Pathways
This page provides a quick description of our pathways to registration. It is intended to be used as a reference guide when interpreting data in our data dashboard.
Aotearoa NZ/Australian Graduates
This pathway is available to doctors who hold an approved primary medical qualification from New Zealand or Australia. Doctors who have not yet completed their internship are registered on a provisional general scope while they meet this requirement. Doctors who have already completed their internship in Australia are registered in the General scope of practice.
See the following page on our website for more information:
Australasian post-graduate qualification
This pathway is available to doctors who hold an approved postgraduate qualification from New Zealand or Australia. Doctors applying through this pathway are registered in a vocational scope of practice.
See the following page on our website for more information:
Australian general registrant
This pathway is available to doctors who hold full general registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
See the following page on our website for more information:
Comparable health system
This pathway is available to doctors who have recent experience in a comparable health system. Council currently recognises 24 countries as having health systems comparable to New Zealand.
See the following page on our website for more information:
Competent authority (UK and Irish graduates)
This pathway is available to doctors who hold a primary medical degree from an approved medical school in the United Kingdom or Ireland and have completed their internship within the United Kingdom or Ireland.
See the following page on our website for more information
Examinations (Exams)
This pathway is available to doctors who have passed either Council's New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical), or Part 1 and Part 2 of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test, within the last five years.
See the following page on our website for more information:
Locum tenens
This pathway is available to doctors with an approved overseas specialist qualification, and who have a job offer to work in New Zealand for 12 months or less.
See the following page on our website for more information:
Overseas post-graduate qualification (VOC3)
This pathway is available to doctors who have completed their postgraduate training and qualification overseas.
Council assesses the training, qualifications, and experience of applicants through this pathway against those of a New Zealand-trained vocationally registered doctor holding the New Zealand or Australasian Fellowship, Diploma or Certificate in the same area of medicine. The relevant specialist medical colleges complete these assessments and provide advice to Council.
Where Council decides that the applicant's training, qualifications and experience equivalent to or as satisfactory as the standard of a New Zealand-trained vocationally-registered doctor, the applicant can be registered in a provisional vocational scope. Once the applicant completes any remaining requirements, they can apply for registration in a vocational scope.
See the following page on our website for more information: