New Zealand Green List Occupations Explained
What the Green List actually is, its two residence pathways, and why a consultancy should always check the current occupation list rather than rely on what it included last year.
A quick but important note before anything else: New Zealand's immigration settings, including the Green List itself and the occupations on it, are set by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) and the New Zealand government, and have been reviewed and adjusted before. This article describes the general structure of the Green List as it has commonly been understood, not a guaranteed, current-as-of-today list of included occupations. Always confirm the live list and criteria on immigration.govt.nz or with a licensed immigration adviser before relying on any of this for a specific applicant's case.
For a consultancy advising skilled workers on New Zealand pathways, the Green List is one of the more consequential — and most frequently misunderstood — pieces of the country's immigration system. Getting the structure right matters, because the specific pathway attached to an occupation changes how quickly a candidate can move toward residence, and getting it wrong can mean setting the wrong expectation with a family from the very first consultation.
What the Green List is trying to do
The Green List is generally a list of occupations Immigration New Zealand has assessed as facing genuine, sustained skill shortages — roles the country has determined it needs filled faster than its general skilled migration settings would otherwise allow. Rather than treating every skilled occupation the same way, the Green List singles out a defined set of roles for one of two faster residence pathways, layered on top of the broader work visa system most skilled migrants to New Zealand pass through.
A list of occupations facing genuine skill shortages
The Green List generally identifies occupations Immigration New Zealand has assessed as facing genuine, ongoing skill shortages, intended to make skilled migration faster for roles the country says it needs filled.
Straight to Residence: a faster path for some roles
Certain Green List occupations generally qualify for a more direct residence pathway once employment and role criteria are met, without first requiring an extended period of temporary work visa status.
Work to Residence: a staged path for other roles
Other Green List occupations generally follow a staged pathway — typically a period of skilled work under an Accredited Employer Work Visa before residence eligibility opens up — rather than immediate residence eligibility.
The list itself is reviewed and changed over time
Which occupations sit on the Green List, and which of the two pathways applies to each, has been reviewed and adjusted by Immigration New Zealand before and can be again — always confirm the current list before advising a candidate.
Two tiers, two different journeys to residence
The Green List generally splits into two tiers. A Straight to Residence occupation generally allows an eligible worker who has secured a qualifying job offer and meets that role's specific criteria — commonly a relevant qualification, professional registration, or minimum experience — to apply toward residence more directly, without necessarily needing to first hold a temporary work visa for an extended period. A Work to Residence occupation, by contrast, generally requires the migrant to spend a defined period working in New Zealand under a skilled work visa — commonly the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) — before residence eligibility opens up. The practical difference for a candidate is significant: one tier is generally a more direct route, the other is generally a staged one, and confusing which tier an occupation sits in can mean setting an entirely wrong timeline expectation.
How the Green List sits alongside the Accredited Employer Work Visa
Most skilled temporary work visas into New Zealand are currently processed under the AEWV framework, which generally requires three separate checks: the employer must hold accreditation, the specific role must pass a job check, and the individual worker must pass a visa check. A Green List occupation generally does not remove these underlying AEWV requirements — the employer still needs accreditation, the role still needs to clear a job check. What a Green List occupation generally changes is what happens once those requirements are met: specifically, whether the worker can move toward residence directly, or must first complete a period of qualifying employment. Understanding this relationship matters for a consultancy, since a candidate can be excited about a Green List occupation without realising the standard AEWV employer and role requirements still apply in full.
Why this article deliberately does not list specific occupations
It would be tempting to include a list of currently included occupations here, but that list — and which of the two pathway tiers applies to a given occupation — has been reviewed and changed by Immigration New Zealand before, sometimes with occupations added, removed, or moved between tiers. Publishing a static list in an article risks it going stale the moment INZ next updates its settings, and a consultancy relying on an outdated list could set the wrong expectation with a family based on a role that has since moved tiers or come off the list entirely. The only reliable source for the current list is INZ's own published Green List on immigration.govt.nz, checked at the time advice is given, not a snapshot from a prior year.
What this means for day-to-day case tracking
For a consultancy running New Zealand cases, the practical implication is that a candidate's occupation, and the Green List tier that currently applies to it if any, is a fact that needs to be checked and recorded per case rather than assumed from memory or a template. Our New Zealand visa consultant software page covers how VisaBOS tracks Skilled Migrant Category and Accredited Employer Work Visa cases on one dashboard — case tracking software like this can hold the occupation, employer accreditation status, and job-check stage against a case, but it is not a substitute for confirming the live Green List status and criteria with INZ before advising a family, since VisaBOS is a case-management tool and not a source of current immigration policy.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the New Zealand Green List?
The Green List is generally a list maintained by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) of occupations the government has assessed as facing genuine, sustained skill shortages, intended to make skilled migration into those specific roles faster than the general skilled migration process. It sits alongside — and interacts with — the broader Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) system that most skilled temporary work visas in New Zealand are processed under.
What is the difference between the Straight to Residence and Work to Residence pathways?
These are generally the two tiers within the Green List structure. A Straight to Residence occupation generally allows an eligible worker to apply for residence more directly once they have a qualifying job offer and meet the role's specific criteria, without necessarily first completing an extended period on a temporary work visa. A Work to Residence occupation generally requires a period of skilled employment in New Zealand — commonly under an Accredited Employer Work Visa — before residence eligibility opens up. Which tier a specific occupation sits in, and the exact criteria for each, should always be confirmed against current INZ guidance rather than assumed from general knowledge, since this structure has been adjusted before.
Does being on the Green List guarantee a visa or residence approval?
No. Appearing on the Green List generally means an occupation is eligible for one of the two faster pathways described above, provided the specific job offer, qualification, registration, and other criteria INZ sets for that occupation are actually met. It is not a guarantee of approval for any individual applicant, and the detailed criteria — required qualifications, registration bodies, salary thresholds, and so on — vary by occupation and can change. A consultancy should treat Green List status as an eligibility signal to verify in detail, not a final answer.
How often does the list of occupations change?
Immigration New Zealand has reviewed and updated the Green List's occupations, and the pathway tier assigned to specific occupations, more than once since the current structure was introduced. Because of that history, this article does not reproduce a specific current occupation list or claim any particular role is currently included — a consultancy should always check the live list on New Zealand's official immigration website, immigration.govt.nz, before advising a candidate on eligibility.
How does the Green List relate to the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)?
Most Green List pathways operate within or alongside the broader AEWV framework, which itself requires the employer to hold accreditation, the specific role to meet a job check, and the individual migrant to meet a visa check — a three-part structure INZ introduced to replace several older temporary work visa categories. A Green List occupation generally changes what happens after those AEWV requirements are met — specifically, whether and how quickly residence eligibility follows — rather than removing the underlying AEWV employer-accreditation and job-check requirements entirely.
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