Would you like to know if you can apply for a Skilled Migrant Visa?
Our Points Guide will help you assess if you should apply for a Skilled Migrant Visa.
Additionally, you can ask our Licensed Immigration Advisers for a Free Professional Assessment to make sure you are not overestimating the points you can claim in your Expression of Interest.
Minimum Requirements of the Skilled Migrant Category
To qualify for a resident visa under this policy, you must meet all of the following minimum requirements:
- You must have an acceptable standard of health
- You must be of good character
- You must have proven English language capabilities
- You must be under the age limit of 56 years
- You must reach a minimum points score of 100
Can you reach the minimum points score?
Calculate your points score for your Expression of Interest.
Points for skilled employment
|
Current skilled employment or offer of skilled employment in New Zealand |
50
|
Bonus points for a skilled job or offer of skilled employment
|
10
|
|
|
A region outside of Auckland |
30
|
|
Partner's skilled employment or offer of skilled employment in New Zealand |
20
|
|
High remuneration (introduced under the new policy) |
20
|
Skilled Work experience
|
Two years |
10
|
|
Four years |
20
|
|
Six years |
30
|
|
Eight years |
40
|
|
Ten years or more |
50
|
Bonus points for skilled work experience gained in New Zealand
|
One year or more |
10 |
Bonus points for work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage
|
2 to 5 years |
10
|
|
Six years or more |
15
|
Recognised Qualifications
|
Recognised level 3 qualification (if included in the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment) introduced under the new policy |
40
|
|
Recognised level 4-6 qualification |
40
|
|
Recognised level 7 or 8 qualification |
50
|
|
Recognised level 9 or 10 qualification |
70
|
Bonus points for qualifications
|
Two years of full-time study in New Zealand completing a recognised New Zealand Bachelor degree (level 7) |
10
|
|
One year of full-time study in New Zealand completing a recognised post-graduate New Zealand qualification |
10
|
|
Two years of full-time study in New Zealand completing a recognised post-graduate New Zealand qualification |
15
|
|
Partner qualification- recognised level 7 or 8 |
10
|
|
Partner qualification - recognised level 9+ |
20
|
Age
|
20 - 39 years |
30
|
|
40 - 44 years |
20
|
|
45 - 49 years |
10
|
|
50 - 55 years |
5
|
Bonus points for Family Support and Bonus points for employment in Identified Future Growth Areas will no longer be granted under the new Skilled Migrant policy.
Please note that our Points Guide can only give you a very first overview.
Did you reach the minimum points score of 100? Great!
If you score 100 points or more and meet health, character, language and age requirements, you can submit your Expression of Interest (EOI) and might subsequently be eligible to apply for a Permanent Resident Visa under the Skilled Migrant Category.
However, while it may look relatively simple to add up your points, the devil lies in the details.
Our Licensed Immigration Advisers say that "Over 50% of self-assessments are incorrect. Applicants overestimate the number of points they might be able to claim in their Expression of Interest."
To comply with immigration requirements, professional background - qualifications, work experience and a job offer - need to be aligned very carefully. This is where most errors occur.
Our advice: To avoid being rejected from the pool, ask our Licensed Immigration Advisers to confirm your points score before you submit your Expression of Interest!
What happens if you do not reach the minimum point score of 100?
Don't give up yet! You may still have a good chance of applying for a Residence Visa under the Skilled Migrant Category. Maybe one of the other immigration policies could be an option for you.
In many cases, a job offer in New Zealand is needed that will give you the additional points for your Expression of Interest to ultimately be successful.
Ask our Job Search Professionals how we can help you find a job that will entitle you to those all deciding extra points!
Does a point score of 100 guarantees you that your EOI will be successful? Unfortunately not.
Only if your Expression of Interest is successfully selected, you will get a chance to apply for a resident visa.
So how many points will you actually need, have a realistic chance for your Expression of Interest to be selected?
At the end of 2016, Immigration New Zealand announced that only Expressions of Interest with a points claim of 160 or more would be selected from then onwards!
As a point score of 160 is potentially out of reach for many candidates, the already heated competition in the Pool amongst all EOIs is now even stronger.
The only way to find out how many points you will most likely need is by looking up the latest Selection Results to find out how many points were actually required for an Expression of Interest to be selected during the last Selection.
That will not guarantee you that your EOI will be successful, but it will give you a very good indication of how many points you should be able to claim before you actually submit your Expression of Interest.
Read more about becoming a New Zealand resident through the Skilled Migrant Category:
- How can we help you with finding a job in New Zealand?
- The resident visa application process under Skilled Migrant Category
- Will you be able to claim points for your qualifications?
- Will you be able to claim bonus points for your professional expertise?
- Is your profession on the Long Term Skill Shortage List?
- Do you have to be registered in New Zealand?
- Will you meet the English language requirements?
- Have you reached the age limit of the SMC?
Find out more about working in New Zealand:
- Can we guarantee you that you will find a job in New Zealand if you are using our Job Search Service?
- Can you come to New Zealand to look for a job?
- Will you be able to find a job if you do not have a visa yet?
- Nailing the Job Interview
- The 28 best interview replies!
- Tactics for accessing the Hidden Job Market
- What is the next step once you have a job offer?
- Find an Accredited Employer
- Skill shortages in New Zealand
- How much will you be able to earn?
- Your job must be "skilled" to give you points
Find out about our proven track record: Happy Clients!
Ask our Licensed Immigration Advisers
If you want to find out what it takes to migrate to New Zealand, ask our Licensed Immigration Adviser Apekshi Jayawardena for a Free Assessment.
Free Assessment