Loading
Just a moment while this page opens.
Just a moment while this page opens.
Just a moment while this page opens.
The route most people from the Philippines take, the mistake to avoid, and the facts that change because you are applying from the Philippines, each read from the official page it links.
New Zealand has a work visa made for Filipinos: the Philippines Special Work Visa, for registered nurses, farm managers and engineering professionals with a full-time job offer, tied to that occupation, employer and place. Other offers from employers accredited by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) to hire migrants support the Accredited Employer Work Visa. Registered nurses can then apply for residence as a Straight to Residence role on the Green List of jobs New Zealand needs people for, and carpenters, joiners and welders are among the trades that can qualify for the Skilled Migrant Category, the residence visa for skilled workers, through its Trades and Technician pathway after skilled work there.
Nurses must register first: INZ grants the Special Work Visa only to nurses already registered in New Zealand. The Nursing Council wants your documents verified by TruMerit, an outside service, before you apply, and its self-assessment tool indicates that Philippine-educated nurses sit its tests of competence, a theory exam and a clinical exam. It also says demand for overseas-trained nurses is lower than before, except in some specialties, and suggests finding work before registering or travelling. For Skilled Migrant points, other graduates should check INZ's exemption list for the Philippines, which covers only bachelor's degrees from named universities awarded in set years; anything else needs an assessment by NZQA, New Zealand's qualifications authority.
The mistake to avoid is treating the New Zealand visa as your only permission to leave. The Philippines' Bureau of Immigration says Filipinos travelling abroad on employment visas must present a valid Overseas Employment Certificate (OEC), the exit clearance the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) requires as proof a worker was properly documented. INZ tells employers hiring Filipinos to follow DMW rules and check the worker's approval to leave, and lists recruitment and placement fees among the employer's costs. Before resigning or booking a flight, ask the employer how the DMW will process your hiring.
The Skilled Migrant Category sets no settlement-funds figure: it checks a skilled job offer and a points test instead.
A qualification from the Philippines is assessed for New Zealand by one of these organisations: New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), International Qualification Assessment.
An NBI Clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation: apply online or in person, visiting an NBI office for fingerprints and a photo. From abroad, apply through a Philippine embassy or consulate, or by mail to the NBI head office in Manila.
New Zealand runs a working holiday scheme for citizens of the Philippines aged 18 to 30, for a stay of up to 12 months.
Tests New Zealand accepts with centres in the Philippines include IELTS General Training, IELTS Academic, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, OET and Cambridge English.
In the 2023 census, 44% of people born in the Philippines who live in New Zealand lived in the Auckland region, more than in any other region.
Compared with other people born overseas, those born in the Philippines are most concentrated in the Canterbury region, among the regions where at least 5% of them live.
Answer our free questionnaire and get a free summary of your eligibility for every New Zealand pathway we assess. The full report is a later choice, never a condition.
Start the free questionnaireEach fact above links the official page it was read from, with the day it was read.