Doctors trained overseas can register and work in New Zealand, but only with two separate approvals. The first is registration with the Medical Council of New Zealand: the Council says every doctor in New Zealand must be registered to practise medicine. The second is a visa from Immigration New Zealand (INZ), the government's immigration agency, which gives you the right to live and work in the country. Registration does not give you a visa, and a visa does not let you practise. Which registration route you take depends on where you trained and where you have practised since. Doctors with recent practice in a country the Council recognises as having a health system comparable to New Zealand's have their own route, and doctors from abroad who start in a provisional registration must work under supervision while they learn the New Zealand system.

Registering as a doctor in New Zealand

The Council registers doctors in what it calls scopes of practice: general (typically resident doctors and doctors in training), vocational (a permanent specialist registration that lets you work independently) and special purpose (temporary, for a set purpose such as research). Its routes for doctors trained overseas include:

• Comparable health system: an acceptable medical degree, at least 33 months of clinical practice (20 hours a week or more) in the 48 months before you apply, in one or more listed countries, in a similar field and at a similar level to the New Zealand job, plus current full or general registration in one of those countries (or a place in certain recognised North American or Irish specialist training). You also need a job offer that includes supervision.
• UK and Irish graduates: a medical degree from the UK or Ireland and an internship completed there (general scope routes).
• Examinations: a pass within the last five years in NZREX Clinical, the Council's own exam, or in both parts of the UK's PLAB test.
• Specialists: VOC3, which assesses specialists on their overseas training and qualifications.

By the time you apply, you must have sent your key documents to be checked with the institutions that issued them, through the EPIC service of the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. The law also requires the Council to be satisfied that your English is good enough to protect the public's health and safety. Every doctor coming to practise in New Zealand for the first time attends a registration meeting. On the comparable health system route, moving up to the general scope is not automatic: you can apply once you have 12 months of full-time equivalent work in the provisional scope, three satisfactory supervision reports and your supervisor's recommendation.

Green List, work visas and residence for doctors

INZ's Green List names roles New Zealand needs people for. For general practitioners, resident medical officers (junior doctors), psychiatrists and a long list of specialist titles, it means people who meet the requirements may apply for residence straight away. These doctor entries ask for Medical Council registration in one of the scopes INZ names, which include the provisional general and provisional vocational scopes, and they accept a letter from the Council confirming you are eligible for one of them instead. With that, a full-time job or offer from an accredited employer (one INZ has approved to hire migrants) and the other requirements, including being 55 or younger, you can apply for the Straight to Residence Visa. For a doctor title the Green List does not name, the work visa and the Skilled Migrant Category below are the routes to look at. Our Green List guide explains the list.

Each of these visas starts from a job offer. The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) needs a full-time offer from an accredited employer with an approved job check, plus the registration your job needs. Health New Zealand, the public health service, says it can employ migrants on the AEWV and the Straight to Residence Visa and runs a free Health Immigration Service staffed by licensed immigration advisers. Our AEWV guide covers the visa.

The Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) is a residence visa for people with a job or job offer from an accredited employer: you send an expression of interest (an online form describing how you meet the rules), and INZ may invite you to apply. Its points-based pathway asks for 6 points, and INZ's registration search gives Medical Council registration, or a Council letter of eligibility, the full 6. Our SMC guide explains the other rules.

My country is not on the Council's list. Which route is mine?

The comparable health system route counts only practice in the countries on the Council's list. It includes the UK, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and many European countries, but not, for example, India, the Philippines or South Africa. If no other route fits, the Council says you must sit and pass NZREX Clinical. To apply for it, you need an acceptable medical degree, proof of your English, and a pass in one of these within the five years before the NZREX Clinical date you are given: PLAB Part 1, Canada's MCCQE Part I, the Australian Medical Council's multiple-choice exam, or USMLE Steps 1 and 2 (Clinical Knowledge). NZREX Clinical is a three-hour clinical exam of 12 stations, held in Auckland, and a pass stays valid for five years.

Specialists have another option. The Council keeps no list of approved overseas specialist qualifications; on the VOC3 route it compares your training, qualifications and experience with a New Zealand-trained specialist in the same field. The relevant specialist college assesses you and advises, and the Council makes the final decision.

A common mistake doctors make

Choosing the exam route without planning the first job. The Council says that if you need to sit NZREX Clinical, getting a first-year training job (called PGY1) with a prevocational training provider is your only pathway to registration, regardless of your previous experience. A pass alone does not register you, and even a senior doctor on this route starts in a first-year post. Before you book, run the Council's self-assessment tool to see whether a route that recognises your experience fits better.

First steps

1. Use the Council's registration self-assessment tool to see which pathway may fit.
2. Send your documents for EPIC verification; the Council says a completed verification does not expire.
3. If you need the exam route, pass a prerequisite exam and meet the Council's English requirement, then apply for NZREX Clinical.
4. Search the Green List for your role and look for a job with an accredited employer, such as Health New Zealand.
5. With registration, or a letter of eligibility, and a job offer, apply for your visa, for example the Straight to Residence Visa.