Young Vietnamese graduates can try New Zealand on the Vietnam Working Holiday Visa, which needs no job offer and allows temporary jobs, but asks for a university qualification and, unlike most working holiday schemes, an English test result. Chefs and engineering professionals who live in Vietnam have a second option, the Vietnam Special Work Visa, which needs a full-time job offer at the skill level Immigration New Zealand (INZ) requires for each occupation. Both visas are temporary and have a yearly limit on places. Staying on means residence: the Skilled Migrant Category, the residence visa for skilled workers, is open only to people working for, or offered a job by, an employer INZ has approved to hire migrants.

Have the working holiday paperwork ready before the scheme opens, because INZ opens each year's places on a date it announces. The degree must come from full-time university study lasting at least as long as INZ's instructions require, and the English result from a test sat in person at a test centre, not at home, recent and at the score INZ sets for this scheme. For the Special Work Visa, a chef needs a qualification or practical experience relevant to the job, while an engineer needs a bachelor's degree plus registration on the International Professional Engineers Register or the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Engineers Register, or an engineering degree accredited under the Washington Accord, an international agreement on engineering degrees.

The mistake to avoid is staying too long with one employer on a working holiday. INZ's instructions for the Vietnam scheme forbid working for the same employer beyond a set period, a limit the visa page repeats, so a long contract, or staying on at one workplace for most of the visa, breaks its conditions even though the visa itself runs longer. Plan a series of jobs within the limit, and tell each employer about it before you sign.