"The ask has been: make the pitch even simpler. So we have," she said.
Wood said the Government has consistently been listening to the sector and has always promised it could make changes to address issues.
"The settings that we have in New Zealand across the spectrum are as supportive or more supportive than nearly any country you could look at."
From March, the two-year work-to-residence pathway will also open up to all teachers and people in other roles, like drain layers and motor mechanics.
A sector agreement for bus and trucker drivers will also be established with a time-limited, two-year pathway to residency. This will be developed in consultation with transport sector representatives.
"The agreement will support our work underway to improve better wages and conditions for bus drivers and local workforce development," Wood said. "This will help relieve the national driver shortage, helping Kiwis and goods get to where they need to go."
Other announcements include:
- Automatically extending employer accreditation by 12 months if their first accreditation is applied for by 4 July 2023
- Introducing a streamlined Specific Purpose work visa to help keep the approximate 2,500 long-term critical workers already in the country to continue to work in their current role for up to three years
- Providing a 12-month Open Work Visa for approximately 1,800 previous holders of Post Study Work Visas who missed out because of the border closure in 2020-21 during the COVID-19 pandemic
"By listening to the concerns of these sectors, and working with them to take practicable steps to unlock additional labour, we know these measures will help fill skills gaps, as businesses work towards more productive and resilient ways of operating," said Wood.
"The Green List has been under constant review and will be next reviewed in mid-2023. We've said we have been prepared to make changes when the evidence supports the need to, and we will continue to monitor our settings to ensure they remain fit for purpose."
The Government announced an immigration reset in May revolving around a new 'Green List', with two different pathways to residency for different occupations.
The fast-tracked 'straight-to-residence' pathway allows eligible workers to apply for residency immediately, while those who fall under the 'work-to-residence' pathway have to work in an eligible role for two years before applying.
The decision to include registered nurses and midwives on the 'work-to-residence' pathway was heavily criticised at the time, with a number of sector organisations calling it "sexist" as male-dominated roles were fast-tracked and female-dominated roles fell into the second category.
A key concern was that migrant nurses, which New Zealand is in dire need of right now, would be put off by having to work for two years in a nursing role before getting residency. The Opposition has been among those calling for the Government to fast-track their residency to make it as appealing as possible for them to move to New Zealand.
The Government defended its stance by saying more nurses were now on a pathway to residency. It had received advice that nurses could get residency here and then move quickly to Australia.
Newshub later obtained that advice which said 6 percent of internationally trained nurses leave so "fast tracks to residency could be used to obtain residency in Australia".
At the same time in October, Newshub revealed just 95 nurses had applied to come to New Zealand, 53 had been approved and just 12 had arrived. The nurses union said the country needed 21,000 nurses.
National immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford reacted to the Government's Monday announcement by saying the "major backdown" should have "happened a year ago".
"Instead of making a simple change that would have delivered more nurses to a critically stretched workforce, the Government arrogantly doubled down on a failed policy that saw even fewer migrant nurses come to New Zealand than when the borders were closed. As a result, Kiwis were missing out on potentially lifesaving treatment," she said.
"National called for nurses to be given a fast track to residence back in September 2021 and called for midwives and teachers to also be added in May this year, to help attract desperately needed professionals to New Zealand.
"After months of dithering, it is a relief that the Government has finally realised its mistake."
Dr James McDowall, ACT's immigration spokesperson, agreed this decision should have been made "six months ago, not as a result of poor poll results".
"This is governing in slow motion. We are desperately short of nurses, bus services have stopped running and we don’t have enough teachers. These should have all been green lit months ago," he said.
"Instead, 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 bring the country to a stand still."
On Monday, Wood said the Government has taken a number of steps to address skill shortages. He said since the pandemic began, 3474 nurses have arrived in New Zealand.
"We have approved over 94,000 job positions for international recruitment, granted over 40,000 working holiday visas, reopened the Pacific Access Category and Samoa Quota, delivered the largest increase in a decade to the RSE scheme, and resumed the Skilled Migrant Category and Parent Category so as to strengthen our international offering - but there is more we can do to support businesses to attract the workers they need.
"New Zealand’s strong economic position during a time of global downturn presents a unique opportunity to attract more high-skilled migrant workers to our shores, as we prepare for a challenging year ahead.
"We understand that labour shortages are the biggest issue facing New Zealand businesses, and are contributing to cost of living pressures too. These measures are about addressing those shortages and providing greater certainty to businesses as they recover from the pandemic."
Roles being added to straight to residence:
- Registered nurses (on 15 December 2022)
- Midwives (on 15 December 2022)
- Specialist doctors not already on the Green List (on 15 December 2022)
- Registered Auditors (from March 2023)
Roles being added to work to residence:
- Civil construction supervisors
- Gasfitters
- Drain layers
- Skilled crane operators
- Skilled civil machine operators
- Halal slaughterers
- Skilled motor mechanics
- Skilled telecommunications technicians
- All secondary school teachers (in addition to the specialisations already on the Green List)
- Primary school teachers.
