New Zealand Requirements

New Zealand Information Sheet

ESTIMATED COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH VISA AND MEDICAL BOARD REGISTRATION

Estimated costs in relation to registration include:

• NZ Medical Council Application – $425NZL
• Medical degree translated into English if applicable – $80 – $90NZL
• Visa Application – approximately 50GBP / $240NZL;
• Medicals (not generally necessary if going from UK for less than 12 months)- if required, you are responsible for paying any fees and costs associated with the medical examinations, including those of the examining doctor, radiological examination, special tests and investigations, treatment and specialists. These costs vary from country to country. Tests expire after 3 months.

ESTIMATED ASSOCIATED COSTS WITH RELOCATION

When relocating you should have at least $5000AUD / $ 5700NZL for:

• flights;
• initial accommodation; and
• rental deposit.

CERTFICATE OF GOOD STANDING

You will need to request that an Original Certificate of Good Standing (‘COGS’) issued by the Medical Registration body from each country or State you have worked as a medical practitioner during the past 3 years to be sent DIRECTLY by medical registration body to MCNZ in New Zealand within 3 months of employment start date.

FULL REGISTRATION

You will need to provide evidence that you hold unlimited registration in your current jurisdiction. This can be proved by a registration certificate – current or previous- that clearly has the words “Full Registration” or “Unlimited Registration”.

ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

• If you were trained in a country where English is not the primary language, you will need to sit or have sat (within the past two years) the academic module of the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) or equivalent. You will need to have achieved an overall band of 7.5 or above.
• A minimum band of 7 is required in each of the four individual components of the test (listening, reading, writing and speaking).
• IELTS is the only English test approved by the Council.

HOW LONG DOES THE PROCESS TAKE

• Medical Council approval: 4 – 6 weeks from date of lodgement, but can take longer;
• Visa: on-the-spot to 2 weeks or longer once medical council registration is approved

(Total: generally anywhere from 4 weeks)