The New Zealand government has announced that an additional 32 healthcare roles will join an immigration fast-track scheme as part of the efforts to fill in labor shortage gaps noted in several industries.
The National Party, while supporting the recent decision, said that such measures should have been taken a long time ago, VisaGuide.World reports.
The announcement was made through a joint statement provided by Immigration Minister Michael Wood as well as Health Minister Ayesha Verrall.
The immigration minister said that the government had listened to the health sector while stressing that the changes ensured immigration settings were as competitive and helpful as possible.
Wood stressed that deckhands, as well as skippers, would also be included in order to ensure ferry service operators had staff supply in order 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 utilize this sector agreement,” the Minister noted.
He stressed that the government is providing a time-limited pathway to residence for all skippers piloting boats essential to public transport routes or supply chains, together with tourism operators and other operators who use deckhands as well as skippers.
While the implementation of the new changes is expected to start in May, the Minister noted that final details in this regard would be confirmed shortly.
At the same time, Verrall emphasized that the workforce was one of her priorities while adding that the announcement was a significant step in bringing to the country more people to work in the health system.
New Zealand’s Health Minister added that the 32 health roles spanned the health industry from enrolled nurses, nurse practitioners, as well as dentists and dental technicians.
“The list already includes midwives and registered nurses, which were added to the Green List in December,” she pointed out while adding that in March alone, nearly 900 nurses from other countries were interested in working in New Zealand.
The Health Minister also added that the new immigration settings would be among the most competitive in the world, considering them as another positive step together with better wages for nurses as well as immigration support, in order to influence the number of those who plan to travel to New Zealand for work purposes, especially health workers.
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