Nursing or healthcare professionals who want to work in New Zealand can apply for visas to visit and work. However, before they can start working as Nursing or healthcare professionals, they must meet the requirements for nursing registration and the Competence Assessment Programme (CAP) and the CAP fund.
Before you apply for your visa to work as a nurse in New Zealand you need to be registered with the Nursing Council of New Zealand (NCNZ), complete a Competence Assessment Programme (CAP), if required and meet Immigration New Zealand (INZ) visa requirements.
The Nursing Council requires you to complete information that verifies your identity, nursing qualification, current overseas registration, English language competence and post-registration nursing practice hours.
You may apply to become registered as a nurse in New Zealand if you are currently registered with an overseas regulatory authority and meet Nursing Council requirements.
For all internationally qualified nurses (other than from Australia), the Nursing Council has the following process:
Step 1: Verifying documents with CGFNS
All nurses are required to provide documents proving their:
Identity
Current registration/s held in the last 10 years
Nursing qualification equivalent to NZ qualifications
Evidence of English language proficiency
1,800 hours post-registration nursing experience
You must verify and authenticate your documents before applying to the Council to register.
Step 2: Apply to become registered
Apply to the Nursing Council after your documents are verified and complete the following:
Aotearoa New Zealand online courses: All nurses must complete two free online courses introducing them to culturally safe nursing practice in New Zealand.
Fitness to practise checks: All nurses are required to undergo a criminal history check.
Competence assessment: Some nurses will be required to undergo a competence assessment. You can use the self-assessment tool to see if you might require a competence assessment.
link