How long do these New Zealand routes take, what do they cost, and do they lead to permanent residence?
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand skilled migration: Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa
New Zealand
- Residency
- Resident visa on grant — you may live, work and study in New Zealand indefinitely. Travel conditions expire after 2 years. A Permanent Resident Visa requires a separate application after at least 2 years on this visa, if you meet the applicable requirements.
- Job offer
- Required
- Education
- The visa has no single education floor. On the Points-based pathway, a level 7 bachelor's degree or higher is one optional skill category (5 points for a New Zealand bachelor's degree, 4 points for an international bachelor's degree) beside occupational registration and income, and you cannot claim qualification points for a non-degree qualification at level 7 or below. The Skilled Work Experience pathway does not require a formal qualification. The Trades and Technician pathway requires a relevant qualification at level 4 or higher, or a qualification comparable to level 4 or higher. Previous stored value 'bachelor' treated a degree as mandatory and has been removed.
- Points
- Points-based: at least 6
Skilled Work Experience: no points test
Trades and Technician: no points test
- Application fee
- From NZD 6,450
- Funds
- Not yet checked
- Processing time
- No commitment to a processing time
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand student visa: Fee Paying Student Visa
New Zealand
- Residency
- Temporary — not a permanent-residence route on its own
- Job offer
- Not published on the page we read
- Education
- The page states no education minimum
- Points
- No threshold published
- Application fee
- From NZD 850
- Funds
- NZD 20,000
- Processing time
- No commitment to a processing time
What language evidence and skills assessment does New Zealand name?
- Language evidence: Skilled Migrant Category principal applicants: IELTS overall 6.5 or more (or TOEFL iBT 79, PTE Academic 58, B2 First 176, or OET Grade C+ in all 4 skills), in person and no more than 2 years old, unless a citizenship or study exemption applies.
- Credential assessment: NZQA International Qualification Assessment (IQA) — required if you claim SMC qualification points and the qualification is not on INZ's List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment
Verified 2026-09-18–2026-09-22 against Immigration New Zealand.
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