Skilled Migration Category Residence Visa (SMC)


Immigration New Zealand adopts a ‘points system’ to assess a potential migrant’s eligibility under SMC to be invited to apply for residence. Points are awarded for age, work experience, employability, and qualifications.


This has been one of most popular pathway towards New Zealand residence, and the major requirements are:
• to have got a skilled employment or job offer in New Zealand;
• to be able to meet English language requirements through the various alternative ways;
Of course the applicant will need to meet age (55 or under), health and character requirements.

 As a basic rule under the current circumstance, if you have got a skilled employment/job offer in New Zealand, you will have sufficient points to be invited to apply for. This means that you will have no enough points without skilled employment/job offer no matter what sort of points you can attract from other factors, such as qualification, work experience, or partner’s qualification.


SMC residence is suitable to the following people

• who are tertiary graduates of international students; or
• who have been working in New Zealand for a number of years on a skilled   employment, such as chef, baker, builder, carpenter, tiler and tradespeople; or
• who have got tertiary qualifications from the countries, like Australia, Canada, UK, or USA or other western countries where English is the medium of education instruction, and have got the potentials to be employed or offered a job by a prospective employer of New Zealand.