Want to make New Zealand your permanent home?

The Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa is a residence visa for skilled workers. Once granted, it lets you live, work and study in New Zealand indefinitely, and gives you access to publicly funded healthcare and education on the same basis as other residents.

It is a residence visa, not a work visa. That distinction matters. A work visa ties you to conditions, usually an employer and a role, and it expires. Residence does not expire, though it does carry travel conditions until you move on to a Permanent Resident Visa.

The SMC is what most people mean when they talk about getting residence through work in New Zealand. It is also the pathway that changed most significantly in 2026.

Applications are made through an Expression of Interest, then a visa application after being invited to apply. That process is set out further down this guide.

If you researched the SMC before August 2026, some of what you have read no longer applies.

• Two new pathways opened that do not require points at all.
• Points settings changed. Qualifications completed in New Zealand now attract more points than the overseas equivalent, and you can reach 6 points with less New Zealand work experience than before.
• Wage thresholds are now fixed to a point in your own history rather than having to be met twice.
• The genuine employment test tightened across all skilled residence visas.
• Occupation lists were introduced. The Red List closes the new pathways to some occupations, and the Amber List adds requirements.

We covered the changes in detail when they were announced. See Skilled Migrant Category Changes 2026.

Every applicant, on every pathway, needs to meet a common set of requirements first:

• Aged 55 or younger at the time the residence application is made
• Skilled employment in New Zealand, or an offer of it, that INZ accepts as genuine
• A role paid at or above the applicable SMC wage threshold
• Assessed as suitably qualified for that role
• Health and character requirements
• A minimum standard of English

On top of those, you must qualify under one of the three pathways. You only need one.

Which pathways are open to you

Your occupation decides which pathways you can use.

If your occupation is	You can use
On the Amber List	Points-based pathway, or Skilled Work Experience pathway with additional requirements
On the Red List	Points-based pathway only
On the Trade Occupation List	Any of the three pathways: Points-based, Skilled Work Experience, or Trades and Technician

All three pathways rest on having skilled employment. It is worth being precise about what that means, because this is where applications fail before anyone gets to the points.

To be acceptable, your employment or offer of employment must be:

• Full-time, meaning at least 30 guaranteed hours a week for every week worked
• Permanent, or for a fixed term of at least 12 months
• Genuine, and not offered as the result of any payment

If you work on contract

A contract for services can be acceptable, but the conditions are tighter than people expect. You need all of the following:

• At least 12 months of skilled work experience in New Zealand
• A consistent history of contract work
• A current contract, or contracts, totalling at least 6 months
• An immigration officer satisfied that the contract work is likely to be sustained

Note the distinction that catches people out. Contract work, where you provide services to others under a contract for services or service agreement, can count as skilled employment, as skilled work experience in New Zealand, and as directly relevant work experience. Other forms of self-employment, where you are not contracting to others, do not count. The same rule applies on all three pathways.

Job titles do not decide this

INZ classifies occupations using ANZSCO, and from 24 August 2026 any SMC assessment uses the immigration view of ANZSCO version 1.3.

An immigration officer looks at whether your employment is substantially consistent with the ANZSCO occupation description at the 6 digit level. They assess the actual duties you perform rather than what the role is called. Where they cannot match your role, they may ask for evidence of your tasks and compare them to the broader 4 digit unit group description.

Two people with identical job titles can be assessed at different skill levels, and a role that sounds senior can be assessed at skill level 4 (that is, lower skilled).

This is a separate test from the points, and it is the one most guides skip. You can hold a job at the right skill level, paid at the right rate, and still fail here.

Being suitably qualified means you can show one of the following:

• A relevant, recognised qualification at the same level as described in ANZSCO for that occupation
• The relevant work experience that ANZSCO indicates may substitute for the required qualification
• Five years of relevant work experience, if you are in a skill level 1 occupation
• Three years of relevant work experience, if you are in a skill level 2 or 3 occupation
• Current registration for your occupation, where it is listed in the instructions

Occupations that require registration by law

If your occupation requires registration by law, you must hold full or provisional registration in New Zealand to be considered suitably qualified. For medical and dental roles, a letter of eligibility from the New Zealand Medical Council or Dental Council is accepted.

What relevant means

A qualification is directly relevant if its major subject area is directly applicable to your employment, or if an officer is satisfied the qualification was a key factor in your employer’s decision to hire you.

Work experience is directly relevant if your employer considers, and an officer is satisfied, that it is directly applicable to the role, or that the offer could not reasonably have been made without it.

This is the original SMC pathway, and it still exists. You need 6 points.

You can reach 6 in one of two ways:

• 6 points from a single skill category, being income, qualification, or New Zealand registration
• A combination of one skill category and points for your skilled work experience in New Zealand

You cannot combine income, qualification and registration with each other. You pick whichever gives you the most points, then add work experience points if you need them.

Points for qualifications

Qualifications completed in New Zealand now attract more points than the same qualification completed overseas. This is the full table.

Qualification	Points
Level 10 doctoral degree, New Zealand or overseas	6
Level 9 New Zealand master’s degree plus a bachelor’s degree from any country	6
Level 9 overseas combined master’s and bachelor’s degree	5
Level 9 New Zealand master’s degree on its own	5
Level 9 overseas master’s degree plus a bachelor’s degree from any country	5
Level 8 New Zealand honours degree plus a bachelor’s degree from any country	5
Level 8 New Zealand combined honours and bachelor’s degree	5
Level 8 New Zealand postgraduate diploma or certificate plus a bachelor’s degree from any country	5
Level 7 New Zealand bachelor’s degree	5
Level 8 overseas honours degree plus a bachelor’s degree from any country	4
Level 8 overseas combined honours and bachelor’s degree	4
Level 8 overseas postgraduate diploma or certificate plus a bachelor’s degree from any country	4
Level 7 overseas bachelor’s degree	4

Two things are worth pulling out of that table.

First, a New Zealand bachelor’s degree is worth 5 points while an overseas bachelor’s degree is worth 4. Studying here is now rewarded directly.

Second, most Level 8 and Level 9 qualifications only count if you also hold a bachelor’s degree, from any country. The exception is a New Zealand master’s degree, which is worth 5 points on its own.

Something the table does not tell you: if your overseas qualification is assessed by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority as equivalent to a Level 8 qualification in New Zealand (but not equivalent to a specific degree) it only scores 3 points. If NZQA assesses your overseas bachelor’s degree as equivalent to a Level 7 qualification, it will not score any points at all.

Points for income

Income points require full-time employment, meaning at least 30 guaranteed hours a week.

Income	Points	From 9 March 2026
At least 3 times the SMC wage threshold	6	$105.00 an hour
At least 2 times the SMC wage threshold	4	$70.00 an hour
At least 1.5 times the SMC wage threshold	3	$52.50 an hour

If you claim points for income, the same multiplier also applies to any skilled work experience you are claiming. You must maintain that rate across both. If you are claiming points for skilled work experience, you only have to meet the pay rate which was in place at that time (not the current rates listed above).

Points for New Zealand registration

A recognised New Zealand registration, licence or certification can be worth 3, 4, 5 or 6 points depending on the occupation and scope of practice. The list is long and specific, covering health and social services, engineering, maritime, real estate and more.

Provisional, trainee, intern or limited registration does not qualify for points unless the instructions specifically say otherwise, which catches out a number of people partway through registration.

Points for skilled work experience in New Zealand

These points sit on top of one skill category. Note that this is not one point a year, and each level has its own lookback window.

Skilled work experience in New Zealand	Points	Must be completed within
2 years	3	The 4 years before your SMC application
1 year and 6 months	2	The 3 years before your SMC application
1 year	1	The 2 years before your SMC application

Your work experience must be paid at the SMC wage threshold if your occupation is at ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3, or 1.5 times it if your occupation is at skill level 4 or 5 or is not listed in ANZSCO. If you are claiming income points, it must be paid at the rate required for those points instead.

Skilled work experience does not have to be continuous. It can be made up of separate periods, for example two 12-month blocks with a gap between them. Leave taken under the Holidays Act, including parental leave and ACC leave, can be counted provided you were earning the required rate immediately before the leave started.

It stops being counted if your income decreases and falls below the required rate.

This pathway is for people whose case rests on their work history rather than a degree. There are no points.

You need 5 years of work experience in total:

• At least 3 years of directly relevant work experience, in an ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 occupation, completed in the 10 years before you apply
• At least a further 2 years of skilled work experience in New Zealand, in a skill level 1 to 3 occupation, completed in the 4 years before you apply

The same period of work cannot be counted for both. Your directly relevant experience must not be self-employment, though it can be work as a self-employed contractor providing services to others.

The pay rate

Your employment, and your skilled work experience in New Zealand, must be paid at least 1.1 times the SMC wage threshold. If your occupation is on the Amber List, that rises to 1.2 times.

Occupation is the gate

If your role sits on the Amber List, two additional requirements apply: the higher 1.2 times pay rate, and your 3 years of directly relevant experience must have been gained in New Zealand rather than anywhere.

If your occupation sits on the Red List, or is an ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5 occupation, this pathway is not open to you. Red List occupations can still use the points-based pathway.

This is the genuinely new territory in the 2026 changes. It opens residence to trades and technical roles that the points system had largely left out.

To be eligible you need:

• A job in an occupation on the Trade Occupation List, paid at least the SMC wage threshold
• A relevant qualification at Level 4 or higher, recognised on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework
• At least 2 years and 6 months of directly relevant work experience in an ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 occupation or occupations, from any country, completed in the 10 years before you apply
• At least a further 18 months of skilled work experience in New Zealand in an ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 occupation or occupations, completed in the 3 years before you apply

That is 4 years of experience in total, and all of it must be accrued after you received the qualification. Work experience does not begin counting until the qualification has been received.

Note the wage requirement is lower here than on the Skilled Work Experience pathway. Trades and Technician requires the SMC wage threshold, not 1.1 times it.

Qualification rules

A New Zealand qualification must be made up of at least 120 credits in a single qualification, or a Level 4 or above qualification of fewer than 120 credits together with the New Zealand prerequisite qualification or qualifications that lead to it, adding up to at least 120 credits.

For example, a Level 3 New Zealand qualification of 60 credits that is a prerequisite for a relevant Level 4 New Zealand qualification of 60 credits meets the requirement.

Credits awarded through recognition of prior learning do not count toward the 120.

An overseas qualification must be recognised at Level 4 or above. There is no credit requirement, but you will need an International Qualification Assessment from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

Not every trade or technician role qualifies. You can check whether yours is included on Immigration New Zealand’s list of eligible Trades and Technician occupations.

From 24 August 2026, INZ applies a tighter definition of genuine employment across all skilled residence visas.

Employment is genuine if it:

• Has not been created for the purpose of facilitating a visa
• Is for work that is available and ongoing
• Has a genuine need to be based in New Zealand
• Is accurately represented in the information given to INZ

Employment is not genuine if the offer was secured by any payment from you, your agent or a third party to the employer or their agent.

What an officer looks at

In assessing this, an immigration officer may consider:

• Whether the pay offered is comparable to the market rate for New Zealanders in that occupation
• Whether the role meets a legitimate and ongoing operational business need
• Whether the offer was made by a family member
• The proposed start date, if the work is not currently available
• Whether the employer has an established presence in New Zealand, such as premises, active operations, staff or ongoing business activity

For most applicants this changes nothing. Their employment is genuine and it passes without comment. But INZ now has clearer grounds to decline where employment does not meet the test, and a decline on that ground sits on your immigration record.

For ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 occupations, the SMC wage threshold is the median wage, which is $35.00 an hour from 9 March 2026. For a job at ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5, or an occupation not listed in ANZSCO at all, the threshold is 150 percent of that, which is $52.50 an hour.

Which year’s rate applies to you

You do not have to meet today’s rate. From 24 August 2026 the instructions fix your threshold to the rate in effect at whichever of these applies to you:

• The date you began accruing the skilled work experience in New Zealand that counts toward your pathway
• The date you were invited to apply, if your pathway does not require skilled work experience
• The date your work visa was granted, if it was granted in the five months before you began accruing that experience

For most people the anchor is the day they started the qualifying job. Provided your pay does not drop, later increases to the median wage do not catch up with you.

There is one exception. If you are claiming 6 points from a single skill category and your skilled employment is a contract for services, you must meet the threshold both when you began your contractor work experience and when you are invited to apply.

For the full history of rates and the multiples, see our Immigration Median Wage Guide.

Every principal applicant must meet the minimum standard of English. An application must be declined if this is not met, so it is worth checking early.

Accepted test results

Test	Minimum score
IELTS, General or Academic	Overall 6.5 or more
TOEFL iBT	Overall 79 or more
PTE Academic	Overall 58 or more
B2 First, or B2 First for Schools	Overall 176 or more
Occupational English Test (OET)	Grade C+ or higher in all four skills

Tests must be sat in person at a test centre. Remote and at home tests are not accepted, which catches out a number of applicants each year.

How long results stay valid

Results must be no more than 2 years old when you lodge, or no more than 5 years old if you are applying under the SMC with a valid occupational registration.

Other ways to meet the standard

You do not always need a test. You may also qualify through:

• Citizenship of Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom or the United States, with at least 5 years of work or education in those countries, Australia or New Zealand
• A qualification comparable to a New Zealand Level 7 bachelor’s degree, gained in one of those countries or Australia or New Zealand, from at least 2 academic years of study there
• A qualification comparable to a New Zealand Level 8 or above, from at least 1 academic year of study in one of those countries

An immigration officer can still require a test result in any case.

If you are relying on an overseas qualification, usually yes.

An International Qualification Assessment (IQA) is issued by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and confirms how your overseas qualification compares to the New Zealand framework.

IQAs take time and cost money, and they are one of the most common causes of delay in an otherwise straightforward application. If there is any chance you will need one, start it early rather than waiting until the rest of your evidence is ready.

Qualifications on INZ’s List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment do not need an IQA. Nor do you need one where a New Zealand registration body has already assessed your overseas qualification as comparable to a qualification on that list.

Yes. Partners and dependent children can be included in an SMC residence application on any of the three pathways, which means they are granted residence at the same time as you rather than applying separately.

Partners must meet the partnership requirements, which means demonstrating a genuine and stable relationship, and they must meet health and character requirements in their own right. Dependent children must be aged 24 or younger, single, with no children of their own. If they are aged 21 to 24, evidence of their financial dependence on their parents will be required.

The SMC is not a direct application. It runs in stages.

1. Submit an Expression of Interest

You start by submitting an Expression of Interest, or EOI, setting out your occupation, employment, qualifications and experience. The EOI form was replaced on 24 August 2026, so any guidance you find that describes the old form no longer applies.

Providing false or misleading information in an EOI is treated seriously and can result in an application being declined.

2. Invitation to apply

There is no pool selection and no draw. If your EOI meets the criteria, you are invited to apply for residence.

3. Residence application

You then lodge the full application. You have 4 months from the invitation to submit it.

The evidence INZ expects includes:

• Employment agreements and job descriptions, previous and current, showing your name, the employer’s legal entity, occupation, hours and remuneration
• A summary of earnings or tax statement from Inland Revenue covering the relevant period
• Qualification certificates and academic transcripts, and an IQA where required
• Identity and travel documents
• Medical and police certificates
• Evidence of the principal applicant’s English ability

Where tax records are not available for overseas work experience, a certificate of service from your employer can be used instead. That substitution is not available for New Zealand experience.

An officer can also consider evidence from your previous visa applications. If anything material has changed since then, such as your pay, you need to tell them.

4. Assessment and decision

An immigration officer assesses the application. If they have concerns, they will usually write to you before deciding, giving you an opportunity to respond.

That letter is called a PPI (potentially prejudicial information) letter, and how you respond to it often determines the outcome. See our guide to PPI and RFI letters.

What if you were invited to apply before 24 August 2026?

This is worth knowing if you are partway through the process right now.

If you were invited to apply before 24 August 2026, your application is assessed under the instructions in effect on 23 August 2026, even if you lodge it after the change. The old rules follow your invitation.

That cuts both ways. If the new settings would suit you better, the older rules still apply to that invitation. Whether it is worth doing anything about that depends entirely on your own circumstances, and it is the kind of question worth putting to a licensed adviser before you act.

There is no fee to submit an Expression of Interest. The cost arrives at the residence application stage.

The published fee for a principal applicant is currently NZD 6,450, which covers the application fee and the Immigration Levy. On top of that you should budget for medical examinations, police certificates, an International Qualification Assessment where required, English language testing where required, and document translation.

The single biggest factor in your own timeline is whether the application arrives complete. Applications that trigger a request for further information take considerably longer than published averages suggest.

Fees and processing times change from time to time. Check the current figures on Immigration New Zealand’s fees and decision times finder.

From what we see, problems cluster in a handful of places.

The occupation is assessed at a lower skill level than expected

Applicants often assume their job title determines their ANZSCO skill level. INZ assesses the actual duties. A role that sounds senior can be assessed at skill level 4, which usually results in an application not meeting requirements for skilled employment and skilled work experience, because of the higher pay rate required for skill level 4 occupations.

The applicant is not suitably qualified

This is separate from the points and it is easy to miss. Holding the job is not enough if you cannot show the qualification, work experience or registration that ANZSCO indicates for that occupation.

The pay rate does not hold up

The threshold has to be met by the actual rate paid over the relevant period, evidenced by payslips and tax records. Unpaid overtime, variable hours or a period at a lower rate can undercut a claim that looked sound on the contract.

Work experience does not count the way the applicant expected

Directly relevant experience cannot be self-employment, other than contract work providing services to others. Periods in a skill level 4 or 5 role do not count toward the skilled experience requirements. A pay decrease stops the clock. And each level of work experience points has its own look-back window, so waiting too long can push early experience out of range.

The employment is questioned

With the tighter genuine employment test, the employer side of an application carries more weight than it used to. Roles created for the applicant, offers from family members, and employers without a clear operating presence in New Zealand all attract closer scrutiny.

Evidence is thin rather than wrong

Many declines are not about eligibility. The applicant qualified, but the evidence did not demonstrate it clearly enough.

Yes. The SMC grants a Resident Visa, which carries travel conditions. After you have held it for 2 years in a row, you can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa.

That visa removes travel conditions and gives you the lifelong right to return to New Zealand from outside the country. See our Permanent Resident Visa Guide.

Residence is also the usual step before citizenship, which has its own separate residency requirements.

What is considered a skilled migrant in New Zealand?
It is not about how skilled you feel, or how senior your title is. For SMC purposes it means holding an acceptable skilled job: full-time work at an ANZSCO skill level and pay rate INZ accepts, on a permanent or sufficiently long-term basis, and being suitably qualified for it.

How many points do I need?
Six, if you are applying under the points-based pathway. You claim points from either your qualification, your income or your New Zealand registration, then add up to 3 more for skilled work experience in New Zealand. The two new pathways do not use points at all.

How many points is my degree worth?
A New Zealand bachelor’s degree is 5 points and an overseas bachelor’s degree is 4. A doctoral degree is 6. Most Level 8 and Level 9 qualifications need a supporting bachelor’s degree, except a New Zealand master’s, which is worth 5 on its own.

Which skills are most in demand in New Zealand?
The clearest signal is the Green List, INZ’s list of occupations in demand, which carries its own residence pathways separate from the SMC. The Trade Occupation List is a second signal, since it opens residence to occupations the points system had left out. See our Work to Residence Visa Guide for the Green List pathways.

What is the difference between the Skilled Migrant Category and Work to Residence?
They are separate pathways. The Work to Residence Visa is based on holding a Green List Tier 2 role and completing 24 months with an accredited employer. Some people qualify under both. See our Work to Residence Visa Guide.

Can I apply for the SMC while on an AEWV?
Yes, and most SMC applicants do. The AEWV is the temporary visa people usually hold while building the skilled work experience the SMC requires. See our Accredited Employer Work Visa Guide.

Do I need a job offer, or do I need to already be working?
Both are possible. The pathways refer to a job or a job offer. What matters is that the employment is skilled, paid at the applicable threshold, and genuine.

Does my work experience have to be in New Zealand?
Not all of it. The Skilled Work Experience pathway requires 2 of its 5 years in New Zealand. The Trades and Technician pathway requires 18 months of its 4 years in New Zealand. The rest can be overseas.

Can I count self-employment?
Contract work can count as directly relevant work experience, but other forms of self-employment do not count. Contract work can also count as skilled employment and as skilled work experience in New Zealand, if you meet the conditions.

What happens if my occupation is on the Red List?
The Skilled Work Experience and Trades and Technician pathways are not available. The points-based pathway remains open.

How long is my English test valid?
Two years, or five years if you hold a valid occupational registration recognised for SMC purposes. The test must have been sat in person.

Is there a points calculator?
Online calculators can give you a rough indication, but they cannot assess how INZ will classify your occupation, whether you are suitably qualified for it, whether your evidence supports your claimed pay rate, or whether your employment meets the genuine employment test. Those are the things applications turn on.