Indian nurses advised against moving to NZ without genuine job offer

Indian nurses intending to travel to New Zealand have been cautioned to ensure they have a genuine job offer before leaving.

This warning has come in an advisory issued by the Indian High Commission in Wellington on Monday, 09 September.

“It has come to the notice of the High Commission of India that a number of Indian nurses are facing difficulties in securing jobs in New Zealand, even though they may have successfully completed the Competency Assessment Programme (CAP) and registration with New Zealand Nursing Council,” the High Commission said in the Advisory published on their website.

The High Commission emphasised on prospective nurses to have a genuine job offer in hand and should check the genuineness of employer also.

“High Commission would like to advise the Indian Nurses that they should not travel to New Zealand unless they have a genuine job offer. It is also advisable to get the genuineness of the employer checked. ” Email for this is: pol.wellington@mea.gov.in

The diplomatic mission also cautioned nurses against paying to agents who promised “guaranteed” jobs.

“Indian nurses and their spouses are requested not to leave their current jobs until the job process with the prospective employer in New Zealand are formalised,” the statement added.

Majority of Indian nurses here in New Zealand are from the northern state of Punjab and Kerala in south India.

Majority of these overseas qualified nurses are struggling to find the promised jobs, even though they have successfully completed the Competence Assessment Programme (CAP) of the Nursing Council. This is in spite of the fact the New Zealand’s health system is facing dire shortage of nurses.

This CAP was replaced by the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) by the Nursing Council in December last.

According to Nursing Council data, 4084 nurses gained registration after completing a CAP between 1 January and 31 December 2023.

New Zealand tertiary institutes and universities offering Nursing programmes, for example, Waikato University and Wintec, are currently flooded with students from India studying to become nurses. What will happen when their dream will be shattered when there are no jobs on offer at the end of their studies?