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Skilled Residence Wage & Work Experience Calculator

Estimate your wage threshold and qualifying New Zealand work period for the SMC, Green List, Transport and Care Workforce residence pathways, under the rules in force since 24 August 2026.

Choose the residence pathway

Each pathway has its own wage rules and look-back period.

Not sure which pathway applies to you?

Your points claim

Your wage threshold is usually set when you start gaining skilled work experience, and it does not rise when INZ's rate rises.

Amber List status

Your wage threshold is usually set when you start gaining skilled work experience, and it does not rise when INZ's rate rises.

What else this pathway requires
This pathway also requires a job in an ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 occupation and at least 3 years of directly relevant work experience (in NZ or overseas; self-employment excluded). The 3 years has no wage test, so the calculator does not assess it. It checks the 2 years of NZ skilled work experience, which does. Red List occupations cannot use this pathway.

Your qualification

Your wage threshold is usually set when you start gaining skilled work experience, and it does not rise when INZ's rate rises.

What else this pathway requires
This pathway also requires an eligible trades/technician occupation, a relevant NZQCF Level 4+ qualification (or comparable), and at least 2.5 years of relevant post-qualification work experience (self-employment excluded). The 2.5 years has no wage test, so the calculator does not assess it. It checks the 1.5 years of post-qualification NZ skilled work experience, which does.

Key dates

Your NZ employment history

Add a new row for every pay change or job change.

Your current pay

Your Green List role

You need 24 months of qualifying work in the 30 months before you apply, at a rate locked in when you start counting.

If you are unsure, find your role on the official Green List, which shows any wage requirement.

Your transport role

You need 24 months of qualifying work in the 30 months before you apply, at a rate locked in when you start counting.

Transitional rules for roles removed on 7 April 2024
Six road roles (Bus Driver, Truck Driver, Aircraft Refueller, Furniture Removalist, Tanker Driver, Tow Truck Driver) were removed from the transport workforce list on 7 April 2024. Work in them can only count if, on or before 6 April 2024, you had started the job, been granted an AEWV to work in it, or held or applied for another work visa with a job offer or signed employment agreement for it (and started within 4 weeks of the visa grant or signing). Ship's Master and Deck Hand also carry maritime certificate requirements; see the INZ Transport Work to Residence page.

Care workforce rate

You need 24 months of qualifying work in the 30 months before you apply, paid at the care workforce sector rate.

Care workforce sector wage rate: NZD $28.25/hr from 1 July 2022 ($27.00 from 29 September 2021 to 30 June 2022). Your required rate is the one in place when you start counting.
Eligible roles & details
Eligible roles: Aged or Disabled Carer · Personal Care Assistant · Nursing Support Worker · Kaiawhina (Hauora) (Māori Health Assistant) · Disabilities Services Officer · Residential Care Officer · Therapy Aide · Child or Youth Residential Care Assistant · Diversional Therapist. See the INZ Care Workforce Work to Residence page.

Key dates

Your NZ employment history

Add a row per job or pay change. Work in other roles can also count towards the 24 months if it paid at least 2× the median wage (INZ instructions SR5.15(m) and SR5.20). Mark those rows "Other role, paid 2× the median wage".

Calculate

Also required (not calculated here)
Aged 55 or younger at application · full-time work (at least 30 hours/week) · a work visa covering the full 24 months before you apply · current job/offer with an accredited employer, permanent or fixed-term of 12+ months · English, health and character requirements · your role's qualification/registration requirements. Paid leave you are legally entitled to (including parental leave) counts as work. If your job is removed from the Green List after you start, your time still counts.

Your role's wage requirement

Straight to Residence has no look-back period. Your job or job offer must meet your role's wage requirement on the date you apply.

Your pay

Also required (not calculated here)
The role's specific qualification, registration and/or experience requirements on the Green List · full-time job or offer with an accredited employer, permanent or fixed-term of 12+ months · aged 55 or younger · English, health and character. Since 24 August 2026, INZ looks more closely at whether Tier 1 employment is genuine, testing your role's duties, your employer's need for the role and your pay against the occupation claimed.

About your job

Answer what you can. "Not sure" is fine: we check every pathway your answer could mean.

Type a job title or what you do, e.g. "sous chef", "I look after elderly people in a rest home", "drive trucks". Pick the closest match and we fill in the answers below.

    Find your job on the official Green List. Most manager, professional, technician and trades jobs are ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3.

    Your qualifications and registration

    These decide which Skilled Migrant Category points you can claim and which pathways are open to you.

    INZ sets the points for each registration. Overseas qualifications usually need an NZQA assessment. See how SMC points work.

    Key dates

    Your NZ employment history

    Add a new row for every pay change or job change.

    Your current pay

    How this calculator works: rules, rates and sources

    The rules applied

    • Threshold setting (SMC): if your pathway requires NZ skilled work experience, the SMC wage threshold in place when you start gaining that experience applies, and is locked. Work starts counting from the first day your pay meets the threshold in place at that time. You cannot adopt an earlier, lower threshold and meet it later.
    • Eligible timeframe to set the threshold (SMC): twice the required experience, counted back from your EOI date (for example, 2 years required gives a 4-year window). Experience continues to count after the EOI, up to your residence application date, within the same-length window counted back from the application date.
    • Rate locking (Work to Residence): the required rate is your Green List job's specified rate (a multiple of the median wage) or the median wage, as at the date you start counting. INZ can only look at rates in place within the 30 months before application (plus up to 5 months earlier under the grace period).
    • Transport & Care Workforce (Work to Residence): the same rate locking, 30-month look-back and grace period apply. Transport roles use the median wage, except Bus Driver (a flat NZD $28/hr, with employer conditions under SR7.15: a Waka Kotahi MoU signatory employer, or a Ministry of Education-funded or school-contracted bus service). Six road roles (Bus Driver, Truck Driver, Aircraft Refueller, Furniture Removalist, Tanker Driver, Tow Truck Driver) were removed from the transport list on 7 April 2024. That work counts only under INZ's transitional rules, which depend on your job, AEWV or signed offer being in place on or before 6 April 2024. The care workforce uses the sector wage rate: $28.25/hr from 1 July 2022 ($27.00 from 29 September 2021).
    • 2×-median top-up (Work to Residence): work in roles outside your pathway can fill part of the 24 months if it paid at least twice the median wage in place when that work started counting (INZ instructions SR5.15(m) and SR5.20: $70.00/hr from 9 Mar 2026, $67.12 from 18 Aug 2025, $63.22 from 28 Feb 2024). It locks and pauses like any other rate here. It can fill only part of the 24 months, and your employment when you apply must still be an acceptable role in your pathway.
    • Grace period (all Work to Residence pathways and SMC): if you started work within 5 months of your work visa being granted, the rate increased in between, and you were paid at least the rate in place at grant, the grant-date rate applies. The grant date itself must be within 35 months of your application (the 30-month window plus the 5-month grace). In INZ's worked example, a visa granted 25 February 2026 can use its grant-date rate in an application made no later than 25 January 2029.
    • Job changes: you keep your locked rate when changing employer or role (for WTR, the new Green List job's specified rate is still read as at your original counting-start date). The exception is an SMC Points-based move from an ANZSCO level 1 to 3 job into a level 4 or 5 job, where 1.5× applies.
    • Pay drops: any period paid below your locked required rate does not count; time already banked is kept, and counting resumes when pay meets the locked rate again.
    • Qualification/registration pathways: only experience gained after the relevant qualification (Trades & Technician) or registration (Points-based, registration category) can count.
    • Not sure which pathway: your answers rule pathways in or out (for example, Skilled Work Experience needs a job at ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3, and Trades & Technician needs a Level 4+ trade or technician qualification). Every pathway left open is run through the same calculation as its full check, using one employment history, with your EOI date taken as your planned application date. For the Points-based pathway, every points claim your answers allow (qualification, registration or pay) is tried and the strongest result is shown. A "Not sure" answer keeps a pathway in, and its result says what you need to confirm.

    SMC wage threshold history (base rate, hourly NZD)

    Pathway multipliers: Points-based 1.0× (ANZSCO 1 to 3) / 1.5× (ANZSCO 4 to 5, unlisted, or claiming 3 income points) / 2× (4 income points) / 3× (6 income points, current job only) · Trades & Technician 1.0× · Skilled Work Experience 1.1× (1.2× for Amber List roles). Green List Tier 2 roles use the median wage or the role's specified multiple.

    Rounding note: INZ truncates multiplied rates to the cent in its SMC tables (e.g. $31.61 × 1.5 = $47.41) and this calculator does the same, with one exception. INZ's own Work to Residence tables (operational manual SR5.15.1 and the public wage-rates page) publish $33.56 × 1.3 as $43.63 (rounded up), and the calculator uses that published figure. If your pay sits within a cent of a threshold, treat the result as borderline and confirm it with an adviser.

    Official sources

    Borderline result, or a complicated work history?

    Threshold locking, grace periods, job changes and pay drops interact in ways a calculator can only estimate. ProVisas has advised on skilled residence since 2013. Under our 100% Honest Answers promise, if you don't qualify yet we'll tell you so, and show you what needs to change before you can.

    WhatsApp or call +64 22 112 1112 · contact@provisas.co.nz

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    Disclaimer: This calculator gives general information only and is not immigration advice. It estimates outcomes from the information you enter and from Immigration New Zealand instructions and published rates. Immigration instructions change, and INZ decides every application on its full facts. Results do not determine visa eligibility, and other requirements apply (occupation eligibility, accredited employment, qualifications, registration, English, health, character, hours of work and evidence standards). Accuracy: every rate and rule in this tool has been checked against INZ's published sources, but it is an automated calculator and can make mistakes. A recent rule change, a date near a threshold boundary or an unusual work history can produce an incorrect result, so check every result against INZ's current instructions or with a Licensed Immigration Adviser before acting on it. The contact details and result summary you submit reach ProVisas and are handled under our privacy policy. For advice about your situation, speak to a Licensed Immigration Adviser. Professional Visa Solutions Ltd (ProVisas).

    Current rates

    What are the residence wage rates in 2026?

    The Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) wage threshold is NZD $35.00 an hour from 9 March 2026, and the median wage used for most Work to Residence roles is also $35.00. Each pathway asks for a multiple of that rate (INZ: SMC pay rates, Work to Residence wage rates).

    Skilled residence hourly wage rates in NZD from 9 March 2026
    Pathway Multiple Hourly
    SMC Points-based pathway (ANZSCO skill level 1 to 3 job) and Trades and Technician pathway 1x $35.00
    SMC Skilled Work Experience pathway 1.1x $38.50
    SMC Skilled Work Experience pathway, Amber List roles 1.2x $42.00
    SMC Points-based pathway: ANZSCO skill level 4 or 5 or unlisted job, or claiming 3 income points 1.5x $52.50
    SMC Points-based pathway: claiming 4 income points 2x $70.00
    SMC Points-based pathway: claiming 6 income points 3x $105.00
    Work to Residence: Green List Tier 2 and Transport roles (unless the role has a higher specified rate) Median wage $35.00
    Work to Residence: Care Workforce roles Sector rate $28.25

    INZ updates these rates each year, so check the current figures on immigration.govt.nz before relying on them.

    Why the dates matter

    The rate on INZ's website today may not be your rate

    Three rules decide which wage threshold applies to you, and the calculator works through all three.

    Your rate is usually locked when you start counting

    For most skilled residence pathways, the wage threshold that applies is the one in force on the day your work starts counting, not the day you apply. If INZ's rate rises later, yours does not, as long as your pay stays at or above your locked rate.

    There is a 5-month grace period after your visa is granted

    If the rate rose between your work visa being granted and you starting work, and you started within 5 months of the grant, you can usually use the rate in force on your grant date instead.

    Only recent work counts

    Work to Residence looks back 30 months from the date you apply, and the Skilled Migrant Category looks back up to four years depending on your pathway. Work outside that window does not count, however well it was paid.

    Common questions

    Honest answers to the questions everyone asks.

    Can't find what you're looking for? Book a free 15-minute call and we'll match you with the right IAA-licensed adviser for your case.

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    The Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) wage threshold is NZD $35.00 an hour from 9 March 2026, up from $33.56. The Points-based and Trades and Technician pathways use it as the base rate, and the Skilled Work Experience pathway needs 1.1 times it ($38.50), or 1.2 times ($42.00) for Amber List roles. If your pathway needs New Zealand work experience, the threshold usually locks at the rate in force when that experience started counting.

    For Green List Tier 2 and Transport roles, at least the median wage, NZD $35.00 an hour from 9 March 2026, unless your Green List role has a higher specified rate. Care Workforce roles use the sector rate of $28.25 an hour. You need 24 months at the required rate within the 30 months before you apply, and the rate usually locks on the date your work starts counting.

    No. It checks the wage and New Zealand work experience rules for your pathway, using the dates and pay you enter. Residence also depends on your occupation, accredited employment, qualifications or registration, English, health, character and hours of work, and INZ decides every application on its full facts. A Licensed Immigration Adviser can look at your whole situation.

    Yes. The calculator is free and there is no obligation. We email your result to you as a link, so we ask for your name, email and phone number when your result is ready. One of our team can then follow up if you would like help understanding it. Nobody will pressure you into anything.

    Our enquiry record keeps the contact details you submit, the pathway you chose and a short summary of your result. The dates and pay rates you enter travel only inside the result link we email you, so the link can show your result again; we do not keep them anywhere else. We handle your details under our privacy policy.

    No. The result is an estimate based on the details you enter and on Immigration New Zealand rules in force since 24 August 2026. INZ decides every application on its full facts, and other requirements apply. For advice on your situation, speak to a Licensed Immigration Adviser.

    The Skilled Migrant Category (Points-based, Skilled Work Experience, and Trades and Technician pathways), Green List Tier 2 Work to Residence, the Transport and Care Workforce Work to Residence visas, and Green List Tier 1 Straight to Residence.

    One of our team listens to your situation, works out what you need and books you with the right IAA-licensed adviser. The call is to understand your case and match you with an adviser, not to give advice or a decision on your eligibility.