Hon Michael Wood
Minister of Immigration

Nurses, specialist doctors and midwives will have immediate access to the straight-to-residence pathway

· All teachers added to the work to residence pathway, along with drain layers, motor mechanics and other roles

· 10 additional professions added to Green list, including roles across healthcare, education, construction sectors

· New temporary residence pathway for bus and truck drivers through a new sector agreement to help employers attract workers

· Reissuing visas for Post Study Work Visa holders locked out by COVID

· Streamlined Specific Purpose work visa for long-term critical workers

Immigration Minister Michael Wood today announced a suite of measures to further support New Zealand businesses through the global labour shortage and attract more high skilled workers long term.

“The whole world is experiencing labour shortages right now. Since our borders reopened, the Government has taken a number of steps to support businesses to recruit internationally to fill these shortages,” Michael Wood.

“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.

“As part of our signalled review, we are expanding the Green List settings to include more professions in our healthcare, education and construction sectors, to give a competitive edge in a highly competitive global environment.

“While some commentators are suggesting that our labour market is starting to lose some of its heat, we are continuing to pull out all the stops to position ourselves ahead of the pack. We are supporting those businesses and sectors feeling these shortages more acutely, like our healthcare workforce, with a mind to preparing for the year ahead.

“From Thursday registered nurses and midwives will have an immediate pathway to residence, including those already in New Zealand.

“Since the pandemic 3,474 nurses have arrived in country, but it’s clear 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.

“From March, the work to residence pathway will be further expanded to include all teachers and will add in additional roles such as drain layers, motor mechanics skilled civil machine operators.

“All applicants will be able to count time on a work visa from 29 September 2021, towards their work to residence requirement.

“Our sector agreements are in place across the construction, seafood, aged care, meat processing, seasonal snow, and adventure tourism sectors. Today we have agreed to extend the scheme to bus and truck drivers with a time limited, two year residence pathway. The agreement will support our work underway to improve better wages and conditions for bus drivers and local workforce development. This will help relieve the national driver shortage, helping Kiwis and goods get to where they need to go,” Michael Wood said.

A suite of additional measures have also been confirmed today, including:

· 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,” Michael Wood said.

“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.

“Our immigration rebalance was designed to make it easier for employers to get the highly-skilled workers they need, , simplifying the settings and streamlining application processes for businesses, while reducing the previous reliance on lower-skilled migrant workers to help improve productivity, wages and working conditions for everyone.

“Overall, with the suite of measures announced today, alongside the likes of the Skilled Migrant Category and Accredited Employer Work Visa, I am confident Aotearoa New Zealand has the settings it needs to access skilled labour, support migrants and help us through the challenging year ahead,” Michael Wood said.

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