KEY POINTS:
A skilled worker was denied entry to New Zealand until he could pass a fat measurement test.
Richie Trezise, an English submarine cable specialist headhunted for a job with Telecom, was forced to slim down before the New Zealand Immigration Service would let him in.
He was denied an employer-backed talent visa when he failed the Body Mass Index test (BMI), a fat measurement using a person's height and weight.
According to reports, Mr Trezise's BMI was 42, making him morbidly obese under New Zealand Immigration guidelines.
Mr Trezise was forced to go on a crash diet to lose weight and 5cm from his waist and passed the test to start work in New Zealand in September.
Telecom spokesman Mark Watts said the company was sympathetic to Mr Trezise's situation, but the scheme had worked well.
"It enables us to get skilled workers from around the world," he said.
Mr Trezise is one of four highly qualified specialist technicians working on the upgrade of the Southern Cross submarine cable.
The Immigration Service said it did not know how many people had been denied entry because of high BMIs.
Fight the Obesity Epidemic spokeswoman and endocrinologist Robyn Toomath said the Immigration Service could not afford to import people into the country who were going to become a significant drain on our health resources.
"You can see the logic in assessing if there is a significant health cost associated with this individual and that would be a reason for them not coming," she said.
Meanwhile, Mr Trezise's wife Rowan is still in Britain attempting to meet BMI requirements before joining her husband in New Zealand.
He said that if she did not make it here by Christmas, he would return to Britain for good.
- NZPA
