‘It’s become even scarier’: Why US doctors are moving to small-town New Zealand

Saturday, 9 May 2026

Eugene Fayerberg first moved to New Zealand in 2017 for just over a year. After returning to the United States in 2018, he and his wife began seriously considering coming back permanently.

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Emergency doctor Eugene Fayerberg still remembers the violence he routinely saw while training in New Mexico.

“There is sort of a guns and knife club, so to speak,” Fayerberg said. “There was just constant violence that we saw when I was training.”

Now based in the Whangārei region, the American-trained doctor says he rarely sees the same level of gun violence or opioid overdoses.

“You barely see any penetrating trauma like gunshot wounds, maybe some stab wounds,” he said. “There was so much heroin and opioid overdoses and the complications from that which you almost don’t see here in New Zealand.”

Fayerberg said working in the Whangārei region felt more community-oriented.

Fayerberg and fellow American emergency doctor Dusty Bratton are part of the large overseas-trained workforce helping staff hospitals in provincial and regional New Zealand.

Medical Council data shows overseas-trained doctors made up 43.5% of all doctors on the register with a current practising certificate as of June 30, 2025, while the council’s workforce survey found international medical graduates accounted for 42.1% of doctors who said they had practised in New Zealand in the previous year.

Doctors trained in the United States were the third-largest source of new registrations in the year to June 2025, behind New Zealand and England. In total, 142 doctors with US qualifications registered in New Zealand in the year to June 30, 2025.

Fayerberg first moved to New Zealand in 2017 for what was meant to be a one-year adventure in Taranaki after hearing about the country from a colleague. After returning to the United States in 2018, he and his wife began seriously considering coming back permanently.

“When we came back to America, we realised that ultimately the best place for us to raise our children, for us to flourish as individuals, was in New Zealand.

“When we moved, President Trump was elected and that was one of the reasons we moved,” he said. “We realised we just didn’t wanna have our family in that mix of things that are happening and since then it’s become even scarier.”

Fayerberg moved back permanently with his wife and two children in January 2020, just months before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fayerberg said one of the biggest differences between the two countries was the structure of the healthcare system itself.

“My fear is just how corporate it’s become, how it’s just a full business,” he said. “Any time you mix profit and healthcare and privatise things, generally speaking, it’s not for the benefit of patients.”

He said one of the things he appreciated most about New Zealand was not having to constantly think about whether patients could afford treatment or what their insurance would cover.

“In the US … the tragedy is after we do whatever we need to do - the massive bills, the bankruptcy, the financial toll,” he said.

Dusty Bratton moved to Palmerston North earlier this year with his wife.

By comparison, Fayerberg said working in the Whangārei region felt more community-oriented.

“The patients are incredibly grateful, they’re very kind … you feel much more appreciated,” he said.

Another American emergency medicine doctor, Dusty Bratton, moved to Palmerston North earlier this year after previously honeymooning in New Zealand.

The 39-year-old, who had worked in rural Mississippi, said he and his wife decided to make the move after travelling the country in a camper-van during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Before moving, the couple sold their home and most of their belongings before starting over in New Zealand.

When Tom and Bradley Balthrop-Lee first met, they had no idea the life they would build together would one day take them halfway across the world.

“We came with a few checked bags and started fresh since we got here,” Bratton said.

While Bratton said New Zealand’s health system felt more community-oriented than the United States, he said he had quickly noticed the pressure regional hospitals were under.

“If there’s more patients to be seen than we have beds or staff to take care of, that pressure and that feeling of overwhelmed can kind of get to you,” he said.

Still, Bratton said New Zealanders generally appeared more understanding.

“Everyone here has been really nice and really welcoming,” he said.

Harriet Wild, Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) policy and research director, said overseas-trained doctors played a major role across New Zealand hospitals, particularly in regional centres.

Wild said an ASMS survey showed international medical graduates were more likely to work in provincial and regional New Zealand, including areas such as Whanganui, South Canterbury, Wairarapa, MidCentral and Northland.

Wild said overseas-trained doctors had become an important part of addressing workforce shortages, particularly in hard-to-staff areas, and were likely to remain a key part of the medical workforce for the foreseeable future.

Robyn Shearer, Health NZ executive national director of people and culture, health and safety, said New Zealand had “always relied on a blend of local and international medical workforce” to provide care.

She said Health NZ supported international medical recruitment through established immigration and professional registration pathways, while government investment in medical schools would help strengthen the locally trained workforce for years to come.

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