New Zealand opens two skilled residence routes that need no degree and no points

New Zealand rebuilt its main skilled-residence visa overnight. From 24 August 2026 the Skilled Migrant Category, the route most skilled migrants use to reach residence, is no longer a single points test. It now has three pathways, and two of them are new. One qualifies people on work experience alone, with no qualification and no points at all. The other is built for trades and technician roles and asks for a practical qualification plus post-qualification experience. Immigration New Zealand has also collapsed the two wage rates applicants used to have to meet into one. The new structure applies to expressions of interest submitted from 24 August onwards.

Background

The Skilled Migrant Category was reset in October 2023 into a streamlined 6-point system. Applicants claimed points from a qualification, an occupational registration or their income, and could top up with skilled work experience in New Zealand. It was simpler than the system before it, but it rewarded credentials over experience. Someone with fifteen years in a skilled role and no degree could be earning well, doing work the country was short of, and still have no way to reach 6 points. Announcing the change in September 2025, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford said: "Businesses told us it was too hard for some migrants to gain residence, even when they had crucial skills and significant experience that was not available in the existing workforce." She described the gap as "a whole category missing of skilled workers, predominantly in the trades, who may have many years of experience, are well qualified and can help train up Kiwi workers but who have no pathway to residence."

What exactly changed

The Points-based pathway survives largely intact. It still needs 6 skilled resident points, claimed from one of qualifications, occupational registration or pay, and Immigration New Zealand is explicit that you cannot mix skill categories: you can combine one category with New Zealand skilled work experience, but not qualification points with income points. Alongside it sit the two new routes. The Skilled Work Experience pathway requires a job or job offer in an ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 occupation paid at least 1.1 times the SMC wage threshold, at least 3 years of relevant work experience, and an additional 2 years of skilled work experience in New Zealand. Jobs on the Amber List must meet a higher 1.2 times rate, and jobs on the Red List cannot use this pathway at all. The Trades and Technician pathway requires an eligible trades or technician job paid at least the SMC wage threshold, a relevant qualification at New Zealand Qualifications and Credentials Framework level 4 or higher, at least 2.5 years of relevant post-qualification work experience, and an additional 1.5 years of post-qualification skilled work experience in New Zealand. Neither new pathway lets you count self-employment as relevant work experience.

The wage rules got simpler

Under the old settings an applicant had to meet one rate while accruing their New Zealand work experience and a higher rate at the point of applying for residence. Immigration New Zealand has removed that second test: applicants now meet a single SMC wage threshold and have to keep meeting it throughout the required period of work experience. If your pay drops below the threshold, the experience stops counting, even if you stay with the same employer. There is one grace provision. If the threshold rises before a migrant starts work, and they begin their skilled work experience within 5 months of their work visa being granted, the threshold that applied on the day the visa was granted is the one used. Related wage-rule changes also apply to the Work to Residence, Care Workforce Work to Residence and Transport Work to Residence visas.

Who this helps and who it shuts out

The clearest winners are people who have been stuck just short of 6 points. A chef, a diesel mechanic or a site supervisor with years behind them and no bachelor's degree previously had little to work with. If they hold an ANZSCO level 1 to 3 job at $38.50 an hour or more and have five years of relevant experience with two of those in New Zealand, they now have a route that never asks about qualifications. A qualified electrician or automotive technician with a level 4 trade certificate and four years of post-qualification work, 18 months of it in New Zealand, has a second route at the ordinary $35.00 threshold. The changes cut the other way for some people. Anyone whose occupation sits on the Red List is shut out of the Skilled Work Experience pathway entirely, and anyone who built their experience through self-employment cannot count it on either new pathway. Contractors and owner-operators in the trades should check this before assuming they qualify.

What to do now

Residence applications are assessed under the instructions in force on the day the expression of interest is lodged, so the date on your EOI decides which rulebook you get. That matters immediately for anyone with an unfinished draft: Immigration New Zealand deleted all draft, unsubmitted SMC EOIs at midnight on 23 August 2026, because the EOI form itself changed. A saved draft is not a submitted EOI, and anyone who had one has to start again on the new form. If you think one of the new pathways fits, check your occupation before you check your experience: find your ANZSCO skill level, then check whether your job appears on the Red or Amber lists, because those two answers can rule a pathway out before anything else matters. Then check your pay history against the threshold across the whole qualifying period, not just your current rate. Our New Zealand country guide (/country-guides/new-zealand) covers the wider picture of moving there, and the visas and status field guide (/field-guide/visas-status) covers how residence pathways work alongside the permits you need on arrival.