The Green List — Tier 1, Tier 2 and what happened to the skill shortage lists

What the Green List is — and where it actually lives

The Green List is Appendix 13 of INZ's operational manual, part of Government immigration instructions made under section 22 of the Immigration Act 2009 and referenced by the accredited employer, study-to-work, family-stream work and skilled residence instructions. It was announced on 11 May 2022 as the centrepiece of the Government's immigration rebalance, launching with over 85 hard-to-fill roles across construction and engineering, trades, health and technology, and has been amended repeatedly since — versions in the manual run from June 2022 to the current one, effective 23 March 2026. Whatever a recruitment site or an old forum thread says, the appendix in force on the day you apply is the only list that counts.

Occupations are listed by ANZSCO code, and each entry carries its own requirements: qualifications benchmarked to the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (an overseas qualification generally needs an International Qualification Assessment from NZQA), professional registration where the occupation requires it, and for some roles experience or pay thresholds — some expressed as multiples of the median wage. Holding the right job title is not enough: INZ assesses whether your actual work substantially matches the ANZSCO occupation, the same substantial match test that drives so many work visa disputes.

Tier 1 — the Straight to Residence Visa

A Tier 1 role supports an immediate residence application — no qualifying period in New Zealand. The requirements as they stand today: an offer of, or current work in, a Tier 1 Green List job with an accredited employer; aged 55 or younger when the residence application is made; pay at least the rate specified for the role in the appendix, or NZ$35.00 an hour where no rate is specified; and employment that is permanent, fixed-term for at least 12 months from when you apply, or a contract or continuous contracts of at least 6 months. The role's listed qualification, registration or experience requirements must be met, alongside the standard residence health, character and English requirements.

Applications opened in September 2022 — the instructions took effect on 5 September 2022, and nurses and midwives moved onto Tier 1 from 15 December 2022, with further roles following from March 2023. Fees start from NZD $6,450, and INZ's published service standard is 80% of applications decided within 3 months; live figures are on our Straight to Residence processing-time tracker.

Tier 2 — the Work to Residence Visa

A Tier 2 role supports residence after 24 months of work in New Zealand. The count has rules that decide real applications. The 24 months must fall within the 30-month period immediately before the residence application — the buffer exists, but it is only six months. Work counts only on and after 29 September 2021, only while working full-time (at least 30 hours a week), and only while holding a work visa, a critical purpose visitor visa with work conditions, or a qualifying interim visa. Legally entitled leave counts. And for the whole 24 months you must have met the occupation's requirements as specified in the Green List — including its pay floor: where the role has a remuneration requirement the clock starts when your pay reaches that rate, and where it does not, the clock starts when your pay reaches the median wage.

At application time you must hold a work visa or critical purpose visitor visa, be working in a Tier 2 role with an accredited employer at the role's specified rate (or the median wage where none is specified), and be 55 or younger, with the same health, character and English requirements as Tier 1. Fees start from NZD $6,450. Because work only counted from 29 September 2021, the first Work to Residence grants became possible from late September 2023.

The list moves — check it on the day you apply

The appendix has been amended at least yearly since launch, and roles have been added, moved between tiers and had their requirements adjusted — nurses and midwives moving from Tier 2 to Tier 1 in December 2022 is the best-known example. That churn cuts both ways: a role that was not listed when you arrived may be listed now, and a role you are counting on may have different requirements than the version you read about. Before making plans that depend on the Green List — accepting a job, declining one, or timing a residence application — read the current appendix entry for your exact occupation, and if your case turns on whether your work matches the listed ANZSCO code, take advice from a licensed immigration adviser or immigration lawyer before INZ makes that judgment for you.

What happened to the Long Term Skill Shortage List

The Long Term Skill Shortage List — Appendix 4 of the manual — was the previous machinery: a work visa in a listed occupation (the WR3 instructions), with residence available after two years (RW4). It closed to new work visa applications after 31 October 2021: the instruction is blunt that applications received after that date will not be accepted. The Talent (Accredited Employers) work visa closed to new applications the same day. The list itself was last revised on 27 May 2019 and survives in the manual only because the legacy residence instructions still refer to it — the visa pages themselves have been removed from INZ's website.

If you already hold a work visa granted under the Long Term Skill Shortage List instructions, the legacy residence route still exists: residence may be granted where you have held the visa for at least 24 months, have employment with a minimum base salary of NZ$45,000 (employment-related allowances excluded), in an occupation that was on the list when your work visa was granted or is on it when you apply, hold registration where the occupation requires it, and are in New Zealand when you lodge. If that is you, the window is worth acting on rather than sitting on — the machinery around it has already been dismantled.

If your job is not on the Green List

The Green List is not a gate on working in New Zealand — the Accredited Employer Work Visa does not require a listed occupation, and a Green List role's main AEWV advantage is procedural (listed roles are exempt from advertising requirements). For residence, the alternatives are the Skilled Migrant Category — a separate, points-based system whose settings change from 24 August 2026 — and the sector work-to-residence pathways that sit alongside the Green List in the skilled residence instructions, currently covering the care workforce and the transport sector. Which door fits depends on your occupation's ANZSCO classification, your pay and your time in New Zealand — the one generalisation that holds is that none of these pathways rewards waiting for a list to change.