Fast Track To Residence…?
The new SMC changes (coming August 2026) have had some polish added over the last week, as the Government has drip-fed the details out in to the market, and it has caused quite a stir. While the full set of rules with all the accompanying fine-print has yet to arrive, there is a lot more information available now, which covers what these changes will mean for future applicants. Alongside the two new pathways that were announced as the key part of the changes, further updates have been released on how the new points system will work in the next 12 months.
Overall, the main thrust of the changes is to reduce the NZ work experience required, which currently sits at three years for some applicants, but will now reduce to a maximum of just two years from August next year. This also means that those with certain qualifications or other credentials may end up with having to accumulate even less NZ experience or none at all. A skilled job offer remains the key to making this process work, but with the range of options now available for recognising skills and experience, a far greater number of people will be able to qualify.
Amongst these changes it was also announced that completing a master’s level qualification in New Zealand will become worth six points or rather, that master’s coupled with a skilled offer of employment here will give people the ability to apply for residence right away, no NZ experience required. There are some out there peddling this as a fast-track to residence - usually those being incentivised to enrol foreign students in those very same master’s courses.
So this week, we take a look at how this might work in practice, some things for people to consider, if studying here is in their plan and how to ensure that your investment in that study is going to pay off in terms of being able to secure residence.
The ‘Faster Track’
As soon as the SMC changes were announced, the internet was abuzz with the potential pathways for people that have now become available, particularly for those in the trades and those without a degree - the two new pathways that have been added will help to tidy that up quite nicely. However the internet was also awash with people advertising a supposed “fast-track” to residence by completing a master’s degree here.
It is true that one of the changes announced, does include the potential for applicants to study a master’s degree in NZ, and then upon securing an offer of skilled employment here, being paid at or above the median wage, there is the option to apply directly for residence, without having to accumulate any work experience in New Zealand. Currently (and up until the changes take effect in August 2026), an applicant with a master’s (from anywhere) has to work in NZ for 12 months to accumulate the right number of points.
NZ Master’s - Direct to Residence
Completing a master’s degree in NZ and having a skilled job offer will allow applicants to apply directly for residence (no NZ experience required).
The NZ master’s option does then create a “faster” pathway to residence in some respects, however if you have a bachelor degree, then you would only need to work for one and a half years, which isn’t that much longer (or in some cases the same duration) as completing a master’s anyway.
But to be fair, it is potentially an option that some migrants will chose, particularly if they were planning to study here regardless. Whether it is faster or not, can be debated in various ways, but for now let’s assume it gives some small advantage in time and of course the potential for an open work visa at the completion of the studies (that is certainly helpful).
Faster however doesn’t necessarily mean easier and that is the point that is being missed all too often when it comes to presenting this pathway to candidates. What is conveniently left out of the advertising hype is that candidates still need to secure an offer of skilled employment and having the master’s degree will help in that regard but you still need to have experience in that field to be competitive - particularly when the labour market is tighter than usual.
Unfortunately, because of the way our student visa system works here, there is a financial incentive for people marketing these courses and the course providers to push this pathway hard (and lobby for the visa pathway in the first place)…and in fact it is often pushed too hard, to the wrong applicants. An MBA might sound nice on paper, but without the right experience, it isn’t going to land you the right job, right out of the gates. Many of these applicants who are sold the dream of that MBA leading them to become the next CEO in NZ, actually end up spending a lot longer than 12 months here looking for the right job to apply for residence.
It is a pathway that can work, but you have to consider a lot more than just the points the master’s provides and factor in whether or not the skills you bring to the table already, are going to put you in the right position to secure residence in the longer-term. Most of all you need to avoid the “hype” being pushed by these so called student agents and admittedly many of the tertiary institutions as well.
Too Good To Be True?
There are very rarely any magical solutions to the visa process, usually it involves hard work, grit and determination - of course a “silver bullet” is a much easier sell to the migrant markets, particularly if you are tertiary institution keen to secure the international fees a master’s will command, and even more tempting if you are an agent, selling those courses and receiving commissions for every course you enrol a student in.
This is something I have written about before, and the broken system that exists between education providers and “student agents”, where cash changes hand, often at the expense of the migrants longer term plan. Whilst there are some good agents out there, most of which are actually licensed advisers, the fact that the system is incentivised by commissions is something that needs to be dealt to - a topic for another blog.
No Silver Bullets
While the NZ master’s option might be faster, you still have to consider your overall eligibility and your employability as part of the process.
However that is still the issue here…because while offering those who complete a master’s in NZ a faster pathway to residence is a great reward for that investment and effort, this process will be sold as an incentive to secure residence, which is quite different.
Applicants may very well be convinced (or worse conned) in to enrolling in courses, that realistically give them no meaningful advantage in terms of the job search, and simply lighten their wallets of tens of thousands of dollars, whilst a chunk of that money passes through many hands behind the scenes. Most countries end up in this boat, because the export education sector is lucrative and one way to make it more so, is to incentivise applicants to take up those courses, with the lure of being able to stay longer or indeed permanently. However what this incentive doesn’t necessarily consider is how each applicant might stack up for the rest of the residence criteria.
Remember the stories of the PhD holding physicist, driving an Uber in a foreign land - well this is really no different, except they wont be quite as qualified and probably being flipping burgers, instead of chauffeuring locals around the city.
Someone with a bachelor’s of commerce, and two years of experience in a retail store, would be a potential MBA candidate. Their chances of finding a management level role, suitable for the SMC residence pathway after graduation, in NZ - pretty slim, to non-existent.
This experiment has of course been tried before and whilst not with master’s level degrees specifically, previous policy gave international students a significant incentive to pursue a course, any course for points…then with a job you would qualify for residence. The intention was to lift the export education market, and drive in new skills and labour. The result was a flood of international students, all being sold diplomas and degrees, not to become skilled or qualified in a particular field, but simply to get access to those points. While the agents, counsellors or whatever other name they might give themselves were counting the cheques, the applicants were working shifts at Burger King.
That eventually led to a significant shake up of the SMC system, a dramatic change to the points threshold and 40,000 plus students discovering their chances for residence were no more.
I certainly hope that the use of a higher level qualification incentive in this case will end up with a very different outcome, but I can’t help feeling that until the commissions system is changed, we will still see this “fast-track” being sold to those desperate enough to take it. So some good advice and a realistic appraisal of future employment options will be more crucial than ever.
Consider Your Longer Term Plan
For some, studying a master’s might actually be a sensible option, particularly if it is in addition to some existing work experience, which is ultimately what employers are looking for. In this case, the pathway to residence with a NZ master’s could work out as a potentially good and yes slightly quicker pathway, but it will involve plenty of good planning.
Plan Ahead, Plan Far…
Coming here on a student visa with the end goal being residence, requires advice well beyond just the course or first visa - get the right advice from the right people.
Firstly, appreciate that not all tertiary providers in NZ are on the same playing field and there are plenty here that offer master’s programs, which you wouldn’t wrap your Friday takeaways up in. Be selective, and look at where that course leads in the longer term. Understand who is teaching the course, the track record of real world outcomes and what the course is actually training you to do.
For any student, using this pathway to secure residence, it is important to understand your overall eligibility as well, because being eligible for a student visa is very different to being eligible for residence. If you are intending to bring family, also consider their longer-term eligibility in terms of health and other factors.
Most importantly look at how the course you select will improve your chances to secure work in New Zealand. Taking a career change, may not result in the options that you are being sold, because a degree on its own will only get you so far. Try to align your course selection with your overall experience and career history, so you are stacking the deck and make sure you do some research on the potential market for your career choice before you enrol. New Zealand is a relatively small country and we only need so many managers, so perhaps consider how a master’s might complement your existing skillset, but also give you a broader range of options.
A good way to think of it, is to consider how employable you would be here, before your master’s degree study was completed. If you are already reasonably competitive, based on your existing skills, then the master’s will help and of course it comes with a work visa at the end (helping to secure work). On its own however, that degree, even coupled with a bachelor’s won’t get you ahead of all the other applicants who come armed with years of real experience.
We Can Help
The changes announced by the Government last week are a great step to opening up our migration system and delivered at a time when many other countries are struggling to sell the idea of immigration to its local population - we are effectively taking aim at those countries and suggesting that global talent has a welcome home in New Zealand.
However equally, that global chaos and uncertainty means that there are a lot more people looking for any pathway they can find to get to anywhere else they can and that is where the master’s option could potentially become oversold and to the wrong applicants. Our job as licensed advisers, equipped with an understanding of all visa categories, including those that come after the student visa, is to not only assess whether someone can secure that student visa, but will it lead them to residence (if that is their plan).
We dig a bit deeper and look at whether an applicant has the right combination of skills and qualifications (including the future master’s) to be able to compete in the NZ job market and with all of that, will they qualify to secure residence under that particular pathway. There is a lot that goes in to creating a clear, structured plan for residence, and that takes experience and a very broad understanding of all the visa rules to be able to determine.
If studying here is your preferred pathway, make sure you plan and prepare, not just for those studies, but for all the steps that will be involved in the future.
Want to know more about the master’s pathway or any of the newly announced SMC rules? Get in touch today.
Until next week.
