No visa belongs to Auckland alone. Immigration New Zealand (INZ), the government body that grants visas, issues the same national visas wherever you settle, so a life in Auckland rests on holding one of those visas and having work or study in the city. On skilled work routes such as the Skilled Migrant Category, the job has to come first, as the visa section below explains.

In te reo Māori, the Māori language, Auckland is Tāmaki Makaurau, and the council calls itself Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau. Its governing body makes region-wide decisions, while local boards, elected for each area, decide local issues, activities and facilities; the council says this model helps meet both regional and local needs.

Working in Auckland

Invest Auckland, the investment team of the council's economic development agency, names the region's key industries as infrastructure and construction, medical technology (medtech), clean technology (cleantech), agricultural technology (agritech), aerospace and creative technologies. It adds that Auckland is home to AgriTechNZ, the agritech industry body, and to Te Pūnaha Ātea Space Institute.

Whatever your field, the Skilled Migrant Category and the Accredited Employer Work Visa both depend on an accredited employer, meaning a business cleared by INZ to employ people from overseas. The accredited employer list that INZ publishes has a single keyword box: enter at least the first three characters of the employer's company or trading name, or all 13 digits of its New Zealand Business Number (NZBN). There is no location filter, so the tool cannot list the accredited employers in Auckland; it only confirms whether a business you already have in mind is accredited. INZ says it is also meant for people who already hold such a visa and want to change jobs.

Studying in Auckland

Public universities, polytechnics (public institutes for hands-on, career-focused study) and wānanga (public tertiary institutions that teach in a Māori cultural context) all teach in the city:

• University of Auckland: its City Campus is in the city centre, its Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences is at Grafton, opposite Auckland City Hospital, and it also runs a South Auckland campus.
• Auckland University of Technology (AUT): City, North and South campuses, in central Auckland, Northcote and Manukau.
• Massey University: its Auckland campus is in Albany, on the North Shore.
• Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT) and Unitec: two polytechnics that have come together as one organisation, whose legal name is Manukau Institute of Technology and Unitec.
• Te Wānanga o Aotearoa: campuses in Māngere and Henderson.
• Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi: a Tāmaki Makaurau campus in Manukau.

Which visa lets you live in Auckland?

The first two routes need a job or job offer first (job offer guide).

• Skilled Migrant Category (SMC). This resident visa lets you stay in New Zealand indefinitely. Its requirements include being 55 or younger and having a full-time job, or job offer, with an accredited employer. The points-based pathway asks for 6 points, from sources such as a qualification, your pay or an occupational registration (a plumber's, for example); our SMC calculator adds up yours, and our SMC guide covers the other routes.
• Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV). An accredited employer who offers you full-time work sends you the link to apply. The visa ties you to that employer: changing employer, job or location means applying to INZ again (AEWV guide).
• Green List. INZ's Green List names roles New Zealand needs workers for: Tier 1 roles can lead to a Straight to Residence Visa, and Tier 2 roles to a Work to Residence Visa after 2 years of work here (Green List guide).
• Working holiday visas. These are for young citizens of countries with a working holiday agreement, and exclude permanent jobs, so a lasting role in Auckland needs a work visa such as the AEWV (working holiday guide).

Housing and getting around

To compare suburbs, use Tenancy Services' market rent tool: it shows what tenants pay each week, by type of home (such as an apartment, flat, house or room) and number of bedrooms.

Buses, trains and ferries share one journey planner on Auckland Transport's site, which also has timetables and fares. You can pay fares with a credit card, a contactless debit card or a card stored on your phone.

There is no separate regional council to look for. The council's Governance Manual explains that Auckland Council is a unitary authority, which combines the powers of a regional council with those of a city or district council.

Free help after you arrive

Auckland Council Libraries lend books in many languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil and Urdu, and you can request a title and collect it from the library you choose.

If you live and work in New Zealand, you will need a bank account and an IRD number, your tax number. INZ's guide to setting up your life in New Zealand, which applies anywhere in the country, explains both and which public services your visa lets you use.