Information about Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa
We invite people who have the skills to contribute to New Zealand’s economic growth to apply for this visa. Before we can invite you to apply, we’ll first need you to send us an Expression of Interest (EOI) telling us about your employment in New Zealand, work experience, and qualifications. If your Expression of Interest is successful we’ll offer you the opportunity to apply to live and work in New Zealand indefinitely.
With this visa you can
- Live, work and study in New Zealand.
- Include your partner, and dependent children aged 24 and under, in your residence application.
Things to note
- We use a points-based system to assess expressions of interest.
Find out how many points you can claim - Currently, we are only selecting EOIs with 160 points or above.
- This visa isn’t designed for people who are self-employed. If you want to work in your own business, you may wish to apply for an Entrepreneur Resident Visa instead.
Entrepreneur Resident Visa - Watch a short video about applying for a resident visa in New Zealand under the Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa.
Video — Skilled Migrant Category and the visa application process
The application process
1 Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI)
Before you send us an expression of interest (EOI), you can use our points indicator to get an idea of how many points you can claim for your EOI. You’ll need at least 100 points to be accepted into the pool. Currently, we are only selecting EOIs with 160 points or above.
2 We invite you to apply for residence
Periodically (usually every 2 weeks) we’ll select EOIs from our pool. If your EOI is selected, we’ll check you’ve claimed the right number of points for your age, experience, employment and qualifications.
If you meet the Skilled Migrant Expression of Interest selection threshold, we may invite you to apply for residence.
3 You send us your Application for Residence
If you’re invited to apply for residence, we’ll send you an ‘Application for Residence under the Skilled Migrant Category’ form.
Check that you meet the detailed criteria.
Use the filters to display detailed criteria and evidence
Skilled Migrant Category – EOIs
To submit an expression of interest, you will first need to create an account. Once you have done this, you can then log in and submit an EOI. You can also use your log in to check the status of your EOI.
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