Your passport decides the rules, not where you live
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is on New Zealand’s visa waiver list. UAE citizens can visit New Zealand without a visa, but they need a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) before they travel.
Most people who live and work in the UAE hold another passport, from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom or elsewhere. For them, the rules that apply are the rules for their citizenship. A UAE residence visa does not change what New Zealand asks for. Check Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) visa waiver list against the passport you will travel on.
Gulf experience rarely leads straight to residence
Many experienced professionals in the UAE expect their years of work to count towards New Zealand residence. Under the Skilled Migrant Category, they usually do not count on their own.
INZ awards points from one skill category: your qualification, your New Zealand occupational registration, or your income. If that category does not reach the points requirement, the only points you can add come from skilled work experience in New Zealand. Experience in Dubai or Abu Dhabi does not add points. INZ’s other two Skilled Migrant pathways, for skilled work experience and for trades and technicians, also require work experience in New Zealand.
INZ names a few situations where one category alone can be enough, such as a doctorate, an eligible occupational registration that requires significant training, or a very high income. If none of those fits, the usual route is a work visa first, then residence after skilled work here. Our Skilled Migrant Category points page has the points tables.
The UAE usually adds a police certificate
The police certificate requirement follows where you have lived, as well as your citizenship. For a resident visa, INZ asks for a certificate from your country of citizenship and from every other country where you have lived long enough to trigger the rule, even if that time was split across several stays. For most people moving from the UAE, that means a certificate from the UAE as well as one from their country of citizenship, plus any other country where they worked before.
Temporary work and student visas have a narrower rule, but it can still include the UAE if you have lived there for many years. Our guide on police certificates sets out the periods INZ uses, with the source. Any certificate not in English needs a translation.
English
Living and working in English in the UAE does not count towards INZ’s English requirements. The citizenship route is open only to citizens of Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States who have worked or studied in certain countries, and the UAE is not one of those countries. The study route needs a degree from Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States.
Everyone else who needs to show English will sit a test, in person at a test centre. INZ does not accept tests taken at home.
Qualifications
Most qualifications gained outside New Zealand need an International Qualification Assessment from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). That includes degrees from universities in the UAE and degrees from your home country. Some qualifications are on INZ’s list of exemptions for the Skilled Migrant Category, so check that list before you pay for an assessment.
Who may advise you
Giving immigration advice about New Zealand requires a New Zealand licence or a legal exemption, and that applies to consultants in Dubai as much as anywhere else. Check any adviser’s licence on the public register before you pay. Charging a worker for a job in New Zealand is illegal, wherever the payment is made.
Where to start
Routes UAE-based applicants most often use
Ordered by how commonly they are used, not by how easy they are. Each one is assessed on different evidence.
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01
Accredited Employer Work Visa
The usual first step for skilled workers, through an accredited employer and an approved job check.
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02
Residence through skilled work
Most routes need skilled work in New Zealand, so residence usually comes after a work visa.
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03
Skilled Migrant Category points
Check whether your qualification, registration or income reaches the points requirement on its own.
Start these first
The four things that hold applications up
All four come from someone other than you, and all four run on their own timetable. Beginning them late is the most common self-inflicted delay.
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Police certificates
From every country you have lived in for long enough to trigger the requirement, which is often more than one. Slow, and outside your control.
Find your country’s issuing authority -
Medical examination
Has to be done by a doctor on the approved panel. A medical from your own doctor does not count, however thorough it is.
Find an approved doctor -
Qualification assessment
NZQA decides whether an overseas qualification is recognised and at what level. Immigration New Zealand does not, and professional bodies decide separately again.
How NZQA assesses qualifications -
English evidence
Check which tests and scores are currently accepted before you book one. Sitting the wrong test is a common way to lose a month.
Accepted tests and scores