A trade to residence in New Zealand, from Nigeria

This guide is for you if you work with your hands: a welder, a motor or diesel mechanic, an automotive electrician, a carpenter, a tiler, a refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic, a tailor, or another trade on New Zealand's list. Since 24 August 2026, New Zealand has a route to residence made for tradespeople, called the Trades and Technician pathway. With a qualification in your trade that New Zealand places at level 4, and 2.5 years of work for an employer after it, you work for an approved employer in New Zealand on a work visa, paid at least NZD 35.00 an hour for 18 months, and then you apply for a resident visa that lets you, your husband or wife and your children live, work and study in New Zealand with no end date.

This guide walks you through it from the first thing you can do tonight in Nigeria to your first New Zealand pay and your resident visa, one stage at a time: what you do, where, what it costs, how long it takes, and what comes next. Every fee, date and rule in it comes from the official page that sets it. Updated on 28 October 2026. Where a line says "people who did it wrote online", it is what people who walked this route reported, not a rule. Nobody can promise you a job, a work visa or residence, including us. Only the employer decides who he hires, and only Immigration New Zealand decides a visa.

Read "The trades on the list, what New Zealand asks of you and your first step" first. Then read Part 1 once from top to bottom, and come back to the stage you are on.

The trades on the list, what New Zealand asks of you and your first step

The trades on the list

Immigration New Zealand (INZ, the New Zealand government office that decides visas) keeps one list of the trades that can use this route. These are the trades Nigerians most often work in, as the list prints them:

• Welder, and Fitter-Welder
• Motor Mechanic, Diesel Motor Mechanic, Motorcycle Mechanic and Small Engine Mechanic
• Automotive Electrician
• Airconditioning and Refrigeration Mechanic
• Carpenter and Joiner, and Joiner
• Wall and Floor Tiler, and Roof Tiler
• Sheetmetal Trades Worker, Metal Fabricator, and Fitter (General)
• Panel beater, Vehicle Painter and Painting Trades Worker
• Dressmaker or Tailor, and Sewing Machinist
• Butcher or Smallgoods Maker
• Glazier, Solid Plasterer and Stonemason

The list has more than a hundred trades and technician jobs in all, from Blacksmith to Wood Machinist; every one of them is at the end of this guide ("The whole list"). Five things are not on it, and people often think they are: a general electrician (only the Automotive Electrician is), a general plumber (only the Airconditioning and Mechanical Services Plumber is), a chef or cook, a bricklayer and a driver. A general electrician or a general plumber has another option: both are on New Zealand's Green List for residence after 2 years of work in New Zealand, once registered in New Zealand (Part 1). If your job is not on the list, read the Skilled Work Experience option in Part 1 before you decide. Find your own trade's exact name on the list before you spend any money.

What New Zealand asks of you

Two visas, two sets of rules, and the resident visa's are the stricter. These are INZ's conditions for the resident visa, in plain words; live by them from the start:

1. A job in a trade on the list, with a New Zealand employer INZ has approved to hire people from abroad (an accredited employer), full time (at least 30 hours a week), and paid at least NZD 35.00 an hour (about ₦26,400 an hour). That pay line is called the SMC wage threshold (SMC is the Skilled Migrant Category, the resident visa this route ends in).
2. A qualification in your trade at level 4 or higher (INZ: "a relevant qualification") on New Zealand's scale of qualifications (the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework). A Nigerian certificate is placed on that scale by New Zealand's qualifications office, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), in a check called an International Qualification Assessment (IQA). INZ: "Overseas qualifications must have an IQA that assesses the qualification as Level 4 or higher."
3. At least 2.5 years of work in your trade after you got that qualification, for an employer, in the 10 years before you apply for residence. These years can be in Nigeria. INZ: "You can not include self-employment as relevant work experience." Years in your own shop do not count. Years an employer can prove do.
4. A further 1.5 years (18 months) working in your trade in New Zealand, paid at least the NZD 35.00 an hour, inside the 3 years before you apply for residence.
5. You are 55 or younger on the day you apply for residence, in good health, of good character (police certificates), and you speak English: an IELTS score of 6.5 overall for you, 5 for your husband or wife and any child aged 16 or older.

So the whole route is at least 4 years of work in your trade after your qualification, and at least 18 months of it in New Zealand. INZ's own summary: "you must have a relevant qualification, and at least 4 years of post-qualification work experience, including at least 18 months of skilled work experience in New Zealand."

Your first step, tonight, from Nigeria

Put your trade on INZ's free register your interest form, so that job alerts from approved New Zealand employers come to your email. INZ: "it's free and without obligation", and "you'll also receive job alerts relevant to your profession from accredited New Zealand employers who may be able to support a work visa application." It is one short form, and you can fill it on a phone.

How to fill it, field by field:

• Citizenship on your passport and Country where you live: type "Nig" and pick Nigeria. The form's own country list holds Nigeria.
• I want to...: Live & work in New Zealand.
• Highest Level of Education: Trade Certificate or Diploma (or your degree, if you hold one).
• Find your occupation: type your trade and pick the name that matches your work. For a welder the form offers "Welder (First Class)", "Fitter-Welder" and "Pressure Welder"; pick the one that matches the job you do. Pressure Welder is not on this route's list (the list's Welder is "Welder (First Class)" on the form); a pressure welder reads the Green List option in Part 1.
• Years of experience: the years you have worked in the trade.
• Then tick the consent line, answer the small maths question and press Register Now.

The form is here: INZ's register your interest form, opens in a new tab. It is the "Register for information" link on INZ's page "Finding work in New Zealand".

What it does and does not do: the form brings you information and job alerts. It is not a job application and it is not a visa. The hiring is the employer's. Stage 1 below is what you do the same week, and Stage 5 is how you find and write to the employers yourself.

Part 1. Before you start

What this is

Two visas, one after the other.

• First, a work visa, the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV). An approved employer offers you a job, sends you a link, and you apply online from Nigeria. It ties you to that employer, that job and that place, for up to 5 years; INZ sets the length by the job you are offered ("Up to 5 years based on the job offered"). INZ's fee for a Nigerian is NZD 1,540 (about ₦1.16 million); the fee already includes INZ's immigration levy. INZ says 80 percent are decided within 5 weeks.
• Then, the resident visa, the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) Resident Visa, on its Trades and Technician pathway. After your 18 months in New Zealand at the pay line, you tell INZ online that you qualify (an expression of interest, free), INZ invites you, and you apply with your family on one application. The fee is NZD 6,450 (about ₦4.87 million). INZ says 80 percent are decided within 4 months. The resident visa lets you live, work and study in New Zealand "indefinitely", and you can work for any employer.

New Zealand ranks jobs by skill level from 1 to 5 (on a list called ANZSCO); every trade named at the top of this guide is at level 3.

The route opened on 24 August 2026. INZ announced it on 18 June 2026 "ahead of these changes taking effect on 24 August 2026."

The bodies you will deal with

• Immigration New Zealand (INZ) decides the work visa and the resident visa, runs the register your interest form, and keeps the list of approved employers. Everything is online at immigration.govt.nz; there is no INZ office or visa centre in Nigeria, and you do not need one.
• The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) checks your trade certificate and says where it sits on New Zealand's scale (the IQA).
• Your employer must be accredited by INZ before he can hire you. He advertises the job in New Zealand, gets INZ's approval for the job (a job check), then sends you the offer and the visa link.
• A panel doctor in Lagos or Abuja does your chest X-ray and medical for INZ, and the Nigeria Police Force gives your police certificate.
• After you land, Inland Revenue (IRD) gives you your tax number, and your employer pays you through it.

The rules that govern you, where two rules meet

Two visas means two sets of rules. Where they differ, the stricter one is the one you live by, from the start:

• Pay. The work visa asks only that the job be "paid at least the" required wage "for your job". But your 18 months count towards residence only when you are paid at least NZD 35.00 an hour, and INZ is plain: "Your skilled work experience starts counting when your pay meets the SMC wage threshold in place at that time." So take no offer under NZD 35.00 an hour if residence is your aim. Months paid less are months that do not count.
• English. The work visa asks an IELTS score of 4 overall for a job at skill level 3, the level of every trade named at the top of this guide (INZ's list prints each job's level; a job at level 1 or 2 has no English rule on the work visa, but still 6.5 for residence). The resident visa asks 6.5 overall. Aim for 6.5 from your first test.
• Your qualification. The work visa takes either 2 years of work in your trade or a level 4 qualification. The resident visa takes both, and more: the level 4 IQA and 2.5 years after it. Start the IQA in your first weeks (Stage 3), because it tells you whether this route is open to you at all.
• Your work years. The work visa asks for proof "from someone other than yourself". The resident visa adds that self-employment never counts. Only employed years, after your qualification, count.
• Age. INZ checks 55 or younger "when you apply" for residence, so you must apply before your 56th birthday, and you cannot apply until your 18 months in New Zealand are done. If you start your New Zealand job after the day you turn 54 and a half, this route closes to you; leave yourself room.

The route this guide walks, and the other option

This guide walks the Trades and Technician pathway: 2.5 years of work anywhere after your qualification, then 18 months in New Zealand, then residence.

The other option, for some trades: two years in New Zealand, then residence. Some trades are also on New Zealand's Green List (a list of jobs New Zealand needs people for), on the part that leads to the Work to Residence Visa after 24 months of work in New Zealand. These include Welder, Fitter-Welder, Pressure Welder, Metal Fabricator, Fitter (General), Fitter and Turner, Motor Mechanic, Diesel Motor Mechanic, Motorcycle Mechanic, Automotive Electrician, Panel Beater and Vehicle Painter. The rule: "For 24 out of the 30 months before you apply, you must have been paid at least" a rate set for each trade: at least 130 percent of the median wage for a welder, fitter-welder, pressure welder, metal fabricator and fitter; 115 percent for a panel beater and vehicle painter; the median wage itself for a mechanic and an automotive electrician. INZ's Green List puts the 2025 median wage at NZD 35.00 an hour (about ₦26,400) and 130 percent of it at NZD 45.50 an hour (about ₦34,400); 115 percent comes to NZD 40.25 (about ₦30,400). You are held to the median in place when your 24 months start, and you may have to meet a different one if you change job or your pay falls. A general electrician and a general plumber are on it too, at the median wage, once registered in New Zealand (the Electrical Workers Registration Board; the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board). INZ: "You must get your registration before you can apply for a visa to work in one of these roles." Registration is its own process with that board, and this guide does not walk it.

Which one is yours:

• You have 2.5 years of employed work after a qualification that NZQA places at level 4 or higher: take the Trades and Technician pathway. It needs 18 months in New Zealand, not 24.
• You are a welder, fitter-welder or pressure welder whose years were in your own shop, or whose certificate comes out below level 4: the Green List entries for these three trades ask for no qualification. A job paying at least NZD 45.50 an hour (about ₦34,400) for 24 of 30 months leads to the Work to Residence Visa. You still need the work visa first, and the work visa still needs 2 years of work proven by someone other than yourself, or a level 4 qualification.
• You are a motor mechanic or automotive electrician and want the Green List option: its entry asks for "a New Zealand Certificate Level 4 or higher qualification" in automotive engineering (or appointment as a vehicle inspector). NZQA's Skill Shortage List IQA assesses a qualification "under one occupation on an Immigration New Zealand Skill Shortage List" (NZD 610, about ₦461,000, or NZD 165, about ₦125,000, added to a Standard IQA you applied for or got within the last 12 months). Whether a Nigerian certificate can meet this entry: we cannot tell yet. The Trades and Technician pathway asks 18 months in New Zealand; the Green List asks 24.
• You have no certificate, or yours comes out below level 4, and you have at least 3 years of work for an employer in your trade: the Skilled Work Experience pathway asks no qualification. Your job must be at skill level 1 to 3 (INZ's Find your job's skill level, opens in a new tab gives the level of any job) and not on INZ's Red List (Red and Amber List occupations, opens in a new tab; no trade on this route's list is on the Red or Amber List); you need 3 years of work for an employer (never your own shop), then 2 years in New Zealand paid at least NZD 38.50 an hour (about ₦29,100), 5 years in all. A chef is on the Amber List: NZD 42.00 an hour (about ₦31,700), and the 3 years must also be in New Zealand. It ends in the same resident visa and the same fee as this guide; the stages are the same, except that you need no IQA (skip Stage 3), and the years and the pay line differ.

The rest of this guide walks the Trades and Technician pathway; the Work to Residence Visa and the Skilled Work Experience option cost the same NZD 6,450 at the end, and Stage 10 says where they part.

Check that you can start

Your trade. Find it on the list ("The whole list", at the end). If your trade is not there, the Trades and Technician pathway is not for you; read "The other option" and the Skilled Work Experience option above. INZ's registration list names no registration for a welder, a mechanic, an automotive electrician, a refrigeration mechanic, a carpenter, a tiler, a sheetmetal worker, a panel beater or a tailor.

Your qualification. You need a qualification in your trade, from after secondary school, that NZQA places at level 4 or higher. What level your Nigerian certificate comes out at (a National Technical Certificate, including one taken at a technical college, an Advanced National Technical Certificate, a polytechnic National Diploma or Higher National Diploma, a Federal Trade Test certificate): we cannot tell yet. The IQA on your own certificate is the answer, and it is Stage 3. With no certificate, read the Skilled Work Experience option above.

Your work years. Count only:

• years after the date on your qualification ("post-qualification"),
• years working for an employer, never in your own business,
• in your trade, in the 10 years before you apply for residence,
• years you can prove with your employer's letters on letterhead and your payslips or tax records.

You need 2.5 such years before your 18 months in New Zealand, or more in New Zealand to make up the 4 in all.

If your years were in your own shop. They do not count on this route, and no paper can make them count. You have three moves: work for an employer in Nigeria in your trade until you have 2.5 provable years after your qualification; or, as a welder or fitter-welder, look at the Green List option above; or get a job in New Zealand on the strength of a level 4 qualification and build all 4 years there.

Your English. Nigeria is not on INZ's list of English-speaking countries for this, so you sit a test: IELTS (General or Academic) 6.5 overall for residence, and 4 overall for the work visa at your trade's level. The test must be sat "in person at a test centre", and the result must be "no more than 2 years old" when you apply.

Your age. 55 or younger on the day you apply for residence.

Your passport. INZ wants your passport "valid for at least 3 months after the date you plan to leave New Zealand." Your work visa can run up to 5 years, so renew to the 64-page, 10-year passport before you apply (₦200,000 plus bank charges at the Nigeria Immigration Service, about 21 days for a renewal).

Your family. Your husband or wife and your children aged 24 or younger go on your resident visa application. While you are on the work visa, they can come on their own visas if you earn enough (Stage 8).

Where you apply from

Everything is done from Nigeria, online. INZ's list of visa application centres has none in Nigeria (the African one is in Pretoria), and you do not need one: the work visa is applied for online through the link your employer sends, you upload a scan of your passport's data page ("Most people do not need to provide their physical passport"), and if INZ approves, it gives you an eVisa by email. Your medical is at a panel doctor in Lagos or Abuja, and your police certificate comes from the Nigeria Police Force's online service. If INZ ever asks for your passport and you have no visa centre near you, INZ: "We will contact you with instructions about where and how to send your passport if you: do not have access to a VAC".

Part 2. The whole journey on one page

Stage 1. Register your interest and read the adverts. INZ's free form tonight; then read New Zealand's job adverts for your trade every week. Free.

Stage 2. Your work papers. A letter on letterhead from every employer, with your payslips or tax records, for at least 2.5 years after your qualification. Free.

Stage 3. Your certificate check (the IQA). Get your school or exam board to verify your certificate to NZQA, then apply online. NZD 445 (about ₦336,000), plus the verification's own cost. NZQA's average is 10 weeks.

Stage 4. Your English test. IELTS at a test centre in Nigeria, ₦299,000. Aim for 6.5 overall. Results in 1 to 5 days on computer.

Stage 5. Find the employer. Write to New Zealand employers in your trade yourself, answer adverts, check each one on INZ's list of approved employers, and never pay for a job. No official time; this is the stage that takes longest.

Stage 6. The offer. The employer advertises the job in New Zealand for at least 14 days, gets INZ's job check (most within 1.5 weeks), then sends you the offer, the employment agreement and the visa link.

Stage 7. The work visa. Police certificate, then apply online; when INZ asks, your chest X-ray and medical in Lagos or Abuja. NZD 1,540 (about ₦1.16 million). For a trade at your level, INZ's weekly figure is 3 weeks on average, most within 6.5 weeks.

Stage 8. Travel, arrival and your first pay. Your Traveller Declaration before you fly, your IRD number (2 days), a bank account, then your first pay on the day your agreement says. Your family's visas when you earn enough.

Stage 9. The 18 months at NZD 35.00 an hour or more. Work, keep every payslip, and keep your pay at or above the line.

Stage 10. The resident visa. A free expression of interest, INZ's invitation, then the application within 4 months, with your family. NZD 6,450 (about ₦4.87 million). INZ says 80 percent within 4 months.

Stage 11. What follows. After 2 years on the resident visa, the Permanent Resident Visa.

The money. Before you fly, for you alone: about ₦1.80 million in fixed fees (the IQA, IELTS and the work visa: NZD 1,985 and ₦299,000), plus your passport if it needs renewing, the verification of your certificate, your medical, your police certificate and your flight. The resident visa at the end, NZD 6,450, is paid from your New Zealand pay. Part 7 has every fee.

The time. No official page states the whole time. On the pages' own figures: the IQA about 10 weeks, the employer's advert and job check about 3 to 4 weeks once he has chosen you, the work visa about 3 to 6.5 weeks, then 18 months of work, then the resident visa, most within 4 months. Finding the employer has no official time and is the longest part.

Part 3. Stage by stage

Stage 1. Register your interest and read the adverts

Back to the short stages

You know your trade is on the list and that your years can count (Part 1). Now you put your name where New Zealand employers look, and you start reading their adverts.

Do.

1. Fill in INZ's register your interest form, as "Your first step" above shows, field by field. Use the email address you check every day.
2. Open New Zealand's job adverts for your trade and read them every week. INZ tells employers who want to hire from abroad: "You must advertise the job on a general, national job listing website or platform where New Zealand citizens and residents are likely to apply. For example, Seek or TradeMe." So most jobs that can lead to your work visa are advertised on a national site like these, for at least 14 days, with "the minimum and maximum rate of pay" (a Green List job at its pay rate, or a job paying NZD 70.00 an hour or more, may skip the advert). Search Seek, opens in a new tab and Trade Me Jobs, opens in a new tab for your trade and read the pay on each advert. Keep a list of every employer whose advert pays NZD 35.00 an hour or more.
3. Check each of those employers on INZ's accredited employer list, opens in a new tab: type at least the first 3 letters of the company's name or its 13-digit business number (the NZBN). The list is "updated daily". "Some employers have chosen not to be published in the search results, check with the employer to find out if they are accredited or not."

Where. INZ's register your interest form, opens in a new tab; INZ's How to find a job in New Zealand, opens in a new tab; INZ's accredited employer list, opens in a new tab.

What it costs. Nothing.

How long. The form is short. The reading never really stops until you hold an offer.

You are done when the form says you are registered, and you have a list of employers in your trade with their pay.

What opens next. Stage 2 (your papers) and Stage 3 (your certificate check) start the same week. Do not wait for an employer to answer before you start them: an employer who answers will ask for them.

What INZ says to expect. "Many of them post jobs from employers expecting applications from people already in New Zealand. Some specialise in connecting with people overseas." So read each advert to the end; where it says it takes applicants from overseas, or says nothing, you can apply. People who did it wrote online in 2026 of applying from Nigeria through rejections and time differences before one employer's email came.

Stage 2. Your work papers

Back to the short stages

Why. Both visas ask you to prove your years in the trade, and INZ sets a high bar. The route's own words: "The new pathways require a high standard of evidence for work experience, including independently verifiable documents." For the work visa: "Providing a CV or resume is not sufficient. If you only provide a reference letter or a certificate of employment, without other supporting evidence such as payslips or tax certificates, you may not satisfy us that you meet this requirement."

Do. Ask every employer you worked for after your qualification, in your trade, for:

• A letter on the company's official letterhead (a certificate of employment) that shows, as INZ says, "the positions you held, the periods of your employment, your employer's address and contact details", with the hours you worked each week (INZ: "You must provide evidence of the number of hours you have worked"). Ask that it names the work you did in your trade (welding, servicing engines, wiring vehicles), so it matches the job title on the list.
• Your payslips for those years, or your tax records. For the resident visa INZ asks for "a summary of earnings or tax statement from the respective government authority for each work experience claimed", and if you cannot get tax records for your work outside New Zealand, "you can provide a certificate of service from your employer instead" (a letter from your employer confirming the dates you worked and your role).
• Your employment agreement or appointment letter and a description of your job, for each employer. The resident visa asks for "an employment agreement and job description showing the occupation, hours and rate of pay for each work period."

What you need. The name, address, phone number and email of each employer, so that INZ can check: INZ calls the documents "independently verifiable".

What it costs. Nothing from INZ.

How long. No official time. Ask this week.

You are done when you hold, for at least 2.5 years after your qualification, a letterhead letter from each employer with the dates, your position, your hours and the employer's contacts, and payslips or tax records for the same months.

If an employer has closed or will not write. Use what you have that someone other than you issued: payslips, bank statements showing the salary paid in, tax records, your appointment letter. INZ asks that the evidence be "from someone other than yourself". Months you cannot prove are months that do not count; count again with only the months you can prove.

If all your years were in your own shop. Stop here and read "If your years were in your own shop" in Part 1. No letter you write for yourself counts.

Rekoja's desk. If you want help with your papers for this stage (the letters to ask your employers for, your payslips and records put in order, your scans for NZQA), Rekoja's desk can help you prepare them with you in Nigeria, paid in naira, with any official fee at cost and a quote before any work starts. Every step here is free to do yourself.

Stage 3. Your certificate check (the IQA)

Back to the short stages

Why. For residence on this route, INZ will only take a qualification from outside New Zealand that NZQA has placed at level 4 or higher. INZ: "Evidence that you have applied for an IQA but have not yet received the results will not be accepted." And for the work visa, if you use your qualification rather than your years, INZ asks for an IQA too, because yours is "below a Bachelor's degree, and from outside of New Zealand." The result also tells you early whether this route is open to you, before you spend on anything else.

Which IQA. The Standard IQA, "for the evaluation of one qualification", NZD 445. Only for the Green List option as a motor mechanic or automotive electrician do you need the Skill Shortage List IQA, NZD 610. If you have already applied for the Standard IQA, or got it within the last 12 months, the Skill Shortage List check is added to it for NZD 165 (about ₦125,000).

Step 1. Get your certificate verified to NZQA first. NZQA will not look at your application until your documents are verified: "Do not apply unless you can meet the verification requirements on this page." It accepts three kinds of proof:

• "your education provider's online verification service on their website (if NZQA trusts it)";
• one of the services NZQA names, which include the "WES Global Records Verification Report for New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA)";
• "digital copies of your award certificate and academic transcript, sent directly to us by your awarding organisation." For this one, "the sender must use an official email address of the awarding organisation and email any evidence or documentation directly to QRSenquiries@nzqa.govt.nz. We cannot accept an email which has been forwarded."

NZQA does not take a stamped or notarised copy: "We don't accept physical or certified copies of your qualification documents (i.e. apostille or public notary copies)."

What to do: go to the office that issued your certificate (your polytechnic's or college's exams and records office, or the exam board that issued it), and ask them to email your certificate and your result sheet straight to QRSenquiries@nzqa.govt.nz from their official email address, naming you and your certificate. Ask them for the date they send it. If they cannot email it, NZQA says: "please use an approved qualifications verification service", such as WES. What the WES verification costs a Nigerian, and whether it covers Nigerian exam boards: we cannot tell yet. "You may have to pay for the verification."

Step 2. Apply online. Create an account on NZQA's application portal and upload:

• "the photo and personal information page of your Passport";
• "all your post-secondary education award certificates";
• "all your transcripts, academic records or mark sheets for each year of post-secondary education";
• if your name differs anywhere, proof of the change: "a marriage certificate, a deed poll document or an affidavit."

Scan every paper in colour, every edge showing: "We only accept scanned digital copies, in colour". "You do not need to have the copies certified". Pay by card: "Make sure you have a credit card ready for payment." Paying a New Zealand fee from Nigeria with a naira card or a dollar card: we cannot tell yet.

Where. NZQA, Apply for an International Qualification Assessment, opens in a new tab.

What it costs. NZD 445 (about ₦336,000), plus NZD 275 (about ₦208,000) if you finished your qualification before 1998. "There is no refund if you choose to cancel your application."

How long. NZQA's average wait is 10 weeks. Once NZQA has confirmed your application holds every paper it needs, it finishes 90 percent within 3 weeks.

You are done when NZQA emails you and you download your recognition statement from your account. Read the line that says where your qualification sits. Level 4 or higher: this route is open to you. Keep the statement's reference number; it goes into your expression of interest in Stage 10. "Your recognition statement is valid indefinitely."

What runs at the same time. Stages 1, 2 and 5. Book IELTS (Stage 4) once your IQA application is in, so the score is ready when an employer asks; if the IQA comes out below level 4, read the other options in Part 1 before you pay for the test.

If NZQA asks for more. Answer within 15 days: "We may cancel your application if we do not hear back from you within 15 days of contacting you", and the fee is not returned.

If it comes out below level 4. You can appeal "within 20 working days" for NZD 765 (about ₦578,000), once; NZQA refunds the appeal fee less NZD 55 (about ₦42,000) if the outcome changes on the papers you first sent. Talk to NZQA before you appeal: "Please contact us first to discuss the outcome of your recognition statement before deciding to submit an appeal." If the outcome stands, this pathway is closed to that qualification; read the Skilled Work Experience option and the Green List option in Part 1.

Stage 4. Your English test

Back to the short stages

Why. The work visa asks an IELTS of 4 overall for a job at skill level 3, the level of every trade named at the top of this guide, and the resident visa asks 6.5 overall. Sit once, aim for 6.5.

Do. Book IELTS (General Training or Academic; INZ takes either) at a test centre in Nigeria. IELTS has test centres across Nigeria, including Lagos and Abuja, run by the British Council and by IDP.

Where. IDP Nigeria's test dates, opens in a new tab, or the IELTS test centre finder for Nigeria, opens in a new tab.

What it costs. ₦299,000 for IELTS Academic or General Training on computer at an IDP test centre.

How long. Results 1 to 5 days on computer.

You are done for the work visa when your Test Report Form shows 4 overall or more. For residence you need 6.5, from a test no more than 2 years old when you apply (see "Plan the date").

Plan the date. Your result must be "no more than 2 years old" when you apply. If you sit now and your resident visa application comes more than 2 years later, you will sit again in New Zealand before you apply. Sit for the work visa now, and plan a second sitting about 20 months into your New Zealand job.

For your family. Your husband or wife and any child aged 16 or older need IELTS 5 overall for the resident visa, or you pay for English lessons for them in New Zealand. There is no English rule for them on the work visa.

Stage 5. Find the employer

Back to the short stages

Why. Both visas start with a job offer from an accredited employer in New Zealand. You start this stage with nobody in New Zealand, and that is normal. INZ: "In New Zealand, approaching employers directly is an accepted and often successful approach."

Do, every week:

1. Answer the adverts on Seek, opens in a new tab and Trade Me Jobs, opens in a new tab for your trade (Stage 1), and every job alert the register your interest form sends you.
2. Write to employers directly. INZ: "The best approach is to check an organisation's website. You can find their contact details, as well as information about any jobs they may not be advertising anywhere else yet." Find workshops and companies in your trade on the job sites and by searching the web for your trade and a New Zealand city (for example "diesel mechanic Hamilton"); open each company's website for its email; then check the company's name on INZ's accredited employer list (it takes a name or a business number, not a trade).
3. Send a short email and a CV. Say your trade by the list's own name ("Diesel Motor Mechanic"), your years after your qualification, the machines or vehicles you work on, that your certificate is with NZQA (or its level, once you have it), your IELTS score, and that you can join an interview by video. Attach your CV and one employer letter. Ask whether they hire through the Accredited Employer Work Visa. An email you can copy, with the blanks filled: "Subject: [your trade as the list names it], [years] years, available for a video interview. Dear [name], I am a [trade] in Nigeria with [years] years' work for employers after my certificate. My certificate is with NZQA for assessment and my IELTS is [score]. I attach my CV, a letter from my employer and short videos of my work. Do you hire through the Accredited Employer Work Visa? Thank you, [your name, phone, email]."
4. Check every employer who answers on the accredited employer list before you send any more documents.
5. Recruitment companies. INZ: "You do not need to pay the company or agency as they get paid by the employer when they place someone in a job."

What it costs. Nothing. If anyone asks you for money for the job, stop. INZ: "New Zealand employers cannot charge you fees for a job or make you pay any of their recruitment costs. This includes indirectly through a third party who then demands you pay them." And on 20 October 2026, INZ reported the Employment Court's decision that "overseas payments made for a New Zealand job are illegal", including money paid "by family members, friends, agents or others". INZ will refuse the visa itself: "We will decline an application for an AEWV if we consider you or your agent has offered or promised money to the employer (or their agent) in exchange for a job offer." And INZ cannot get back money already paid: "we do not have the ability to recover premiums paid by a migrant in a job scam".

The signs of a fake offer, in INZ's words. You are asked to pay for the job, sometimes called "'processing' or 'placement' fees"; you are offered "'package' offers with a visa, job and accommodation"; you are promised residence ("Scammers often overstate how likely residence is"); you are asked to pay a visa fee into a bank account ("We only accept payment through debit or credit card"); an email claims to be INZ but does not end in "immigration.govt.nz" or "mbie.govt.nz". INZ also says: "Speak to your potential employer directly, such as through an interview."

How long. No official page gives a time for this stage. People who did it wrote online in 2026 that the offer came after rejections. This week, make three or four short videos of your own work on your phone (a weld, a diagnosis, a fitting), with your face and your voice, and keep them ready to send with your CV: an employer who cannot meet you can see your work. If anyone offers you a New Zealand visitor visa "with joblink", walk away: a visitor visa is for a visit (INZ's visitor visa page lists a holiday, family and friends, and study for up to 3 months), and a job sold with it is a job for sale.

You are done when an accredited employer offers you a job in your trade, full time, at NZD 35.00 an hour or more, and says he will do the job check for you.

What runs at the same time. Stages 3 and 4. An employer who is interested will ask for your IQA and IELTS; have them started.

Stage 6. The offer

Back to the short stages

Why. Before an employer can hire you, INZ must approve the job itself (the job check), after he has tried to find a New Zealander for it.

What the employer does.

1. If he is not yet accredited, he applies for accreditation ("standard accreditation is for New Zealand businesses who want to hire up to 5 migrants"). INZ's weekly figure: most within 1 week.
2. He advertises the job "for at least 14 days" for a trade at skill levels 1 to 3, on Seek or Trade Me or a similar site, with "the minimum and maximum rate of pay", unless the job is exempt (a Green List job at its pay rate, or one paying at least NZD 70.00 an hour).
3. He applies for the job check "within 90 days of your job advertisement closing". INZ's weekly figure for skill level 3 roles: 2 days on average, most within 1.5 weeks.
4. Then he can "offer them the job and ask them to apply for their AEWV using Immigration Online."

What you receive. INZ: "The employer will email you and ask you to apply for the Accredited Employer Work Visa. They need to give you: a job offer, a job description, an employment agreement for the job you are applying for under this visa, and a unique link" to the online application.

Read the employment agreement before you sign. It must show your employer's name and address, your job title, the place of work, your duties, the hours and how long the job is, and pay that complies with New Zealand law. Check five things yourself:

• the hourly pay is NZD 35.00 or more (or a salary that comes to that over the hours written);
• at least 30 hours a week;
• it is permanent, or fixed for at least 12 months (the resident visa asks this of the job you hold when you apply). INZ sets the work visa's length by the job offered, so a job fixed for 12 months may give a visa that ends before your 18 months do; a permanent job is the one that carries you to residence;
• no trial period and no clause that makes you pay money back if you leave: INZ says the agreement "cannot include" "a trial period" or "unacceptable bonding clauses";
• if your children are coming, the hours: at NZD 35.00 an hour, 30 hours a week comes to NZD 54,600 a year (about ₦41.22 million), under the NZD 58,240 your children's visas need (Stage 8).

What your employer must pay. INZ: "Your employer must pay all costs and fees inside and outside New Zealand for your recruitment. You may have to pay the visa application fee, immigration agent costs if any, and airfares." Ask him in writing who pays your flight.

How long. About 3 to 4 weeks from the day he starts the advert, on INZ's figures, if he is already accredited.

You are done when you have signed the job offer and the employment agreement and you hold the visa link.

If the job check is refused or the employer goes quiet. You have not paid anyone anything, so you lose nothing but time. Go back to Stage 5. People who did it wrote online in 2026 that one of the biggest fears they hear from mechanics abroad is being hired as an assistant. Check that the job title on your offer is your trade as the list prints it, because the job you hold is the job that counts.

Stage 7. The work visa

Back to the short stages

Why. This is the visa that lets you work for your employer in New Zealand. It is valid from the day you land.

Step 1. Your police certificate. From the Nigeria Police Force's character certificate service, opens in a new tab (Police Services), a Police Character Certificate. INZ asks for it because your stay will be "24 months or longer", and it must be "less than 6 months old" when you apply. INZ's guide for Nigeria: you apply online with your NIN slip, your passport's data page, two passport photographs, your birth certificate or declaration of age, the fee and a letter from your employer or sponsor (the Police ask it for employment-related applications); it takes "5 to 7 working days". What it costs: we cannot tell yet. INZ will not take a receipt: "We do not accept a receipt showing that you have applied for a certificate", and "If you do not provide a valid police certificate at the time of application, we may decline your application."

Step 2. Apply online. Open the link your employer sent: "You must open the link and accept the request before you can begin applying." Upload:

• the signed job offer, the employment agreement and the job description;
• a scan of your passport's data page and one photo;
• your work papers from Stage 2 (or your IQA, if you use your qualification);
• your IELTS result;
• your police certificate.

Pay NZD 1,540 by Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay card, credit or debit.

Step 3. Your chest X-ray and medical, when INZ asks. Because Nigeria is not on INZ's list of countries with a low rate of tuberculosis, a stay of over 6 months needs a chest X-ray, so expect INZ to ask; INZ: "We will contact you if we need you to organise a medical appointment." Book only then, because the results must be "less than 3 months old" when INZ gets them. INZ's panel doctors: in Lagos, Cerulean Health Consulting Services in Maryland (info@ceruleanhealth.ng), IOM's clinic in Ikeja GRA (iomlagosmedicalbooking@iom.int), Qlife Family Clinic in Victoria Island (canadamedicals@qlifefamilyclinic.com) and The Consultants Practice off Awolowo Way, Ikoyi (consultantspractice@yahoo.com); in Abuja, IOM's clinic in Asokoro (iomabujamedicalbooking@iom.int). "Tell them it is for an Immigration New Zealand application and what visa you are applying for." INZ prints no price: "You can ask the clinic about the costs when you make your appointment."

Where. INZ's Immigration Online, through the employer's link.

What it costs. NZD 1,540 (about ₦1.16 million), with the levy inside it; "We do not refund application costs if we decline your application."

How long. INZ's header: "80% within 5 weeks". INZ's weekly figures for "AEWV (ANZSCO skill level 3 roles)": 3 weeks on average, most within 6.5 weeks, counted in working days.

You are done when INZ emails your eVisa.

If your employer loses his accreditation before you fly, INZ contacts you: you "may not be able to travel" on your visa. Check him on the accredited employer list again the week you fly.

If it is refused. Read INZ's letter for the reason. A visa refused because money was paid for the job cannot be fixed by paying more.

Stage 8. Travel, arrival and your first pay

Back to the short stages

Before you fly. Complete your New Zealand Traveller Declaration (the online form every traveller to New Zealand fills in before the flight; NZTD): you can submit it "from 24 hours before your journey begins." Carry your passport, your eVisa, your job offer and agreement: "When you arrive, you may need to show evidence of a job offer."

Your first days.

1. Your tax number (IRD number). Apply in your first days, online as a new arrival through myIR (Inland Revenue's online account), with your passport details, your INZ application number and your Nigerian tax number if you have one. This process works only until the last arrival date on your visa, which may be days after you land: "It's also the date you must apply for an IRD number by if you want to use this process." "If approved, you'll receive your IRD number by text or email in 2 days." Give it to your employer with your tax code (the code on Inland Revenue's form that tells your employer how much tax to take).
2. Your employer's help. Within one month of starting, your employer must give you information on "how to get an Inland Revenue (IRD) number", "accommodation options", "transport options", "cost of living" and "how to access healthcare services".
3. A bank account for your pay, which your employer pays into.

Your first pay. On the day and at the interval your employment agreement sets. Tax is taken before you are paid ("Some income is taxed before you get paid. This includes salaries, wages"); the rates from 1 April 2025 are 10.5 percent on the first NZD 15,600 of the year, 17.5 percent up to NZD 53,500, 30 percent up to NZD 78,100. At NZD 35.00 an hour and 40 hours, your pay is NZD 1,400 a week before tax (about ₦1,057,000). This first pay is the start of your 18 months only if it is at NZD 35.00 an hour or more.

Your rights. "Migrant workers have the same rights as New Zealand workers." "Your employer must also continue to pay you the amount that you were offered in your job offer, throughout your employment." "If you think your employer is mistreating you or your workplace is unsafe, report them. Reporting them will not affect your visa." You may work only for that employer, in that job and place, and "You cannot work a second job".

Your family. You cannot put them on your work visa, but you can support their own visas, by what you earn, for a trade at skill level 1 to 3:

• at NZD 28.00 an hour or more (about ₦21,100), a work visa for your husband or wife (the Partner of a Worker Work Visa, NZD 1,630, about ₦1.23 million; INZ: "80% within" "5 weeks");
• at NZD 58,240 a year or more (about ₦43.97 million), visas for your children (a Dependent Child Student Visa or a Child of Worker Visitor Visa). NZD 35.00 an hour for 40 hours a week comes to NZD 72,800 a year; for 30 hours a week, NZD 54,600, which is under the line.

People who did it wrote online in 2026 that the cost of living shocked them. Arrive with money for your first weeks' rent and food before your first pay: a landlord may ask up to 4 weeks' rent as bond (lodged with Tenancy Services) and up to 2 weeks' rent in advance.

You are done when your first payslip at NZD 35.00 an hour or more is in your hand. That is the first month of your 18.

Stage 9. The 18 months at NZD 35.00 an hour or more

Back to the short stages

Why. These months are the "1.5 years of post-qualification, skilled work experience in New Zealand paid at least the SMC wage threshold" that the route asks.

How the pay line works, in INZ's words.

• Your line is set the day your pay first meets the line in force then: "you must meet the SMC wage threshold that was in place when you started gaining this work experience." The line has been NZD 35.00 since 9 March 2026.
• "Once your threshold is set, it does not change. Any further skilled work experience you complete, and the current job or job offer you use to apply, must meet or be higher than this threshold."
• A month paid below your line does not count. If your pay rises again, or you move to a job that pays the line, the months count again from then.
• If the line rises between the day your work visa is granted and the day you start, a grace period may let you use the lower line, if you start "within 5 months of your work visa being granted".
• Only months after your qualification count: "only skilled work experience gained after you became qualified or registered can be counted."
• The 18 months must fall inside the 3 years before you apply.

Do. Keep every payslip. Each year, download your summary of earnings from your myIR account; INZ asks for "an Inland Revenue Department (IRD) summary of earnings or IRD tax statement covering all your periods of skilled work experience in New Zealand", with "monthly breakdowns". Keep your agreement and job description for every job.

If you change employers. You need a Job Change (INZ's permission to move to a new job on your work visa) or a new work visa first, and your new job must still pay your line. The grace period "does not apply to a variation of conditions or an AEWV Job Change." (A variation of conditions is a change to the employer, job or place on your visa.)

If your employer loses his accreditation, you can keep working for him, but your resident visa needs a job with an accredited employer when you apply, so move to one, through a Job Change, before Stage 10.

You are done when you have 18 months of payslips at or above your line, in your trade, and your total years after your qualification reach 4.

Stage 10. The resident visa

Back to the short stages

Step 1. Your expression of interest (EOI). Online, free: "There is no fee to submit an EOI." You give your details and your IQA reference number, and INZ tells you "immediately whether you meet the requirements." If INZ accepts it, INZ invites you to apply (an invitation to apply, ITA).

Step 2. Gather your documents.

• your passport, a photo, and your family's passports, photos and your marriage and birth certificates;
• your employment agreement and job description in New Zealand, and your IRD summary of earnings up to the date you apply;
• your overseas work papers from Stage 2;
• your IQA recognition statement and your certificate and transcripts;
• IELTS 6.5 for you, no more than 2 years old, and 5 for your husband or wife and children aged 16 or older (or English lessons paid for them);
• a chest X-ray and medical for everyone 11 or older, and a medical for children 10 or younger, done before you apply and less than 3 months old when INZ gets them; if INZ has your medical from the work visa and it is under 3 years old, you may not need a new one;
• police certificates for everyone 17 or older, less than 6 months old, from Nigeria and from any country you have lived in for 12 months or more in the last 10 years. From New Zealand you still apply online to the Nigeria Police Force for your Nigerian certificate, with the first 3 pages of your passport, your exact address and dates in Nigeria, and a certified set of fingerprints; INZ gives 5 to 7 working days.

Step 3. Apply within 4 months. "You must submit your visa application within 4 months of receiving your ITA." Click the link in your ITA, upload, pay.

What it costs. NZD 6,450 (about ₦4.87 million), the levy included, by card; for your family on the same application.

How long. INZ says 80 percent within 4 months.

You are done when INZ emails your resident visa.

On the Green List option, the Work to Residence Visa is applied for after 24 months in your Green List job, inside the 30 months before you apply, also NZD 6,450, also 55 or younger, with your family on it.

On the Skilled Work Experience option, you apply for this same resident visa after your 2 years in New Zealand at NZD 38.50 an hour or more, for the same NZD 6,450.

Stage 11. What follows

Back to the short stages

Your resident visa lets you "work in any job for any employer in New Zealand." If it carries conditions, INZ warns: "You must not be unemployed for more than 3 months." Your travel conditions (the right to leave New Zealand and come back on your resident visa) run 2 years from the day your resident visa is given, if you are in New Zealand then, as you will be on this route (from your first arrival as a resident, if it is given while you are outside). If you are outside New Zealand when they end, your resident visa ends too. "After you have had a Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa for 2 years in a row, you can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa."

Part 4. What can stop you

Your deadlines

What stops people, and what you do

• Years in your own shop. They never count on this route or the Skilled Work Experience option. Work for an employer, or look at the Green List option for welders (Part 1).
• A certificate below level 4. The route is closed to that certificate. Appeal once if you think NZQA missed something; otherwise read the Skilled Work Experience and Green List options in Part 1.
• A job under NZD 35.00 an hour. The months do not count. Take only offers at the line or above.
• Paying for a job. It is illegal, INZ refuses the visa, and the money is gone. Never pay.
• Missing evidence of hours or dates. INZ cannot count what it cannot check. Get the letters and payslips now (Stage 2).
• An old IELTS. Over 2 years at the time you apply means a new test.
• Turning 56. Count your dates before you start.

Part 5. If you already did some of this

• You already have your IQA at level 4 or higher: you are at Stage 4 and Stage 5. Keep the reference number for Stage 10.
• You already have IELTS 6.5 from the last 2 years: you are ready for the work visa's English; check its date against your residence application.
• You already have a job offer from a New Zealand employer: check him on the accredited employer list, check the pay is NZD 35.00 an hour or more and the agreement has no trial period, then Stage 7. Start the IQA now if you have not.
• You are already working in New Zealand on a work visa in a trade on the list: your months count from the day your pay met the line in force then. Count them, get your IQA, and plan Stage 10.

Part 6. The time, stage by stage

• Stage 1, register and read: the form is short; the adverts every week until you hold an offer.
• Stage 2, your papers: no official time.
• Stage 3, the IQA: NZQA's average 10 weeks; 90 percent within 3 weeks once complete.
• Stage 4, IELTS: results in 1 to 5 days on computer.
• Stage 5, the employer: no official time.
• Stage 6, the offer: the advert at least 14 days; the job check most within 1.5 weeks; accreditation, if needed, most within 1 week.
• Stage 7, the work visa: police certificate 5 to 7 working days; the visa 3 weeks on average, most within 6.5 weeks, for a skill level 3 trade.
• Stage 8, arrival: the IRD number in 2 days.
• Stage 9, the 18 months: 18 months.
• Stage 10, the resident visa: most within 4 months.
• Stage 11, permanent residence: after 2 years on the resident visa.

Part 7. The money, all of it

For you, in the order you meet it, with your family's visas where they come.

What your employer pays, and you do not. "Your employer must pay all costs and fees inside and outside New Zealand for your recruitment." You may pay the visa fee and your flight.

What you earn. At NZD 35.00 an hour, 40 hours a week: NZD 1,400 a week before tax, about ₦1,057,000.

Only if you need them. An IQA appeal NZD 765 (about ₦578,000), refunded less NZD 55 if the outcome changes; the Skill Shortage List IQA NZD 610 (about ₦461,000), or NZD 165 (about ₦125,000) added to your Standard IQA within 12 months, for the Green List option as a mechanic or automotive electrician.

Naira figures are at the rate of record of 20 October 2026, ₦755 to the New Zealand dollar (the Central Bank of Nigeria's US dollar rate crossed with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's), and are rounded.

The whole list

The trades and technician jobs on INZ's list for this route, as INZ prints them: Airconditioning and Mechanical Services Plumber; Airconditioning and Refrigeration Mechanic; Apparel Cutter; Architectural, Building and Surveying Technicians nec; Architectural Draftsperson; Automotive Electrician; Blacksmith; Boat Builder and Repairer; Building and Engineering Technicians nec; Building Associate; Building Inspector; Bungy Jump Master; Business Machine Mechanic; Butcher or Smallgoods Maker; Camera Operator (Film, Television or Video); Carpenter and Joiner; Chemistry Technician; Civil Engineering Draftsperson; Clothing Patternmaker; Clothing Trades Workers nec; Construction Estimator; Diesel Motor Mechanic; Diver; Diving Instructor (Open water); Dressmaker or Tailor; Earth Science Technician; Electrical Engineering Draftsperson; Electronic Engineering Draftsperson; Electronic Equipment Trades Worker; Electronic Instrument Trades Worker (General); Electronic Instrument Trades Worker (Special Class); Electroplater; Engineering Patternmaker; Engraver; Farrier; Fibrous Plasterer; Fire Protection Equipment Technician; Fitter (General); Fitter and Turner; Fitter-Welder; Floor Finisher; Glazier; Hardware Technician; Hydrographer; Industrial Spray Painter; Jeweller; Joiner; Knitting Machine Operator; Leather Goods Maker; Library Technician; Life Science Technician; Lift Mechanic; Light Technician; Locksmith; Marine Transport Professional nec; Mechanical Engineering Draftsperson; Medical Technicians NEC; Metal Casting Trades Worker; Metal Fabricator; Metal Fitters and Machinists nec; Metal Machinist (First Class); Metal Polisher; Metallurgical or Materials Technician; Motor Mechanic; Motorcycle Mechanic; Musical Instrument Maker or Repairer; Network Administrator; Painting Trades Worker; Panel beater; Paper and Pulp Mill Operator; Paper Products Machine Operator; Performing Arts Technicians nec; Plastics Technician; Plumbing Inspector; Precision Instrument Maker and Repairer; Printing Machinist; Radiocommunications Technician; Roof Tiler; Sail Maker; Saw Doctor; School Laboratory Technician; Science Technicians nec; Screen Printer; Sewing Machinist; Sheetmetal Trades Worker; Shipwright; Signwriter; Small Engine Mechanic; Small Offset Printer; Solid Plasterer; Sound Technician; Stonemason; Surveying or Spatial Science Technician; Technicians and Trades Workers nec; Telecommunications Cable Jointer; Telecommunications Field Engineer; Telecommunications Lines worker / Telecommunications Line Mechanic; Telecommunications Technical Officer or Technologist; Textile, Clothing and Footwear Mechanic; Toolmaker; Vehicle Body Builder; Vehicle Painter; Veterinary Nurse; Wall and Floor Tiler; Waste Water or Water Plant Operator; Watch and Clock Maker and Repairer; Welder; Wood Machinist; Wood Machinists and Other Wood Trades Workers nec.