Registering with the Medical Council
Find the registration route that fits you, what it costs and how long it takes. Most doctors only need one of the routes below.
About two minutes.
Download the PDF guide21 pages · 2.2 MB
Know your route? Choose it and this page shows only what applies to you. Find it in two minutes, or read on for every route.
Showing only the pathways for your route.
What you actually have to do
To work as a doctor here you need two things from the Medical Council of New Zealand. Registration says you meet the standard. An annual practising certificate is what lets you practise. You apply for both, and you cannot work without both.
- 1
Find your scope and pathway
General, vocational or special purpose — and within those, which route your training and registration history opens. This decides everything that follows, including what you pay.
- 2
Get your evidence together
Primary-source verified qualifications, certificates of good standing from every authority you have registered with, identity documents and your English evidence.
- 3
Apply to the Council
Between NZ$619.38 and NZ$4,645.33 depending on which pathway you are on, which is why step one matters so much.
- 4
Register, then get your certificate
NZ$1,000.00 for the annual practising certificate, which already includes the NZ$275.00 disciplinary levy. Many doctors start in a supervised or provisional scope and move on from there.
That is the whole process. Everything below is the detail behind one of those four steps, so read the parts you need and leave the rest.
Four things people often miss
- Three scopes, a pathway in each
General (resident doctors, RMOs, doctors in training), vocational (independent specialists) and special purpose (temporary).
- When you need a job offer
Competent Authority, comparable health system and VOC4 need one before you apply, and your employer completes part of the application. On VOC3 you can be assessed first, but your post and supervision must be approved before you are registered.
- Verification before submission
Your qualifications must be verified at source through EPIC before the Council will start on your file.
- Registered in New Zealand, not before
A registration meeting after you arrive confirms identity and supervision; only then is registration granted and a practising certificate issued. Most international graduates start under supervision; Australian graduates who completed an internship in Australia, and holders of approved Australasian postgraduate qualifications, may not be required to.
How long it takes
Three different clocks
Three stages, one after the other: the Council assesses your application, you then start work in New Zealand under supervision, and after that you apply for full registration. Only the first is a wait: supervision is paid work in your new job. Each stage has its own length, by pathway.
Times are the Council’s own, read on its registration process and pathway pages on 26 October 2026. They are targets once your application is complete, not guarantees. After the Council assesses you, add the time to get to New Zealand: the registration meeting happens there, and the practising certificate follows about three days later.
Section 01
Understanding the Council
The Medical Council of New Zealand — Te Kaunihera Rata o Aotearoa — registers doctors under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 and is responsible for their competence, conduct and fitness to practise.
Registration, scope and practising certificate
Registration places you in a scope of practice. A practising certificate lets you work; for international graduates it carries an endorsement naming your approved employment and supervision.
Start with the self-assessment tool
The Council’s online registration self-assessment tool points you to the pathway you may be eligible for.
Section 02
The three scopes
Each scope contains several pathways with their own requirements.
General scope
Preceded by a provisional general period under supervision.
Vocational scope
Permanent, specialist registration. International graduates enter through a provisional vocational period under supervision, then apply for the change of scope.
Special purpose scope
Six categories: locum tenens, teleradiology, visiting expert, postgraduate training, research, and other special purposes such as a disaster or pandemic. Also supervised. Locum tenens, for twelve months or less, is a mainstream clinical route, but none of these leads to a permanent post.
Section 03
General scope: which pathway is yours
Five pathways for doctors who trained outside New Zealand and Australia.
UK and Irish medical graduates
A primary medical degree from the UK or Ireland, with your internship completed there.
Recent experience in one of 29 recognised countries
See the Council’s list of the 29 comparable countries.
At least 33 months of clinical practice, at 20 or more hours a week, in the 48 months before you apply, in a similar area of medicine and at a similar level of responsibility to the New Zealand post, plus current full or general registration in one of those systems. General practitioners with a recent postgraduate GP qualification have separate prerequisites.
NZREX Clinical, PLAB 1 and 2, or the AMC exams
Passed within the last five years, plus a job offer as a PGY1 in accredited clinical attachments with an accredited training provider, leading into the two-year prevocational training programme.
PLAB, 12 months of UK practice, full GMC registration
PLAB Parts 1 and 2 passed within the last five years, full GMC general registration, and 12 months of UK practice: Foundation Year 1, FY2 stand-alone, or 12 months in an Approved Practice Setting. Progression also needs ACLS certification within the last 12 months and at least three months’ supervision before your supervisor can recommend you.
AMC examinations and Ahpra registration
Passed the Australian Medical Council examinations and registered with Ahpra.
Section 04
Vocational scope: registering as a specialist
Four pathways.
Approved New Zealand or Australasian qualification
VOC1 if you already hold general scope registration; VOC2 if you do not.
Trained and qualified as a specialist outside New Zealand and Australia
The Council assesses your training and qualifications on their merits. It sends your application to the relevant New Zealand college for a paper-based comparison with a New Zealand-trained specialist, and may ask for an interview. If you are found equivalent you choose between a supervision pathway (registration within about 12 months) and an assessment pathway (about 18 months). The Council says most applications take about three months from a complete application.
Approved UK, Irish or Australian postgraduate qualification
For specialists intending to work in an approved area of medicine. Prerequisites: an acceptable primary medical qualification; a postgraduate qualification on the Council’s approved list; at least 24 months’ clinical experience at 0.5 FTE or more in the past five years in that area, including 12 months within the last 18, in a comparable health system; and a job offer at consultant or specialist level. The Council states a processing time of 20 working days from a complete application; psychiatry may take longer.
It is the qualification and your recent experience that count, not where you did your medical degree. A consultant working in the UK who trained elsewhere can still use VOC4 if the postgraduate qualification is on the approved list.
VOC4: the approved qualifications, by specialty
Find your specialty. Anything not listed here goes to VOC3. Checked against the Council’s list dated 13 August 2026; the Council’s own approved list (PDF) is the authority and is updated from time to time, so check it before you rely on this.
How much is the practising certificate, and is the disciplinary levy extra?
The annual practising certificate is NZ$1,000.00 including GST, and that figure already includes the NZ$275.00 disciplinary levy. The Council’s fee notice states that the annual practising certificate fee includes the levy, so there is nothing to add on top. Fees were checked on 26 October 2026 against the schedule effective 1 July 2026; confirm the current figure on the Council’s fees page.
How long does registration take?
There are three separate clocks. The Council assesses a complete application in about 20 working days for most general scope pathways and VOC4, about 10 working days for VOC1, and about three months in most VOC3 cases because a college assesses your file first. After that you attend a registration meeting in New Zealand and work under supervision in a provisional scope. How long that lasts depends on your pathway, from about six months to about 18 months, and moving to general or vocational scope is applied for, not automatic.
Anaesthesia
United Kingdom: Fellowship of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and a CCT (GMC or PMETB) or CCST.
Ireland: Fellowship of the College of Anaesthetists of Ireland or Fellowship of the Faculty of Anaesthetists, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and a CSCST.
Dermatology
United Kingdom: Fellowship or Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (London or Edinburgh) or of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and a CCT (GMC or PMETB) or CCST.
Ireland: Membership or Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and a CSCST.
Emergency medicine
United Kingdom: Fellowship of the College of Emergency Medicine and a CCT (GMC or PMETB) or CCST.
General practice
United Kingdom: Fellowship or Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a CCT (GMC or PMETB). A CCST is not accepted for general practice.
Ireland: Membership of the Irish College of General Practitioners and a CSCST.
Australia: Fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
Internal medicine
United Kingdom: Fellowship or Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (London or Edinburgh) or of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and a CCT (GMC or PMETB) or CCST.
Ireland: Membership or Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and a CSCST.
General medicine and other internal medicine sub-specialties are assessed by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians through VOC3, not the fast-track.
Obstetrics and gynaecology
United Kingdom: Fellowship or Membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and a CCT (GMC or PMETB) or CCST.
Ireland: Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (as printed on the Council’s list) and a CSCST.
Paediatrics (general)
United Kingdom: Membership of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, or of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, or of the Royal College of Physicians of London and a CCT (GMC or PMETB) or CCST.
Ireland: Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and a CSCST.
Other paediatric specialties and dual-specialty paediatricians are assessed by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians through VOC3.
Pathology (anatomical, chemical, haematology, microbiology)
United Kingdom: Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists and a GMC CCT in the discipline: Histopathology, Chemical Pathology, Haematology or Medical Microbiology.
Psychiatry
United Kingdom: Fellowship or Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a CCT (GMC or PMETB) or CCST.
Ireland: Membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a CSCST.
Additional requirements for some specialties
Obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry and anatomical pathology carry additional information requirements.
The VOC4 list of approved postgraduate qualifications is a live document; the Council has added chemical pathology, haematology and microbiology. Confirm your qualification and area of medicine are on the current version.
Quick answer
Which route is yours?
Start at the top and follow the arrows. Green is yes, grey is no.
Which countries count as “comparable”? The Council’s list of 29. Qualified in the UK? Most UK entries need a CCT and the Membership or Fellowship; other approved postgraduate qualifications are on the Council’s approved list (PDF).
Swipe sideways to see the whole map, or read the list below.
Read it as a list instead
Want it worked out from your own answers? Use the Pathway Navigator. These are guides, not decisions: the Council decides, and its approved list changes. Read from the Council’s pages on 26 October 2026.
Section 05
Primary source verification
Since November 2017 the Council has required key documents to be verified directly with the institution that issued them, through ECFMG’s EPIC service, now via the MyIntealth portal.
- 1
Create your EPIC account
Through the MyIntealth portal; ECFMG publishes instructions specific to New Zealand applicants.
- 2
Request verification of your primary medical qualification
EPIC contacts your medical school directly.
- 3
Request verification of your postgraduate qualification
If you are applying for a vocational scope.
- 4
Keep the evidence that verification is under way
It goes in with your application.
Section 06
References, English and fitness
Three, on the Council’s referee report form
The Council describes authentic, authoritative and comprehensive references as necessary to its decisions on fitness and competence. They go on form RP6. Who verifies them depends on the scope: normally your prospective employer declares, with evidence, that it has verified them. For provisional vocational and vocational applications the Council contacts the referee directly.
The Council’s English language policy
Every applicant must satisfy the Council that they can comprehend and communicate effectively in English in the medical workplace. The policy sets out the routes and any test requirement; check it before booking.
Health, conduct and competence
A legal requirement on the Council: every applicant must be fit for registration and fit to practise medicine. Disclose anything relevant in full, even matters you consider minor or resolved; non-disclosure is treated more seriously than the underlying matter usually is.
Section 07
Applying with your employer
Applications are made online through the Council’s portal, myMCNZ, with your employer; some documents can only be completed by them.
- 1
Request a PIN and create your myMCNZ account
- 2
Work through the Council’s checklist for your pathway
The Council publishes one for each pathway. Every document it lists, certified where required.
- 3
Your employer completes the approval of position and supervisor form
The Council’s form for your pathway, naming your post and your Council-approved supervisor.
- 4
Submit, with the fee
Fees are on the Council’s forms, fees and checklists page; confirm before you pay. Processing times, published per pathway, run from receipt of a complete application.
- 5
Respond to any request promptly
- 6
Receive your eligibility for registration letter
It confirms for other agencies, Immigration New Zealand among them, that you can be registered, and gives instructions for your registration meeting.
Section 08
The registration meeting and your practising certificate
Every international medical graduate practising in New Zealand for the first time attends a registration meeting.
Bring the information the Council has asked for. The meeting confirms your identity, completes the registration formalities, takes your application for a practising certificate and settles your supervision. For the VOC4 fast-track it takes place within two weeks of your intended start date, once you have arrived in New Zealand. After the meeting and payment for the practising certificate, the Council grants registration in your provisional scope and issues the certificate; allow three days.
Work only within the endorsement and any conditions on the certificate.
Section 09
Working under supervision, and progression
Three rules shape the provisional period.
- 1
Supervision is required
In every provisional general, provisional vocational and special purpose scope, under a Council-approved supervisor.
- 2
Variations before any change
Your practising certificate endorses a specific employment, supervision, position and location. If any of them change, apply for a variation at least 20 working days in advance and wait for approval.
- 3
Progression is applied for, not automatic
Provisional general to general depends on your pathway. Comparable health system and UK general registrant routes: 12 months full-time equivalent, three satisfactory supervision reports covering the nine months immediately before you apply, and your supervisor’s recommendation. Competent Authority pathway for UK and Irish graduates: six months full-time equivalent and two consecutive satisfactory reports. If you have not met them within 12 months you continue under supervision until you have. Provisional vocational to vocational: once you have completed the requirements Council set for you.
Conditions on the general scope
Your general scope is limited to the area of medicine you worked in during the provisional period, unless that was general practice. An unlimited general scope needs six months full-time equivalent of supervised practice in medicine and six months in surgery during your provisional general scope; no more than three months of that medicine may be emergency medicine. In the general scope you are no longer supervised, but you must meet the Council’s recertification requirements through the Inpractice programme or an accredited vocational training programme.
What it costs
What the Council charges, and what decides which figure is yours
The application fee is the most pathway-dependent of any board on this site — a seven-fold difference between the cheapest and dearest route. Everything below is GST-inclusive, as the Council publishes it.
Application — competent authority, Australian or UK registrant, or VOC2
NZ$619.38
Application — comparable health system
NZ$1,935.55
Application — provisional vocational (VOC3 and VOC4)
NZ$4,645.33
VOC3 only — college and assessment fees
Paper-based assessment NZ$5,617.06; interview, if needed, NZ$2,376.45; vocational practice assessment, if needed, NZ$20,336.96. The Council lists these on its fees page.
NZREX Clinical, if you sit it
Application NZ$860.92 and examination NZ$4,966.94.
Annual practising certificate, including the disciplinary levy
NZ$1,000.00 — the levy of NZ$275.00 is already inside this figure. The Council’s fee notice says “Fee includes a disciplinary levy”, and its fees page lists the levy separately only to show how much of the fee it is. Do not add the two together.
The Council states: “All fees are expressed in $NZ and include GST of 15%”. Schedule effective 1 July 2026.
Checked 26 October 2026 against Medical Council — fees and the Council’s fee notice in the New Zealand Gazette, which states that the annual practising certificate fee includes the disciplinary levy. The Council resets its fees from time to time, so confirm the current figure before you budget.
Where people get stuck
Where avoidable delays come from
Verification started late
EPIC runs at the pace of your medical school.
Counting months that do not count
Locum weeks or a different specialty may not meet the 33-of-48-months test.
Assuming the label, not the list
A country you think of as comparable may not be on the Council’s list, which it adds to from time to time; a qualification you think of as approved may not be on the VOC4 list.
Referees left unbriefed
A slow referee is a slow application.
Booking the flight around the offer, not the meeting
Registration is granted after the meeting in New Zealand.
Section 11
The questions we are asked most
I trained in the UK or Ireland. Which pathway is mine?
For general scope, Competent Authority if your primary medical degree and internship were in the UK or Ireland; or UK general registrants if you passed PLAB Parts 1 and 2, completed 12 months of satisfactory UK practice and hold full GMC registration. For specialists, an approved UK or Irish postgraduate qualification may qualify you for the VOC4 fast-track.
I am a consultant working in the UK but I trained elsewhere. Which pathway is mine?
Vocational scope, not general scope. If your postgraduate qualification is on the Council’s approved VOC4 list (for most UK entries that means the Membership or Fellowship and a CCT, in an approved area of medicine), you may qualify for VOC4 whatever country you did your medical degree in. You also need 24 months in the past five years at 0.5 FTE or more in that area, including 12 months in the last 18, in a comparable health system, and a specialist-level job offer. If your qualification is not on the list, or the specialty is not an approved area, the route is VOC3, where the college assesses you. Check the current list before you plan around either.
What counts as a comparable health system?
The Council’s list, currently 29 countries, is assessed against health system infrastructure, population health outcomes and the medical regulatory framework. The countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. It changes: always check the Council’s list of the 29 comparable countries.
The checklist
The full checklist, for every pathway
Once you have found your pathway, a shorter checklist for just your route appears at the top of this page. This is the full list of thirty-two items, in the order you will meet them, for anyone who wants to see everything. Ticks are saved on this device only, and you never upload a document here.
Show or hide the 32-item checklist
01Before you start
Scope, pathway and a job offer — in that order.
02Check the pathway prerequisites
Each pathway has its own tests. These are the ones most international doctors meet.
03Primary source verification — start this first
The Council cannot begin processing until it is under way.
04References, CV and English
The independent evidence.
05Apply with your employer
Some documents can only be completed by them.
06Arrive, meet, register
Registration is confirmed in New Zealand, not before.
07Under supervision, then progression
What the provisional period asks of you.
Sources and checking
Last verified 26 October 2026
Every fee, time and requirement on this page was read on the Medical Council of New Zealand’s own pages on that date. Where this page and the Council differ, the Council is right. Check the current page before you pay a fee or book travel.
- Fees ↗
- Fee notice, New Zealand Gazette (1 July 2026) ↗
- Forms, fees and checklists ↗
- Registration process and processing times ↗
- General scope pathways ↗
- Vocational scope pathways ↗
- The 29 comparable countries ↗
- Approved VOC4 qualifications, 13 August 2026 (PDF) ↗
This guide and the Pathway Navigator are general information. Neither tells you which pathway you are on or whether you will be registered. Only the Medical Council of New Zealand decides that. Where your situation is uncertain, the Council is the place to ask.
What next?
Registration is one part of the decision
How we help
Information for everyone, more support if we represent you
This guide, the Pathway Navigator and My Move are free to anyone, with official sources and planning tools to help you work out your route and keep track of it. If Ethicare is representing you for a role, we can also help you plan the order of your registration and relocation steps and keep the milestones moving with you. We do not review or hold your registration documents: the Council checks those, and the registration decision rests with the Medical Council.