There are two New Zealand visas to know first for a move from Hong Kong. For younger people, the Hong Kong SAR Working Holiday Visa is for Hong Kong residents holding either a Hong Kong SAR passport or a British National (Overseas) passport. It allows temporary work but not a permanent job, and Immigration New Zealand (INZ) grants each person only one working holiday visa, even if it goes unused. For settling, the Skilled Migrant Category is the residence visa for skilled workers: it needs a job or job offer from an accredited employer, a business INZ has accredited to hire migrants, plus a qualification, pay rate, occupational registration or work history that meets one of its pathways.

The Hong Kong police certificate has a fixed order for New Zealand. First email INZ, at the address it gives for Hong Kong on its police certificate page, for a letter of authority, giving your name, date of birth, Hong Kong identity card number, the visa you want and, if you live elsewhere, your current region. Then apply to the Hong Kong Police with that letter, online if you are abroad. Lodge the visa application only after the police's published processing time has passed, uploading the payment receipt, because the police send the certificate only to the immigration officer who issued your letter. The English test and the job search can run alongside.

The mistake to avoid is assuming that any Hong Kong degree skips the qualification assessment. INZ's list of qualifications exempt from assessment names particular Hong Kong universities and covers only bachelor's degrees, doctorates and master's degrees that required two or more years of full-time study, completed in Hong Kong rather than at an overseas campus. Other qualifications generally need an International Qualification Assessment from NZQA, the body that compares overseas qualifications with New Zealand's, before they can count, and INZ can ask for one even for a listed degree.