Fast-track registration for provisional vocational (specialist) registration
Council is pleased to announce that from 1 November 2024, international medical graduates (IMGs) with an approved postgraduate medical qualification, intending to practise in Aotearoa New Zealand in an approved area of medicine, can apply for specialist registration via a new fast-track registration pathway.
This fast-track registration will make it easier and quicker for eligible IMGs from the UK, Ireland and Australia to gain specialist registration and start practising in approved areas of medicine in Aotearoa New Zealand. These areas of medicine include anaesthesia, dermatology, emergency medicine, general practice, internal medicine, pathology (anatomical) and psychiatry. A complete list of approved postgraduate medical qualifications can be found here.
Applications will be processed within 20 working days*. You can apply for the fast-track registration if you:
- Hold an acceptable primary medical degree;
- Have an approved overseas postgraduate medical qualification;
- Intend to practise in Aotearoa New Zealand in an approved area of medicine;
- Have a minimum of 24 months’ (working at 0.5 FTE or more) clinical experience in the past 5 years practising in that area of medicine, including 12 months within the last 18 months immediately prior to application, in a country recognised by Council as having a health system comparable to Aotearoa New Zealand; and
- Have a job offer in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Further information, including how to apply and the documentation to be submitted, will be available on our website on 1 November 2024.
*Applications in psychiatry may take slightly longer to process.