Pressure builds over residency for nurses: Debated Visa categories
Applications for Nurses immigration in New Zealand have declined rapidly in the last few months. The offshores nurses' applications for work visas have declined.
The shortage in nurses has put a great pressure on the New Zealand government. The government is being pressured to fast track the residency applications of these nurses. The waiting time to be eligible for residency application was two years.
The government says that these nurses are using other visas such as visitor visas to enter New Zealand. Most of these immigrant nurses are from America.
Misty Sparks, a nurse of 24 years, got a job offer at a hospice centre in Wellington. She said she is very excited about the job. She could not wait to join her job at the hospital.
She said her two sons are also doing nursing and are nursing assistants. They too want to go to Nursing. They said it was like a dream come true. They are excited about coming to New Zealand to start working.
But with the current conditions of the New Zealand immigration, it is almost impossible for them to apply after two years of residence in New Zealand. Also they can not buy a house in the country nor apply for a student loan for their sons.
Ashley stated that it would be better if they can get a residency directly and will be free from the burden of applying again after two years. Also can get settled and buy a house.
Thousands of visa applications were received from overseas nurses in the first half of the year. But the number comes to a steep decline in the month of August and onwards.
National leader Christopher Luxon said that it shows that New Zealand does not have the comparable offers for Nurses than other countries as most of the overseas nurses are choosing other countries for migration.
But the government declined all the allegations saying that the nurses are simply using other visa categories to come to New Zealand.
They are saying that the number of applications decreasing does not mean that the number of nurses coming to New Zealand has also decreased. 1 out of 4 nurses are already an overseas nurse.
