10. Question No. 10—ImmigrationERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays) to the Minister of ImmigrationQuestion No. 10—Immigration10. ERICA STANFORD (National—East Coast Bays) to the Minister of Immigration: Are there migrant doctors or nurses currently in New Zealand who are not eligible to apply for the 2021 Resident Visa and if there are will he change the criteria so that all migrant doctors and nurses are eligible to apply to stay in New Zealand?Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Immigration): The 2021 resident visa (R21) provides a one-off and streamlined pathway to residence for over 165000 migrants. To meet the very simple and straightforward eligibility criteria applicants must be on an eligible work visa and then either be settled working in a scarce role or be highly skilled. We did this to provide certainty to a large number of workers and their employers. It's almost certain that there are migrants in New Zealand working in health who may fall outside the criteria due to their being on either a student or working holiday visa. The focus of the 2021 resident visa was to secure those already working in New Zealand on a work visa. I'm pleased to say that of the 90000 applications that we have already received over 2500 applications have come from people working in health and aged care; this includes 775 registered nurses 946 personal care assistants 83 pharmacy technicians 69 aged or disability carers and 21 general practitioners—all people working in health who will have certainty of residency very soon.Erica Stanford: Does he honestly believe that the hundreds of nurses who are now working in our hospitals should miss out on the 2021 residency visa just because they were on a student visa last year while completing their New Zealand nursing degree given that we are 4000 nurses short?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: As I said the 2021 residency visa is a one-off and streamlined visa process. The eligibility for that—or the applications close for that in July. That does not mean residency will disappear altogether and I will remind the member that those people who want to stay in the country and whose skills we need will be able to apply under normal conditions when we return our focus back to normal conditions and away from the focus on the resident visa.Erica Stanford: Is the Minister telling migrant doctors and nurses who are not eligible for R21 who are packing up and leaving New Zealand right now that they should wait for some indeterminate date in the future that he won't say before they know if they are eligible for residence?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: No; they are the words of the member asking the question. What I'm saying is that there is a one-off visa opportunity for the people who are eligible. For those who are not and we need their skills we still want you and we need your skills in the country and when we return to normal residency settings they can apply.Erica Stanford: Is the Minister willing to lose New Zealand - trained migrant nurses to offshore markets over a visa technicality that he has the ability to fix when we are 4000 nurses short across our DHBs and aged-care facilities?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: My message to some of the people who the member may be advocating for is that we need your skills and while you may not be eligible for residence under the one-off 2021 residency scheme we want to make sure that you can remain in the country and that you'll have the opportunity to do that when our focus of processing and applications moves away from the residency visa process and to the normal residency process.Erica Stanford: Why is he so hung up on sticking to the R21 visa rules rather than being flexible to allow doctors and nurses the option to apply for the residency visa now to stop them leaving New Zealand when we have a critical shortage of healthcare workers?Hon KRIS FAAFOI: The 2021 residency visa as I mentioned at the outset was we believe open to about 110 applicants and we forecast to about 165 individuals as a whole when we get to that stage. They are a very broad criteria to make sure that we secure the workforce that has helped us through the last two or three years. That does include a lot of critical healthcare workers. I would say to those who are likely—and some warm congratulations because you will soon be residents and to those who aren't eligible that we still need your skills and when we move our focus away from the current resident visa to make sure we can get those applications done quickly and secure that workforce that you're almost likely to be eligible for residency under the normal settings when we get back to those settings.Erica Stanford: Supplementary question.DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm sorry; the National Party has run out of supplementaries.Hon Kris Faafoi: Oh again?DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!Chris Bishop: Point of order Mr Speaker. In light of the glee with which the Minister of Immigration greeted that perhaps we could have another one or two supplementaries to continue the fun.DEPUTY SPEAKER: No. [Interruption] Order!