International

How to Apply for New Zealand Permanent Residence Program for Teachers

New Zealand is seeking overseas secondary school teachers to address workforce shortages. To facilitate this, foreign secondary school teachers moving to New Zealand will be fast-tracked for residency, while other teachers will remain on the Work to Residence pathway.

This initiative offers a straightforward process for eligible secondary school teachers to apply for residency from abroad, without needing prior work experience in New Zealand.

Subjects

The shortages of secondary teachers are particularly in specific subjects that are:

  • Science
  • Technology
  • Mathematics

This initiative allows secondary school teachers to apply for a residency permit from abroad,

  1. If they have an offer letter from an accredited employer
  2. Without needing to work for 2years in New Zealand

Eligibility Criteria

Overseas secondary school teachers can only allow for straight-to-residency pathway visas only if:

  • if they are working
  • Have a job offer from an accredited employer
  • if the job role is on Green List Tier 1 in demand

The individual can come to New Zealand on a work visa or apply from outside New Zealand. With a clear pathway to a Residence visa, an individual can live, work, and study in New Zealand and can also include their partner and dependent children under the age of 24 or younger in their visa application.

Things to know

  • You can stay indefinitely on straight to Residence Visa.
  • An applicant must be 55 or under.
  • The cost of applying for a New Zealand Straight to Residence Visa is NZD $4290.
  • The processing time for a New Zealand Straight to Residence Visa is 3 months.

If you wish to know more about New Zealand Visas or to apply you can refer to the New Zealand immigration website.

Share
Published by
Rija Sohaib