Trades and Technician Pathway
Expert Immigration Advice for the New Zealand Trades and Technician Pathway
I'll help you work out whether your trade qualification and experience meet the requirements.
What is the Trades and Technician Pathway?
The Trades and Technician pathway is one of three ways to gain New Zealand residence under the Skilled Migrant Category. It opened on 24 August 2026.
It was created for people who learned a trade and have worked in it since. Immigration New Zealand added it because many skilled workers in these roles had no realistic route to residence under the old skilled migrant residence settings, which were built around degrees, registrations and salaries.
Your occupation is only part of the assessment. Your qualification, your experience since you qualified, and your New Zealand job and pay all have to meet the requirements.
What you need to qualify
You must meet the Immigration New Zealand requirements, including:
A job, or an offer of one, with an accredited employer, full-time at 30 hours a week or more
In an occupation on Immigration New Zealand's eligible list
A relevant qualification at Level 4 or higher
2.5 years of directly relevant work experience gained after you qualified, which was full-time (at least 30 hours per week for every week worked), in an occupation listed at ANZSCO skill level 1-3, directly relevant to your current skilled employment or offer of skilled employment, and completed in the 10 years immediately prior to submitting your residence application
An additional 1.5 years of skilled work experience in New Zealand, which must be paid at least the wage threshold, in an occupation listed at ANZSCO skill level 1-3, directly relevant to your current skilled employment or offer of skilled employment; and completed in the 3 years immediately prior to submitting your residence application
Pay of at least the Skilled Migrant Category wage threshold
Age 55 or under, and the English language, health and character requirements
There are several fishhooks that can catch applicants out. All four years of work experience must have been gained after completing the relevant qualification, and periods of self-employment cannot be counted. Immigration New Zealand has also issued specific guidance to its immigration officers on how to determine whether work experience is “directly relevant” to the nominated occupation. This can be more restrictive than applicants expect and may mean that some seemingly relevant experience does not qualify.
Eligible occupations
The occupations list is closed. If your occupation is not on it, this pathway is generally not available to you, however strong your experience, although there are limited exceptions for people who began gaining qualifying New Zealand work experience while their occupation was still on the list.
The list covers more than 100 occupations at ANZSCO skill levels 1 to 3 across the following industries:
Construction: including carpenters and joiners, glaziers, roof tilers, plasterers, stonemasons, building and plumbing inspectors
Engineering and metalwork: including fitters, welders, metal fabricators, toolmakers, blacksmiths, locksmiths
Automotive: including motor, diesel and motorcycle mechanics, automotive electricians, panel beaters, vehicle painters
Electronics and telecommunications: including electronic instrument trades workers, lift mechanics, cable jointers, hardware and radiocommunications technicians
Drafting and laboratory: including architectural, civil, electrical and mechanical draftspersons, chemistry and life science technicians
Manufacturing and specialist trades: including butchers, boat builders, refrigeration mechanics, jewellers, farriers, printing machinists
It also covers roles most people would not call a trade, including veterinary nurses, network administrators and library technicians.
The occupations above are examples only. You should check the full list to confirm that your specific occupation is included. See the full occupation list with ANZSCO codes and skill levels.
Some common trades are not on it, but rather sit on the Green List instead, which offers residence after two years of work in New Zealand. Some trades appear on both lists, and which route suits you depends on your circumstances.
Finding a familiar job title is not the end of it. Immigration New Zealand compares the duties you actually perform against the ANZSCO description, and your employer's job title does not settle the question.
Your qualification
You need a qualification at Level 4 or higher that is relevant to the job you are doing or have been offered.
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New Zealand qualifications
Must be made up of at least 120 credits on the New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework. Those credits can come from more than one qualification where the lower qualification was a prerequisite for the higher one, so a Level 4 qualification carrying 60 credits at Level 4 can be combined with a prerequisite Level 3 qualification of 60 credits. Credits given in recognition of prior learning do not count towards the 120.
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Overseas qualifications
Your qualification does not have to be from New Zealand. What you need is an International Qualification Assessment from NZQA confirming it is comparable to Level 4 or higher. There is no 120 credit requirement. Start the assessment early, because it takes time, and until you have it you do not know what your qualification is worth here.
Your work experience
Four years in total, in two separate parts. The same period of work cannot count towards both.
2.5 years of relevant work experience, gained anywhere, in an ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 occupation, gained within the 10 years before you apply.
1.5 years of skilled work experience in New Zealand, paid at the wage threshold, gained within the 3 years before you apply.
There are also a number of other work experience requirements, including that it must be “directly relevant” to your current skilled employment or offer of skilled employment. All of the work experience has to come after you finished your qualification. Work you did before that does not count, even if it was the same job in the same trade, which can rule out most of the history of someone who worked their way up and qualified later. Self-employment cannot be counted at all.
Your job and pay
Your job has to be paid at least the Skilled Migrant Category wage threshold, and so does the New Zealand part of your work experience.
The applicable rate will generally be the threshold that was in force when you began gaining the skilled work experience you are relying on. However, a special five-month grace rule may allow you to rely on the threshold that applied when your work visa was granted.
If the threshold subsequently increases, you are not generally required to meet the higher rate, although you must continue to meet the threshold that applies to you.Rates are set by Immigration New Zealand and updated periodically. Earlier rates are published on its pay rates page.
From 24 August 2026, your employment also has to meet INZ’s requirements for “genuine employment”. This involves more than simply having a job or job offer. INZ can look behind the employment documentation and consider the circumstances surrounding the role, including the employer’s genuine and ongoing need for it, whether the pay reflects the market rate, whether the job was offered by a family member, and whether there is a genuine need for the work to be based in New Zealand.
How to apply?
Before you go near an application, check four things: that your occupation is on the list, that your qualification meets the requirements, that your experience falls after your qualification date and within the time limits, and that your pay meets the threshold across the whole period you intend to claim.
The pathway then follows the usual Skilled Migrant Category process. You submit an expression of interest, and if you are invited to apply, you have 4 months to lodge your residence application with your evidence. The invitation is not the decision. Your qualification and work history are properly tested at that stage, so payslips, employment agreements, job descriptions and transcripts all need to tell the same story.
What can go wrong?
Having the trade and the years behind you does not settle it. Applications come unstuck because the occupation turns out not to be on the list, because the duties do not match the code claimed, because experience predates the qualification, because the New Zealand experience falls outside the 3-year window. After all, pay dipped below the threshold partway through, or because overseas work cannot be evidenced independently.
Most of it is fixable before you lodge and difficult to fix afterwards.
How I can help
Your trade may qualify. Your circumstances still need to be assessed.
I can check your occupation, qualification, work history and employment against the requirements and tell you where you stand. If you are not eligible yet, knowing what is missing and when you will reach it is more useful than a general answer. If an application has already been declined, I can advise you on the options available to you.
Discuss your situation with me
Tell me your occupation, when you finished your qualification and when you started working in New Zealand, and I can tell you whether this pathway is realistic for you.
Frequently asked questions
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It can. It needs an International Qualification Assessment from NZQA confirming it is comparable to Level 4 or higher. The 120 credit rule that applies to New Zealand qualifications does not apply to overseas ones.
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Yes, towards the 2.5 years of relevant experience, provided it meets the requirements (including being directly relevant) and you can evidence it (and there are a number of documents Immigration New Zealand will require for this purpose). The additional 1.5 years has to be completed in New Zealand.
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No. All four years have to come after you finished the qualification you are relying on, even where the work was identical to what you do now.
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No. Immigration New Zealand expressly excludes self-employment from relevant work experience under this pathway.
However, the position may be different if you have worked as an independent contractor under a contract for services. If some or all of your work experience was gained as a contractor, you should seek advice about whether it can be counted.
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Not necessarily. What matters is whether the duties you actually perform match the ANZSCO description for the occupation you are relying on. It is worth checking before you apply rather than after.
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You will not meet the requirement yet, and this is a common position to be in. The useful question is when you will reach it, and whether another pathway gets you there sooner.
I’m more than happy to discuss how I can assist you with a skilled migrant residence visa application.