The UK may face further shortages of nursing staff as migrants planning to travel to the UK to work in the industry cancel plans as new visa rules ban them from bringing their families with them.
Tanyaradzwa Makwiranzou has aimed to move to the UK to work as a care worker since the opportunity arose following the Covid-19 pandemic.
After completing a nursing assistant course, Mr Maguiranzo last year obtained the documents he needed to prepare to move from Zimbabwe to the UK, including a police clean record and an English test.
But the time and more than £1,000 he invested was wasted on March 11 this year, when visa rules were introduced in the UK, meaning carers could not bring their dependents with them when they immigrated.
The measures, announced by the government in December 2023, are aimed at reducing the number of migrants arriving through the care visa route and cracking down on abuse and manipulation of the immigration system.
Mr Makwiranzou, who lives in the capital Harare with his wife and 14-month-old son, said it was heartbreaking.
“The new restrictions defeat the whole purpose of immigration. I want to move to the UK for the sake of my child. I want him to live in a better society,” he said I. “I can’t leave my family behind.”
The NHS and the wider UK health system have been severely affected We were short-staffed even before the outbreak..
Many Zimbabweans seized the opportunity to escape the country’s many problems, from high inflation, a currency crisis and deteriorating health care to stagnant wages, high unemployment and shortages of basic goods.
Agencies providing nurse aide training in Zimbabwe, including the Red Cross and St John Ambulance, recorded Increase in the number of people taking the courseincluding nurses and other professionals such as teachers and bank staff.
According to the Office for National Statistics, 21,130 Zimbabweans were granted health and care work visas in the year to September 2023, the third highest number of all nationalities after Nigeria and India. work from home.
But experts and carers’ associations say restrictions imposed by the UK government are preventing carers from working in the UK and could further exacerbate staff shortages.
Yotamu Mlauzi Chagwada, president of the Zimbabwe Trust Nursing Assistants Association, which represents care workers in Zimbabwe, said family is the motivation for many people to work and is at the heart of their dreams and ambitions.
“Without our families, we are nothing. Caregivers are creating opportunities for their families. I don’t see anyone who works with families being left behind,” he said. I.
“Many caregivers will choose other countries that allow them to bring their families. Family is their first priority.”
He warned that the UK would face further staff shortages as a result. “there is nothing [without] Carers brought the family to the UK. Banning them will lead to a nursing shortage,” he said.
Michael Kandukutu, a labor migration expert at the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the umbrella body representing Zimbabwean workers, added that the government’s decision to ban migrant workers from being accompanied by their spouses was an affront to their rights and dignity. nation.
“Migration is a human right,” he said, “and countries must work to improve decent working conditions for everyone.”
Audrey Paidamoyo Chidziya, a trained nurse assistant from Mutare, Zimbabwe’s third largest city, said if she had the chance to move to the UK she would take it but leave The family will be in pain.
“It’s been tough,” said the 30-year-old mother of two girls, who last year obtained the documents she needed to immigrate to the UK. She said she would not move to the UK if she found a job opportunity in another developed country.
Mr Makwiranzou has started the process of moving to Australia.
“I no longer think the UK is a favorable destination. I admit I wasted money on getting all the paperwork,” he said.
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