2011-Feb 18: Doctors applying for work and residence visas with Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) letter of eligibility for registration

Visa Pak 4 - Doctors applying for work and residence visas with Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) letter of eligibility for registration and when to accept these letters as suitable evidence of occupational registration.

Visa Paks

18 February 2011

Doctors applying for work and residence visas with Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) letter of eligibility for registration

 Over the past few weeks the Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) and several employers and recruiters of doctors have contacted INZ to raise concerns that some branches or individual officers are not accepting MCNZ’s letter as suitable evidence of occupational registration for doctors. The MCNZ letters confirm eligibility for registration, usually subject to the doctor attending a face to face interview with Medical Council staff or a Medical Council agent.

Some doctors have been told they must provide their actual registration certificate before a visa can be approved. This has led to delays in processing and frustration on the part of employers, applicants, and MCNZ.

MCNZ is happy to answer calls and emails verifying documents produced by MCNZ but have noted an increase in phone calls and emails from case officers asking about MCNZ’s registration processes.  MCNZ prefers that – as the instructions have been developed following consultation between INZ and MCNZ - such queries are made through INZ’s national office if they are necessary.

Some years ago, INZ worked with MCNZ to confirm that at the time the letter is issued, MCNZ is confident that the doctor is competent and qualified, and that the interview is merely a final identity and original document check. MCNZ is legally responsible under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act to ensure that the doctors it registers are competent and qualified. Employers must sight the MCNZ registration certificate and annual practising certificate before they can allow a doctor to begin working.

Following this consultation, INZ developed the immigration instructions pertaining to doctors and evidence of registration.

Please remind staff of the work and residence instructions and request that they accept the MCNZ letters as sufficient evidence of registration.

A range of MCNZ letters is used, depending on scope of practice and individual circumstances.

Please note: A doctor being registered in the "special purpose scope of practice" can be issued only with an essential skills work visa and would have to obtain registration under a different scope before being granted a visa under work to residence or residence instructions.