The New Zealand Nurse Pack

This is the pack behind the NURSE video, from the Rekoja desk in Lagos. Registered nurse is a Tier 1 occupation on New Zealand's Green List, which means the Straight to Residence Visa: residence for you, your partner and your children aged 24 or under on one application, from NZD 6,450, with 80 percent of applications decided within three and a half months. Below is the route in the order it actually happens, with every fee and its official page.

Which of these is you

• I am registered and I want the whole route, in order
• I am a mental health, psychiatric or addiction nurse
• I want to know what each step costs
• I am not a nurse, but I want a New Zealand route
• I want my mother or father to join me later

The prize, the Straight to Residence Visa

Tier 1 of the Green List leads to the Straight to Residence Visa: live, work and study in New Zealand for good, with your partner and children aged 24 or under on the same application, 80 percent of applications decided within three and a half months, from NZD 6,450 for the whole family. After two years on that visa you can apply for the permanent resident visa, which never expires. Source: Immigration New Zealand, Straight to Residence Visa.

Nursing sits in Tier 1 by name. Immigration New Zealand's Amendment Circular 2026-01, in force from 9 March 2026, places Nurse Practitioner (254411), every Registered Nurse code from 254412 to 254499 and Enrolled Nurse (411411) in Tier 1 under Health and Social Services. The requirement printed against all of them is registration with the Nursing Council of New Zealand, on a Bachelor of Nursing. No nurse pay rate is set there, so the NZD 35.00 an hour median wage is the floor that applies. Source: Amendment Circular 2026-01.

Who it fits

A currently registered nurse, 55 or younger, with at least 1,800 hours of nursing practice since registration. Demand is strongest right now for psychiatric, mental health and addiction nurses: the Nursing Council reports that general nursing demand is lower than it was, and Health New Zealand keeps an open register-your-interest form for international mental health nurses. Sources: Health New Zealand, nursing roles (register your interest, international mental health nurses) and Health New Zealand, international candidates.

The pay

Nurses in the public system are paid under one national agreement, not a rate each employer sets for itself. The Health New Zealand and New Zealand Nurses Organisation Terms of Settlement, signed 23 April 2026, prints the scale in Attachment A. A registered nurse starts at NZD 77,667 from 2 March 2026 and reaches NZD 109,407 at step 7: about ₦66m to ₦93m a year. Both ends rise again on 2 March 2027, to NZD 79,221 and NZD 111,596, the second half of a 4.5 percent rise members accepted over two years. Adverts and third-party sites still quote NZD 75,773 to 106,739, which is the scale that ran from 1 April 2024. Source: Health New Zealand and NZNO Terms of Settlement, 23 April 2026.

The money, in naira

Every figure in that table comes from the official page linked beside its step below. The OSCE row is the exam and the preparation course together; it does not include the visitor visa or the flight to Christchurch, which you budget separately.

The seven steps, in the order they happen

1. The English test the Council accepts. Checked 21 September 2026: OET with at least 350 in reading, listening and speaking and 300 in writing, or IELTS Academic with at least 7.0 in reading, listening and speaking and 6.5 in writing. You may combine sittings, but the required scores must be achieved within 12 months of your first sitting, and every sitting must fall in the three years before your application reaches the Council. Computer-based tests taken in an approved testing centre are accepted, including the OET on computer at an approved venue with the speaking sub-test hosted online. PTE is not accepted. Source: Nursing Council of New Zealand, English language requirements.

2. TruMerit verification, USD 380 (about ₦516,000). This is the step that verifies your qualification and your registration at source. Request your hospital reference letters before anything else on this page: they take longer than any other document you need. Source: TruMerit, Nursing Council of New Zealand service.

3. The Nursing Council application, NZD 485 (about ₦412,000). With it: the international criminal history check through Fit2Work at AUD 155 for each country you have lived in (about ₦140,000 each), and the two free Welcome to Aotearoa New Zealand online courses. Source: Nursing Council, internationally qualified nurses.

4. The theory exam through Pearson VUE, NZD 140 (about ₦119,000). Two parts, 120 multiple choice questions in 165 minutes, three attempts allowed: Part A, medication safety, 12 questions in 30 minutes, then Part B, nursing knowledge, 108 questions in 135 minutes. That split is on the Council's competence assessment FAQ rather than the Pearson page. A re-sit is charged per part, NZD 32 for Part A and NZD 108 for Part B (about ₦27,000 and ₦92,000). It is sat in person at a Pearson VUE centre, in New Zealand or internationally, so it can be done before you travel. The Council emails you the booking link once you are eligible, and the Pearson VUE centre locator shows which centres near you offer it. Sources: the IQN theoretical examination handbook and Pearson VUE, Nursing Council of New Zealand.

5. The OSCE, in person in Christchurch. At the Nurse Maude Simulation and Assessment Centre: NZD 3,000 for the exam and NZD 500 for the preparation course, about ₦3m together, and a re-sit of the exam is another NZD 3,000 (about ₦2.6m). You need a visitor visa and a return flight to sit it, so budget that trip before you start step 1, not after step 4. Source: Nursing Council, IQN costs.

6. A job offer from an accredited employer. Mental health nurses use the Health New Zealand form linked above. Everyone else starts at Kiwi Health Jobs, the site the Council itself links to. Start looking before you fly, not after the OSCE.

7. The Straight to Residence Visa. Your registration, the job offer, police and medical certificates, your English evidence and the family documents, from NZD 6,450 for the whole family on one application (about ₦5.5m). Where no role rate is set, the pay floor for the visa is NZD 35.00 an hour. Health New Zealand's free immigration service can also help with this file. Page as linked above.

Bringing your parents, the Parent Boost Visitor Visa

Once you hold residence, your parents have their own door. The Parent Boost Visitor Visa lets a parent visit New Zealand for up to 5 years, sponsored by a child who is a New Zealand citizen or resident, from NZD 3,100 (about ₦2.6m), and about 4 months to decide. It is a visitor visa, so it is a long stay rather than a second residence, and the sponsorship is the part that rests on you: the child who sponsors has to be a citizen or a resident first. Source: Immigration New Zealand, Parent Boost Visitor Visa.

That is the order most nurses miss. Your registration and your own residence come first, in the seven steps above, and the parent visa is what your residence unlocks afterwards. Only immigration authorities decide applications, and nobody can promise one, including us.

The twelve-month order

Months 1 to 2: reference letters requested, English test sat, TruMerit started. Months 3 to 5: Council application, criminal history check, the two free courses. Month 6: the theory exam. Months 7 to 9: visitor visa and the Christchurch OSCE. Months 9 to 12: the job offer and the residence file.

The order matters more than the speed. Two things sit on the critical path and neither of them is in your hands: the hospital reference letters in step 2, and the OSCE date in Christchurch. Everything else can be pulled forward.

Telling the Council you are using an agent

If you use Rekoja, or any agent, for the registration file, the Nursing Council asks to be told. You send its authority form, carrying the agent's details and your own separate contact details, to iqn@nursingcouncil.org.nz. The statutory declarations inside the application must be completed by you, the nurse, and never by an agent.

What we do for you

The registration is yours to earn: the exams, the hours and the declarations are personal to you, and nobody can sit them in your place. The visitor visa for the Christchurch trip and the whole-family residence file are what Rekoja prepares, and we can prepare the registration dossier alongside you under the Council's disclosure rule above. The free profile check comes first, and it stays free whether or not you go on to buy anything.

Who this is not for

• A nurse not yet registered, or under the 1,800 hours. The hours and the registration come first, and no part of this route starts without them.
• Anyone who cannot budget the Christchurch trip. The OSCE is sat in person, in New Zealand, and there is no remote version of it.
• Anyone who is not a nurse. The New Zealand route written for a non-nursing graduate is the BRIDGE pack, a Level 7 graduate diploma into the Post Study Work Visa.

Questions people ask

Can I sit the theory exam before I travel? Yes. It is sat in person at a Pearson VUE centre, in New Zealand or internationally, and the centre locator shows which centres offer it. The Council sends you the booking link once you are eligible.

Is PTE accepted? No. OET or IELTS Academic only, at the scores in step 1, and no online-at-home sittings.

Can my family come on the same application? Your partner and your children aged 24 or under go on the same Straight to Residence application, inside the NZD 6,450 family fee.

Do I have to go to Christchurch? For the OSCE, yes. That is the one step that cannot be done from Nigeria, which is why the trip is budgeted first.

Before you go

Start the reference letters and the English test in the same week, because both are slow and neither one waits on the other. Registration is a year of steps in a fixed order, and the nurses who finish it are the ones who started the slow steps early.

Naira figures on this page use the rates of 21 September 2026 (NZD ₦850, AUD ₦900, USD ₦1,357), rounded. Only immigration authorities decide applications.