Fast-track residency process for medical staff –Now!

There is no denying that the Covid 19 pandemic has brought into light the great work that healthcare professionals are doing across New Zealand. The current Covid 19 outbreak is seeing thousands of medical staff including doctors, nurses, healthcare workers and residential care workers at the front line with many being migrants.

Even though the government acknowledges and appreciates the great work that migrants are doing in the healthcare sector, the fact that there is no clear pathway to residency and no priority being given to them is not only worrying but also frustrating them. Not least because it is endangering the level of the raised levels of medical care that Kiwis need at this time.  

There are increasing demands being made to fast-track the residency process for medical staff. That’s because these delays are expected to lead to the loss of urgently needed medical staff during the Covid-19 outbreak – which has already started to happen.

In a recent interview with RNZ, Immigration lawyer Kamil Lakshman has said, “This virus is like an enemy, an unseen enemy - and our doctors and our medical profession and our health care workers are the soldiers that are guarding us if it blew up. So then surely we need to protect these people, surely we need to retain them.”

Sharing similar sentiments, Immigration advisor Jagjeet Singh Sidhu, says, “We know that there are critical shortages throughout the health sector in New Zealand and temporary visa holders are the main proportion of our healthcare professionals’ especially healthcare assistants and aged home workers. Their residence application should be prioritised else we are at risk of losing them.”

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora has also called on the Government to urgently address residency difficulties for doctors and other desperately needed health workers. ASMD Executive Director was recently quoted as saying, “The delay in the processing of residence applications coupled with the closure of processing of EOIs is creating a lot of frustration and angst. The current approach to managing the pathway of medical professionals to residency is shambolic and could become a worrying contributor to our shortage of medical specialists in NZ”.

Even the health care workers feel that they are working relentlessly during this pandemic and the government should prioritise their residence application.

Amandeep Kaur, who works as Healthcare Assistant with Summerset Karaka, filed her residence application under the skilled migrant category on 26 February 2020, says, “It has been more than 18 months and my application is still in the queue to be assigned to a case officer. As healthcare workers, we have been working so hard especially during this Covid 19 pandemic. This delay and uncertainty of our future in New Zealand has been a cause of stress for me and my family. I humbly request the government to prioritise the residence application for medical staff.”

Harjinder Kaur, who works as Residential Care Officer in Dunedin and lodged her SMC application in March 2020 says, “As a migrant, the uncertainty of our future in NZ is killing. As a healthcare professional, we have been working at the frontline during this COVID 19 outbreak. We are keeping our lives at risk while we work during this pandemic and are working so hard so that our community remains safe from this virus. The government should be thinking about us and should prioritise the residence application of those working in healthcare.”

Harpreet Kaur, who works as a Homecare worker with The Lifewise Trust, also feels that it is high time that the government thinks about giving priority to medical staff. Harpreet, who lodged her residence application in March 2020, says, “As an essential worker, we have always been at the forefront whenever there has been lockdown in New Zealand. There are already critical shortages in healthcare. 

“The government should think about healthcare workers who are working round the clock,  and even risking our lives during this pandemic. We should not be subjected to the stress of endless months of wait for our residence application to be processed.”