Hospitality NZ says that the refusal by Government to put chefs on its immigration Green List will hurt hospitality businesses and customers.

The government announced this week it will expand the Green List settings to make it faster and easier for more workers in the healthcare, education and construction sectors to access the work to residence pathway in New Zealand.

Hospitality NZ CEO Julie White says they are “beyond frustrated” to see that chefs have been left off the immigration Green List. “We asked for them to be included on the list as a bare minimum, but this was shut down by the Government, saying they can already come in. But they have totally missed the point. The global shortage of skilled staff means we need more competitive and attractive immigration settings.

“Chefs are allowed to work in New Zealand, but they have to uproot their life to settle in a country where there is no certainty of residency, versus Australia, where there is automatic residency. All we asked for is competitive policy settings that at least give us a chance of attracting people.”

She says that hard-hit hospitality and accommodation venues will miss out on desperately needed business over the summer high season thanks to the Government refusing to change immigration settings for chefs and other much needed hospitality roles.

“We are one of the industries hardest hit by staff shortages,” says White. “This is a shared problem that impacts the brand and the reputation of the whole industry. It leads to consumers not having a choice, added pressure on venues, and burnout of employees for businesses struggling to find staff.

“Hospitality and accommodation businesses are telling us they will have to continue cutting opening and restaurant hours, and days, and refuse accommodation bookings over the summer because they won’t have enough staff. This is an ongoing disaster for many businesses on top of the struggles of the past two years.”

The Government says the Green List settings will be reviewed again in mid-2023.