Singapore's youth scheme with New Zealand is called the Work Exchange Programme, and Immigration New Zealand (INZ) treats it as a working holiday visa: Singapore citizens can holiday, take temporary jobs and study for a short time, but cannot take a permanent job, and they need a university qualification or two years' full-time university study. For a lasting move, the usual start is a job offer from an employer INZ has accredited to hire migrants, which supports the Accredited Employer Work Visa; residence can then come through the Skilled Migrant Category, which also requires a job with such an employer.

INZ's exemption list for Singapore names universities including the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University, whose bachelor's degrees of three or more years of full-time study need no separate assessment for the Skilled Migrant Category. Nurses may skip a step too: the Nursing Council of New Zealand's self-assessment tool indicates that a nurse with degree-level nursing education and registration from Singapore, and enough recent practice there, may not need its tests of competence. For the police certificate, INZ's tool has Singaporeans request the Certificate of Clearance through INZ first, because the Singapore Police Force needs proof that one is required and why; citizens then apply online with Singpass (there are no walk-in applications) and download the digital certificate once approved.

The mistake to avoid is treating a marriage certificate as enough to bring your spouse. INZ defines a partnership as two people who live together in a genuine and stable relationship, and before it approves a visa based on one, the couple must show they share a home; time in each other's homes while each keeps their own does not count. So a couple who married after booking a public flat the Housing and Development Board is still building, and still live with their parents, should set up home together, keeping evidence of the shared address, before applying.