New health roles for Green List

The roles span across the health system and are considered critical to the delivery of health services in New Zealand.

Eligible people are encouraged to apply from 29 May 2023.

Ship Masters and Deckhands added to Bus and Truck driver sector agreement

In December 2022 the government announced that bus and truck drivers would have a time limited residence pathway through a sector agreement.

It has now been confirmed that people who work in roles covered by the ANZSCO code 231213 Ship’s Master / Skipper, and 899211 Deck Hand will be added to the sector agreement with a time limited pathway to residency.

Skippers will need to be paid the market rate and migrant worker deckhands will need to be paid at least the median wage to utilise this sector agreement

Details of the bus truck, and now skipper and deckhand, sector agreement are still being worked through. Full details will be announced soon with implementation expected to begin from late May.

List of health sector roles going on the Green List:

1. Addiction practitioner/alcohol & drug clinician
2. Audiometrist
3. Chiropractor
4. Clinical dental technician
5. Clinical physiologists (sleep, renal, exercise, respiratory, neurology, and cardiac)
6. Counsellor
7. Dental specialists
8. Dental technician
9. Dental therapist
10. Dentist
11. Dietician
12. Dispensing optician
13. Drug and alcohol counsellor
14. Enrolled nurse
15. Genetic counsellor
16. Medical laboratory pre-analytical technician
17. Medical resonance imaging technologist
18. Nuclear medicine technologist
19. Nurse practitioner
20. Optometrist
21. Oral health therapist
22. Orthotic and prosthetic technician
23. Orthotist/prosthetist
24. Osteopath
25. Paramedic/emergency medical technician
26. Perfusionist (cardiac)
27. Pharmacist
28. Physiotherapist
29. Play therapist (hospital)
30. Social worker
31. Speech language therapist
32. Sterile processing technician

Existing roles on Green List Work to Residence pathway moving to Straight to Residence pathway:

1. Anaesthetic Technician
2. Audiologist
3. Medical imaging technologist
4. Medical laboratory technician
5. Medical radiation therapist
6. Occupational therapist.
7. Podiatrist
8. Sonographer

Existing roles on Green List Straight to Residence pathway:

1. Clinical Psychologists
2. Medical laboratory scientist
3. Medical practitioners
4. Midwife
5. Orthoptist
6. Physicist (Medical)
7. Psychologists
8. Registered Nurse

The minimum wage is set to increase by $1.50 an hour with the Government saying the impact on inflation will be “negligible”.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced the move to a new rate of $22.70 per hour from April 1 as part of a raft of changes as the Government resets its agenda heading into the general election in October.

The Starting-Out and Training minimum wage rates will be maintained at 80 per cent of the adult minimum wage.

“I do understand that a number of small businesses will have concerns about this decision, however in a cost of living crisis we can’t leave those on the lowest incomes behind,” Hipkins said at his post-Cabinet media briefing.

Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao (ENZ) welcomes the Government’s announcement to reopen New Zealand’s borders. This is a positive step for international education.

The announcement outlined a five-step process for reopening borders from 28 February 2022, initially for New Zealanders to return from Australia and then from the rest of the world.

The Government also announced a fourth border class exception for up to 5,000 international students to enter New Zealand for study from July this year, in addition to the earlier cohorts approved in 2020 and 2021.