A total of 20 nurses with accredited employer work visas (AEWVs) have found themselves stranded in New Zealand after the labour company that recruited them failed to deliver on its promised employment.

According to the healthcare workers, a Canterbury-based employment company told them that there were jobs and valid visas waiting for them if they were to relocate to New Zealand. However, the firm allegedly reneged on its promised work. Now, the nurses claim that they are stranded in the country without any means to get another job.

For its part, the labour company that supposedly recruited the healthcare workers has denied the allegations, according to RNZ.

What happened to the healthcare workers is viewed as another failed implementation of the AEWV scheme. It is also believed to be the first case of exploitation of AEWV holders in the healthcare sector.

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Controversy behind the AEWV scheme

Introduced in 2022, AEWVs were supposed to help address worker shortages by attracting skilled migrants from other countries. Interested parties would be issued temporary work visas so that they can get jobs in New Zealand. However, instead of serving its intended purpose, the scheme led to allegations of exploitation.

In 2023, hundreds of migrant workers accused their employers of firing them within days or weeks after paying for work visas.

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has launched an investigation into the supposed abuses related to AEWVs. Public pressure to pause, if not abolish, the AEWV scheme has been growing since last year.

While some immigration experts urged the government to look at the entire system from a technical point of view, others have expressed skepticism of such a review. Migrant Workers Association Spokesperson Anu Kaloti is one of those who criticised the government for changing New Zealand's immigration policy to address the labour shortages.

“It's never a reasonable circumstance to take shortcuts, no matter what is going on,” Kaloti said. “The checks and balances that are in place should not be [ignored]. People should not be able to take a shortcut, especially an organisation like INZ. It's not just a visa application they're dealing with – people's lives are at stake.”

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AEWV issuance in the healthcare sector

New Zealand hospitals have been suffering from severely depleted staff for years, especially after the Covid pandemic. In July, Te Whatu Ora revealed that the health sector was in serious need of an additional 4,800 nurses. Many saw the government’s accredited employer work visa scheme as a potential solution to the understaffing.

As of December, nearly half of all trained nurses who have registered to work in New Zealand since 2022 have come from India, according to INZ. In fact, 1,783 out of the 2,401 healthcare workers currently with AEWVs are Indian.

Wellington-based FITMED Recruitment International is one of the companies helping migrant healthcare workers seek employment in New Zealand. The director, Sumesh Maharaj, said AEWVs play a major role in convincing overseas nurses to come to the country.

"There have been a lot of enquiries from nurses regarding jobs in the past few months and what surprised me was that they were looking for a job with a valid AEWV visa," Maharaj said, adding that a greater number of newly arrived Indian nurses have shown interest in securing accredited employer work visas. This purportedly alarmed their company.

"If they are on a work visa, why are they asking me to help them find a job?" the director said. "They would have an employer already."

Maharaj said many of the healthcare workers that reached out to them have specific limitations in their visas regarding where they can work in New Zealand.

The recruitment company also supposedly told the nurses that there were no jobs for them and that they should seek employment independently. Some of the nurses were able to get jobs on their own, albeit in other roles. However, others are having a hard time finding employment elsewhere because of limitations to their AEWVs.

"They need to get a job with an accredited employer capable of providing a median wage and who can do a job check and has a job token," Maharaj said.