🇳🇿 New Zealand · Nurses
What a nurse trained abroad needs to register in New Zealand
Read from the regulator's own documents. Each step shows what it costs, who usually pays, and the date we last checked it. Enter your details and we tell you which of these you already meet.
Nursing Council registration (IQN competence assessment)
Nursing Council of New Zealand · ~12 months · ~NZD 4,760 · 9 steps
Since December 2023 the route is an application, document verification by TruMerit, a theory exam at a Pearson VUE centre abroad and, if the Council directs it, a three-hour OSCE in Christchurch.
- 1Current registration as a nurse in your country of training or practice
- 2At least 1,800 hours of registered nursing practice (about 12 months full-time)
- 3English: IELTS 7 in listening, reading and speaking with 6.5 in writing, or OET 350 (B) in listening, reading and speaking with 300 (C+) in writing; sittings may be combined within 12 monthsyou pay · Source ↗
- 4Apply to the Nursing Council (NZD 485)~NZD 485 · you pay · Source ↗
- 5Document verification by TruMerit (CGFNS)~NZD 640 · you pay · Source ↗
- 6Pass the theory exam at a Pearson VUE centre (NZD 140)~NZD 140 · you pay · Source ↗
- 7If directed, pass the three-hour OSCE in Christchurch (NZD 3,000 plus a NZD 500 course)~NZD 3,500 · you pay · Source ↗
- 8Two years on a permanent Nigerian licence before the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria will verify your certificates for a foreign regulator (nurses trained in Nigeria)you pay · unconfirmed · Source ↗
- 9Overseas Employment Certificate from the Department of Migrant Workers, through a DMW-licensed recruitment agency or an employer the DMW allows to hire directly (Filipino workers)who pays varies · Source ↗
Rules checked 23 Oct 2026 · outcomeOS describes each regulator's published rules; it does not advise on your individual case. · Privacy · Terms
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