Radius Peppertree rest home resident Gwen Pawson has her blood pressure checked by nurse Nikki Fox and healthcare assistant Eldho Jacob. Will there be enough carers in the sector after 2020?

A labour crisis looms for the work force that looks after older people, and immigration policies may not help, the Government has been warned.

Thousands more caregivers are needed but new visa limits could send many home in 2020.

Aged Care Association chief executive Simon Wallace said 21 per cent of aged care staff were on work visas and a three-year limit on the essential skills work visa, introduced by the National-led Government in August, posed a "significant threat" to the sector's ability to meet demand.

"We've got a big problem with these immigration rules," he said.

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Labour and NZ First campaigned on immigration before last year's general election, but have not been clear about their policy details since getting into government. Wallace hopes to influence that policy.

He said the sector stands to lose many experienced nurses and caregivers when the first wave of people with the visas run into the limit in 2020, just as it needs to recruit 8000 additional caregivers by 2026.

He made the remarks during a visit to Palmerston North to discuss the sector's future.

The Aged Care Association has been on a recruitment drive, and campaigning to highlight the benefits of a career in aged care.

Last year's pay equity settlement, which raised the starting wage for a caregiver to $19 an hour had helped that effort, but the sector still depended on immigrant workers to fill the gaps, Wallace said.

Minister of Immigration Iain Lees-Galloway said National introduced the rule for sound reasons. A growing number of immigrants without a clear path to residency had been using the visa, which was intended to be temporary, as de facto permanent residency, he said.

"The previous Government correctly identified a problem, but I'm unsure if this policy was the right solution."

Lees-Galloway said he has asked immigration officials to re-examine National's changes, but the policy would remain in place for now.

Any potential changes would be unlikely until later this year.

National Party leader Simon Bridges said the rules were a measured response, meant to strike the right balance between ensuring Kiwis were first up for jobs, and businesses could get enough temporary labour to plug any gaps left in their work force.

"The changes we made to the essential skills work visas were not designed to reduce the number of migrants coming in on temporary work visas.

"Rather, they were intended to provide clarity around the conditions under which temporary migrants come here."

But Radius Peppertree Rest Home facility manager Jill Job said the new visa rules created a huge challenge maintaining a stable and efficient work force at the Palmerston North facility.

"Our staff have generally stayed on for a lot more than three years.

"The residents get attached to them ... and we spend a lot of time and resources on training them up."

It took months to qualify workers for New Zealand health qualifications, and the better part of a year for them to build good rapport.

"Then we have to start way back at scratch with a new person."

The challenge will be amplified by the fact Raduis's staff was well above the sector's national average of 21 per cent of the work force on visas.