A two-year wait for nurses, teachers and midwives is senseless, National’s Immigration spokesperson, Erica Stanford says.

“The two-tiered immigration system announced yesterday has missed out on critically needed workers. Nurses, teachers and midwives are just as necessary as engineers – if not more.

“Only weeks ago, the Health Minister admitted we are critically short of around 4,000 nurses in this country. Yet they are not part of the priority list.   

“These are workers that New Zealand desperately needs, but yesterday’s announcement means they are staring down the barrel of a long and uncertain wait before even applying for residency.

“Nurses and midwives are both included in Australia’s priority skills list. Therefore, why would these workers choose New Zealand when Australia offers the certainty of immediate residency?

“The Immigration Minister needs to explain why desperately needed workers are missing from the priority list when it is Kiwis, who rely on the essential services of nurses, midwives and teachers, that are going to suffer.

“Once again, the Labour Government has failed to deliver on immigration and create the conditions required to attract the workers and skills that New Zealand needs.

“All workers on the green list should immediately be included in the ‘Straight to Residence’ pathway if we have any hope of attracting these workers to New Zealand.”