How to move from Nepal to New Zealand: work visas (AEWV), study and post-study pathways, partnership visas, the route to residence, and what Nepali applicants should prepare early.
Written by the ProVisas Editorial Team. ProVisas is a licensed New Zealand immigration advisory firm (IAA Licence 201301110).
Every year a large number of Nepali nationals build a life in New Zealand through work, study, and family pathways. The pathway that fits you depends on your situation: whether you have a job offer, whether you plan to study first, and whether you are joining a partner already here. This guide maps the main routes from Nepal, and the documents Nepali applicants should start gathering early, because the timing of some of them decides how quickly you can lodge.
For most working-age Nepali applicants, the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) is the primary route. It is a job-led visa: you need a full-time job offer from an employer that Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has accredited, in a role that pays at the market rate and meets the skill requirements for that occupation.
The AEWV had its biggest overhaul since launch across 2025. The median-wage test was replaced with a market-rate test, the work-experience requirement dropped, and police-certificate rules tightened. If you are weighing an AEWV, read our AEWV 2025-26 changes explained for the current detail.
If your occupation is on the Green List, you may have a faster route. See Green List occupations in New Zealand to check whether your role qualifies for a more direct residence pathway.
Many Nepali students use study as the first step. You enrol with an approved education provider on a student visa, and on completion of an eligible qualification you may be able to apply for a post-study work visa that lets you work for an accredited employer and build the experience that later supports a residence application.
This route suits applicants who do not yet have a New Zealand job offer but have the funds and academic background to study here first.
If your partner is a New Zealand citizen, resident, or an eligible work-visa holder, a partnership-based visa may let you live and work in New Zealand. The load-bearing element is evidence of a genuine and stable relationship, not paperwork volume. Our partnership visa guide sets out the evidence INZ looks for.
Temporary visas are usually a stepping stone. The main skilled-residence route is the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC), a points-based system where points come from your skilled employment, qualifications, and occupational registration. Green List roles can offer a more direct residence pathway. Which route is realistic depends on your occupation, your qualifications, and how INZ recognises them, so it is worth assessing before you commit to a temporary visa.
Several requirements take weeks or months to satisfy. Starting them late is the most common cause of delay we see in Nepali cases.
For the current, authoritative requirements and fees, always check immigration.govt.nz directly, since policy and pricing change.
Costs include the INZ application fee, the Immigration Levy, and the practical costs above (police certificate, English test, medical, translations). For how professional advisory fees work and what they cover, see our fee structure. Processing times vary by visa type, by how complete the application is at lodgement, and by INZ’s current queues. A well-prepared application that meets the requirements on the first pass is the most reliable way to avoid avoidable delay.
A lot of the search traffic we see from Nepal is people looking for a manpower or recruitment agency in Kathmandu to arrange a New Zealand work visa. It is worth being precise about what those two things are, because they are not the same and only one of them is regulated.
A recruitment or manpower agency finds you a job. Immigration advice is a separate activity, and by law any person who gives New Zealand immigration advice must be licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority unless they are exempt. That applies wherever they are in the world, so an agent operating from Kathmandu, Delhi or Dubai is covered by the same rule as one operating from Auckland (iaa.govt.nz). The one meaningful offshore exemption is narrow: advice given outside New Zealand about student visa applications only. Advice on work or residence visas from offshore is not exempt.
The consequence is practical, not theoretical. INZ will not accept an application lodged on your behalf by an unlicensed adviser who is not exempt. If an agency in Nepal offers to prepare and submit your work visa application, that is licensed territory.
Two checks take a few minutes and are worth doing before you pay anyone:
None of this means a recruitment agency is doing something wrong by finding you a job. It means the job search and the visa application are two different services, and you should know which one you are buying. If someone is charging you for both, ask which licensed adviser is handling the immigration side and check their name on the register.
ProVisas is an IAA-licensed New Zealand immigration advisory firm. We assess your situation against current INZ policy, identify the realistic pathway, and prepare your application to meet INZ’s requirements. We will not promise an outcome. We will tell you what is possible, what is not, and where the risks sit, before you spend money on an application.
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For most applicants the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) is the main route. It requires a full-time job offer from an INZ-accredited employer in a role that meets the pay and skill requirements. If your occupation is on the Green List, a more direct residence pathway may be available.
Yes, through other routes. Common options without a job offer are studying on a student visa first (then applying for a post-study work visa), or a partnership-based visa if you have an eligible partner in New Zealand. The skilled work route (AEWV), however, does require a job offer.
Often, but not always. English-language evidence requirements depend on the visa and, for work visas, on the skill level of the occupation. Some pathways require a test such as IELTS; others accept alternative evidence. Confirm the requirement for your specific visa before booking.
Yes. Most work and residence applications require a police certificate for applicants aged 17 and over (for the AEWV, when your total stay will be 24 months or longer). For the AEWV and visitor visas, INZ no longer accepts a receipt for a pending certificate at lodgement, so request your Nepal Police certificate early, as it can take time to obtain.
It depends on the visa type, how complete your application is when lodged, and INZ’s current processing queues. The biggest controllable factor is preparation: police certificates, English tests, qualification assessments, and medicals all take lead time, so starting them early is what shortens the overall timeline.
An agency can find you a job, but giving New Zealand immigration advice requires an IAA licence, wherever in the world the adviser sits. The only offshore exemption covers student visa advice. INZ will not accept an application lodged on your behalf by an unlicensed, non-exempt adviser, so check the person handling your visa on the IAA public register before paying.
It depends on the pathway. The Skilled Migrant Category resident visa requires you to be 55 or younger when you apply. The Accredited Employer Work Visa has no published upper age limit, so a work visa can remain open to you at an age where the SMC residence route has closed. Health requirements apply at every age.
Experience gained in more than one country is common and is assessed against the requirements of the pathway you apply under, rather than being discounted for where it happened. The practical constraint is evidence: each period needs employment documents that show the role, the dates and the duties. Gaps and undocumented periods cause more problems than the country does.
This guide is part of a series: see also moving to New Zealand from India.
Last reviewed . Information may have changed since this article was reviewed. For your specific case, talk to a licensed immigration adviser.
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