New Zealand Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa
This visa is for people who have skills that will contribute to New Zealand’s economic growth. Before you can apply, you will need to send us an expression of interest (EOI), that details your work experience and qualifications.
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New Zealand Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa
Length of stay
Indefinitely
Age Range
55 years or under
Cost
From
NZD $4880
EOI selection
The third Wednesday
21 June 2023
With this visa you can
- Live, work and study in New Zealand.
- Include your partner, and dependent children aged 24 and under, in your residence application.
Things to note
- We use a points-based system to assess expressions of interest.
Find out how many points you can claim - We are selecting EOIs with 180 points or above.
Who can apply
The criteria and evidence below will provide you with the information you need to meet the requirements of this visa.
Identity
You must provide proof of your identity
- acceptable photo of your head and shoulders
- a copy of your passport or certificate of identity.
TIPS
- You don’t need to provide proof of your identity until you’re invited to apply for residence.
Character
You must be of good character
If you are 17 or over, you must provide a police certificate from:
- your country of citizenship
- any other country where you have spent 12 months or more over the last 10 years, even if you did not spend that 12 months all in one visit.
HOW TO GET A POLICE CERTIFICATE
TIPS
- You don’t need to provide any Police Certificates until you’re invited to apply for residence.
Health
You must be in good health
You must have a chest x-ray and a medical examination as proof of your good health.
GETTING AN X-RAY OR MEDICAL EXAMINATION
TIPS
- You don’t need to have an x-ray or medical examination until you’re invited to apply for residence.
English language
You must be able to speak English
You will need to provide one of these with your application:
- An acceptable English language test result.
- Evidence you are a citizen of Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom (UK) or the United States of America (USA), and you have spent at least five years working or studying in those countries, or in Australia or New Zealand.
- Evidence you have a recognised qualification that’s comparable to a New Zealand level 7 bachelor’s degree, which you gained in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the UK or the USA. You must have also studied for at least two years in any of those countries to get that qualification.
- Evidence you have a recognised qualification that’s comparable to a postgraduate New Zealand qualification, which you gained in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the UK or the USA. You must have also studied for at least one year in any of those countries to get that qualification.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST RESULTS FOR SKILLED MIGRANT CATEGORY RESIDENT VISA
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- English language test results must be no more than 2 years old.
- Regardless of the other evidence you provide, if you don’t provide an acceptable English language test result, we may ask for one as evidence you meet the English language requirements.
Age
You must be 55 years or under when you apply for residence
If you’re invited to apply for residence, we’ll use the documents you provide as proof of your identity to confirm your age.
Skilled employment
Your current employment or offer of employment must be skilled
If invited to apply for residence, you must provide evidence of your skilled employment, including having the necessary:
- work experience
- qualifications
- occupational registration.
TIPS
- If you are invited to apply you will be sent an Employer Supplementary Form that you will need to ask your prospective employer to complete.
Qualifications
Your qualification must be recognised to qualify for points.
If you claim points for your qualification, you must show it is a recognised qualification. A qualification can be recognised if:
- It is on the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment; or
- It has been assessed by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA); or
- It has been assessed by a New Zealand registration authority at the same level as a qualification on the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment as part of an application for New Zealand occupational registration; or
- It is a Washington Accord or Sydney Accord accredited undergraduate degree.
TIPS
- If you need an NZQA assessment, you’ll need to include an IQA reference number with your Expression of Interest.Visit the NZQA website for more information about how to:
- Get international qualifications recognised for immigrationApply for an International Qualifications Assessment.
- Get international qualifications recognised for immigrationApply for an International Qualifications Assessment.
Work experience
Your work experience must be skilled to qualify for points
If you claim points for work experience, you must show it is skilled.
HOW WE RECOGNISE SKILLED WORK EXPERIENCE FOR SKILLED MIGRANT VISAS
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- You don’t need to provide any evidence with your Expression of Interest (EOI).
Expression of interest
You must send us an Expression of Interest (EOI)
For us to enter your EOI into our Pool, you must be able to claim at least 100 points under our points system.
Find out how many points you can claim
TIPS
- EOIs are valid for 6 months.
Invitation to apply for residence
You must be invited to apply for residence
If invited to apply for residence, you must apply within 4 months of receiving your invitation.
Your invitation to apply will advise of the specific evidence you need to provide to support the claims you made in your EOI, which may include:
- an employment agreement
- a job description
- your full or provisional occupational registration, if New Zealand law requires you to have it to do your job
- copies of your qualifications and your course transcripts
- a report from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) confirming any qualification that isn’t on our list of recognised or exempt qualifications
- references, payslips, tax records or contracts that confirm your work experience
- evidence of your relationship to any close family you have included in your application
- proof that any close family you have claimed points for live in New Zealand.
If you’re unable to provide evidence to support the claims you made in your EOI, we may not be able to grant you a visa.
TIPS
- You must check if you have a recognised qualification. You may need to obtain a report from the NZQA assessing the level of your qualification compared to qualifications on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.A Pre-assessment result will give you an idea of whether you can claim points for your qualification, but you can’t use it as evidence if you’re later invited to apply for residence.If you’re invited to apply, you will need to provide an International Qualifications Assessment.More information is available on the New Zealand Qualifications Authority website.www.nzqa.govt.nz
Partner and dependent children
You can include your partner and any dependent children up to the age of 24 in your application
For your family to be included in a residence application, you must have included them in your Expression of Interest.
If invited to apply, you must provide evidence:
- of your relationship with your partner and dependent children
- that your partner and dependent children meet the identity, character, health, and English language requirements for this visa.
TIPS
- If your partner or dependent children have, or applied for, a New Zealand temporary entry visa based on their relationship with you, you must include them in your residence application.
English language for family
Your partner and children 16 and over must speak English or pay for classes to learn English in New Zealand
If you are invited to apply for residence, you will be asked to provide evidence your partner and children speak English or to pay for them to have English language classes in New Zealand.
Evidence can include proof that one of the following apply, they:
- have an acceptable English language test result
- are a citizen of Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom (UK) or the United States of America (USA), and have spent at least five years working or studying in those countries, or in Australia or New Zealand
- have a recognised qualification that’s comparable to a New Zealand bachelor’s degree, which they gained in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the UK or the USA. They must also have studied for at least two years in any of those countries to get that qualification
- have a recognised qualification that is comparable to a postgraduate New Zealand qualification, which they gained in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, the UK or the USA. They must also have studied for at least one year in any of those countries to get that qualification.
If your partner and dependent children 16 and over do not meet these requirements, they can learn English in New Zealand. You’ll have to pay us for English language classes before we can grant you a visa.
LEARNING ENGLISH AFTER YOU COME TO NEW ZEALAND
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST RESULTS FOR SKILLED MIGRANT CATEGORY RESIDENT VISA
English Language Information (INZ1060)PDF 254KB
TIPS
- Regardless of the other evidence you provide, if you don’t provide an acceptable English language test result, we may ask for one as evidence you meet the English language requirements.
Check your points
Check how many points you may be able to claim in your visa application. Only an immigration officer can confirm your points when they assess your application. Minimum of 100 points is needed.
Process and costs
The information below will help you understand the process, timeframes and costs involved in applying for this visa, so you can plan ahead and have the best chance of submitting a complete application.
NOTES
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How to submit
Payment methods and receiving centre details if applicable.
NOTES
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Conditions
These are the conditions that you must meet once you have your visa
Entry permission
You must apply for entry permission when you arrive in New Zealand. You can do this by completing an arrival card, which you are given on the way to New Zealand.
NOTES
- You can be refused entry permission if:
- you don’t meet our character requirements
- your circumstances have changed since you were granted a visa
- you refuse to let us to take your photo, or provide us with your fingerprints or an iris scan, if we ask you for them.
Work (if you have an offer of skilled employment in Auckland)
If you were awarded points for an offer of skilled employment in Auckland, you must:
- take up that job within 3 months of coming to New Zealand
- stay in that job for at least 3 months.
- continue to be paid at or above the level of remuneration for which skilled employment points were awarded to you, for at least 3 months.
NOTES
- You must provide evidence within 5 years of your first day in New Zealand as a resident that you stayed in your skilled employment for at least 3 months.So we can get in touch with you to check your evidence, you’ll need to let us know if your address changes during this time.
Work (if you have an offer of skilled employment outside of Auckland)
If you were awarded points for an offer of skilled employment outside of Auckland, you must:
- take up that job within 3 months of coming to New Zealand
- stay in that job for at least 12 months
- continue to be paid at or above the level of remuneration for which skilled employment points were awarded to you, for at least 12 months.
NOTES
- You must provide evidence within 5 years of your first day in New Zealand as a resident that you stayed in your skilled employment for at least 12 months.So we can get in touch with you to check your evidence, you’ll need to let us know if your address changes during this time.
Work (if you have current skilled employment in Auckland)
If you were awarded points for your current skilled employment in Auckland, and you’ve been working in that job for less than 3 months, you must:
- stay in the job for at least 3 months
- continue to be paid at or above the level of remuneration for which skilled employment points were awarded to you, for at least 3 months.
NOTES
- You must provide evidence within 5 years of your first day in New Zealand as a resident that you stayed in your skilled employment for at least 3 months.So we can get in touch with you to check your evidence, you’ll need to let us know if your address changes during this time.
Work (if you have current skilled employment outside of Auckland)
If you were awarded points for your current skilled employment outside of Auckland, and you’ve been working in that job for less than 3 months, you must:
- stay in the job for at least 12 months
- continue to be paid at or above the level of remuneration for which skilled employment points were awarded to you, for at least 12 months.
NOTES
- You must provide evidence within 5 years of your first day in New Zealand as a resident that you stayed in your skilled employment for at least 12 months.So we can get in touch with you to check your evidence, you’ll need to let us know if your address changes during this time.
Keep your visa in a valid passport
If you want to travel, your visa must be in a valid passport.
If your passport expires, you must apply to transfer your visa to a new passport before you can travel.
TRANSFERRING MY VISA TO A NEW PASSPORT
NOTES
- To transfer your visa, you must:
- send us your old and new passports
- complete an ‘Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa’
- pay a transfer fee.
Travel
You can travel in and out of New Zealand as often as you like until your travel conditions expire.
To travel after that, you will need to apply for and be granted either:
- a Permanent Resident Visa
- a variation of your travel conditions, which would allow you to return to New Zealand at a later date.
NOTES
- Your travel conditions will expire 2 years from the date you first arrive in New Zealand as a resident.If you’re outside of New Zealand when your travel conditions expire, your visa will expire as well.
For detailed information read here New Zealand Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa
