The one off Resident Visa for health care workers in New Zealand
The one off Resident Visa for healthcare professionals
New Zealand
The 2021 Resident Visa will give 165,000 migrants on an essential skills, work to residence or open work visas who have been in New Zealand for 821 days or more between September 29, 2018, and September 29, 2021a fast-track to residency in New Zealand.
Among those 165,000 migrants are some 5,000 health and aged care workers and their immediate family members, many of whom have been stuck in visa limbo.
If you’re a health worker in Canterbury, the 2021 Resident Visa will mean you can stay on here in New Zealand and continue to help us out with your valuable skills and go on to apply become a New Zealand citizen.
IDESI LEGAL can assist you. The team of immigration lawyers at IDESI LEGAL in Wellington has the training and experience to help with all types of New Zealand residency visa applications. Call us on 04 461 6018.
Legal support for health care workers in Christchurch
Many of the essential healthcare workers who have been on the frontline of the battle against COVID for the past two years have been separated from family or had their life plans hampered by a lack of New Zealand residency in all sorts of other ways. Without residency, they haven’t had rights to buy a house, or, ironically, to health care or tertiary education.
We specialise in New Zealand immigration and have the staff, experience, and expertise to assist you with your residency application. IDESI LEGAL is based in Wellington, but we can help you wherever you are, even if we can’t meet in person.
Visa for healthcare professionals such as personal carers and other critical health workers
To qualify for the one off 2021 Residence Visa, the principal applicant must and be working in the following roles.
- Aged and disabled carers
- Nursing support and personal care workers
- Special care workers
- Technical and support staff working in various services including theatre, laboratories, radiology, pharmacy services, oncology, haematology, pathology, hyperbaric medicine and mortuaries
- Workers who install, operate or maintain medical equipment
- Workers delivering mental health and addictions services, aged care, respite, home care and support, child health, palliative and hospice care, forensic health, and disability support
2021 Resident Visa applicants must also meet one of the following criteria:
- have lived in New Zealand for three or more years, or
- earn above the median wage ($27 per hour or more), or
- meet health, police and security criteria.
Our immigration lawyers can accurately assess your situation and advise on your application. If you need help to apply, our team of Wellington immigration lawyers can help wherever you are in New Zealand. Call us on 04 461 6018 so we can organise an online meeting.
What if you don’t qualify for this new NZ residence visa?
Some overseas medical staff in hospitals and aged-care facilities in Christchurch and Canterbury are among those whose visa type excludes them being one of Aotearoa’s 165,000 new residents. For example, some short-term visa holders, such as students, working holiday visa holders, and seasonal workers.
There are reports of healthcare workers who have already left New Zealand, feeling they’ve been caught out by the arbitrary time frame of 821 days set last September while those who arrived after them have been welcomed.
Newshub has also reported an instance of a nurse not being eligible for residency despite being skilled and having spent more than $100,000 in New Zealand to settle here. This healthcare professional had been working and studying in Aotearoa for years on a on a student visa, but had not yet qualified as a registered nurse, so would not come under the 2021 Resident Visa criteria.
Other healthcare professionals have been working in the health sector but less than 30 hours per week in either a casual or permanent roles, so have also been declined under the one-off 2021 Resident Visa criteria.
These people are just three examples of where migrants who have been working in the health sector for years have been excluded. But maybe we can help.
You’re the kind of people we would like to stay in the country long-term
According to an interview with RNZ, immigration minister Kris Faafoi said the criteria for the 2021 Resident Visa are broad, “so we’re happy to look at the situation in particular around those health workers. … There’s been a longstanding border exception for them, they’re the kind of people we would like to stay in the country long-term as well”.
Minister Faafoi said, “we can always look at that situation. I think if they have ticked one of the three boxes – in terms of being settled, skilled or scarce – they can be eligible for the visa”.
Talk to one of our team of experienced immigration lawyers about exploring alternative pathways to NZ residence. We will work with your particular situation.
Give yourself the best hope of residency
At Idesi Legal we believe that regardless of what visa for healthcare professionals you are on now, we should give you a chance at New Zealand residency because we appreciate the help and support you have given us all over the last two years and because New Zealand desperately needs you.
To give yourself the best chance of your residency application being approved, we strongly recommend you seek the help and advice an experienced immigration lawyer. IDESI LEGAL has successfully represented people who have had visa application issues in the past. Our team of immigration lawyers has the training and experience to help with all types of New Zealand residency visa applications. Call us on 04 461 6018.
IDESI LEGAL is based in Wellington, but we can assist you wherever you are in Canterbury. We can connect with you through Microsoft Teams. We send you a link, you just click it, and we do the rest. Easy. Call us on 04 461 6018 to set up a meeting so we can help you with your NZ Resident Visa application.
