mart19630

Kia ora all,

I was just wondering if anyone has encountered a similar issue with Immigration as my partner and I are currently having.

My partner is a Registered Nurse and Pharmacy Technician with over 12 years of work experience, she holds Registration in the UK, Australia & New Zealand as a Registered Nurse. We have both lived in New Zealand previously, and she worked as a Practice Nurse on the West Coast before we had to return to the UK back in 2014. We both held Residency which has now unfortunately elapsed.

Our problem is my partner has been offered a very good job back in New Zealand and we decided to move back and so applied for Residency again thinking there would be no real issues as we had had this before, we have just heard back from Immigration stating that her points for Qualifications and experience (100) are invalid as she "cannot hold Registration in New Zealand as a Registered Nurse" as she needs a Bachelors Degree ? she holds a Diploma with Advanced Studies which is an equivalent to a Bachelors Degree and held Registration in New Zealand now for 6 years but they say she now has to have her qualifications reassessed by the NZQA? and will not recognise her Registration or work experience even though the Nursing Council have assessed her qualification as being equivalent to a Bachelors degree.

Has anyone else had a similar issue or is this a new process that immigration are now introducing for Nurses?

Any advise or suggestions to resolve this problem would be appreciated. We have been told we have to prove her qualifications and experience before it will be progressed, apart from being Registered in New Zealand which means she can legally work there, and the Nursing Council have supported this in correspondence this week, we are not sure what else we can do?????? My partner feels let down, and cannot understand if you have Registration with a current Annual Practicing Certificate why should she be reassessed?????

MrsFychan

The rules on Immigration are for ever changing and you do now need to have a degree or accessed equivalent to apply. As you let your last visa lapse you are basically starting again with the new rules in place. Neither positions you mention are in desperate need, which could of been different when you first applied, and are only on the skill level classification, so a job with a salary at a certain level will be accepted and has to be at a higher level to enable you to be added to the visa application.

How long has it been since your previous visa lapsed?
I personally would ask to speak to someone higher up within Immigration and discuss with them.

mart19630

HI, Thank you for your quick reply, our visa elapsed 2 years ago, are you saying that even though she has been assessed by the Nursing Council (2012) and has an equivalent qualification of todays requirements, and still holds Registration and has had confirmed correspondence from the Nursing Council (today) that she is qualified to work in New Zealand as a Registered Nurse this is now invalid under new regulations. The job is a skill level 1.
We have spoken to two independent Immigration Officers who have both said there is no issue with her qualifications and Registration and would have processed our application accordingly. How do you go about speaking to an Immigration officer of a higher level with your concerns?

Bo-Jangles

If you have received subsequent confirmation from Nursing Council, just send it to NZ Immigration and see what they have to say about that.

MrsFychan

No, not saying that, just saying that as the goal posts have moved since you were last here then you need to look to make sure that you have the necessary requirements to apply again.
Send an email back from the address that said it was no longer valid with recent confirmation from the nursing council and ask them why this is not acceptable.

mart19630

HI, we have sent this to immigration but they are still not satisfied yet, and are apparently going to contact them direct. We will now wait and see. lol

BEVS

HHmm.
I think perhaps NZ Immy will be looking at your previous application a few years back and seen that they felt there was an issue with your OHs quals meeting the NZ NZQA level at that time.
The diploma v degree thing goes way back to a bit of a shake up around 2003 from memory if not before.

I can't see where you wrote that you re-gained the 10 points for your partner's quals with the last residency application.
Did you manage to re-gain?

Was there ever an NZQA assessment last time? Or did the residency application go through without the points for her quals?

If not, how did the NZ nursing council pass your OH's quals as meeting the NZQA standard?

If yes, then yes, the nursing council may well have assessed as passing their level but that would have had no bearing on NZ immigrations. Theirs is a different set of tick boxes.

Y'know. A lot of policies have been tightened up and applied far more strictly than in past years. It is all a part of the current political climate.

NZIS may well insist on a full NZQA assessment as if her UK quals fall outside of the policy , they will want to ensure her skills and quals meets the standard. This is not to say she does not, just that policy can be a matter of ticking the correct boxes.

TO be clear on some of the wording. Your wife did hold an NZ nursing practicing license which has now lapsed.
The NZ nursing council will vouch to NZ immigration that she meets the standard and level .

NZ Immigration may also be looking at the fact that you came and went.

Not sure on other immigration officers telling you that in their opinion the standard is met. They should have referred you direct to your case officer. It is what that case officer decides that counts here.

You could try to make contact with the manager for the immy office you are dealing with. Before doing so , get those ducks lined up in a row and some heavy back up from the NZ nursing council.

inkedneonurse

As far as im aware the fact that you have been passed for registration means you have the required level of qualification. The key phrase being

It has been assessed by a New Zealand registration authority at the same level as a qualification on the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment as part of an application for New Zealand occupational registration

Im not quite sure why your getting the run around

BEVS

I think this depends on the last residence application & what NZIS have on record. It's a tick box situation.

It should come out in the wash.