Qualifications and standards

International Qualification Assessment (IQA)

IMPORTANT NOTICE
NZQA offices will be closed from Wednesday 25 March at 1:30pm. The Qualifications Recognition Services unit is working remotely and will endeavour to complete all applications within advertised timeframes. However, there may be delays for some applications. If you have submitted an application and would like to check its status, please log into our online portal (click here for applications submitted before 10 February 2020 or here for applications submitted from 10 February 2020).

PLEASE NOTE: Our products and services changed on 10 February 2020. If you submitted an application before this date, please click here for information on your application.

An International Qualification Assessment (IQA) is an in-depth assessment of a tertiary or vocational upper-secondary qualification awarded outside of New Zealand. The process includes checking the recognition status of your overseas qualification in the country of award and analysing the details of the qualification. The IQA compares your overseas qualification to a level on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF), and where possible, to a New Zealand qualification type.


Timeframe	25 working days from the date you submit your application with all required information and documents. Please note that this does not include weekends nor public holidays. Note that in some cases it may take longer to complete your assessment depending on the complexity of your application or if the evaluator requires additional information.
Application	One qualification assessed per application
Cost	NZ$445 Note: There is an additional cost of NZ$275 for qualifications completed prior to 1998. Add-On Assessments The following add-on assessments are available (at an additional cost) depending on the purpose for an IQA: • Skill Shortage List Assessment Add-On: NZ$165 • Teaching Assessment Add-On: NZ$301 (after you submit an IQA, you will be able to submit two additional IQAs free of charge within 48 hours for other qualifications you hold) Add-on assessments can be added to your application up to 12 months after completion of our IQA.

Are you an agent (immigration advisor, lawyer)? Please note that we no longer have agent accounts. If you are an agent applying on behalf of a client, you will need to enter your client's details in the online application form when registering. Please do not enter your details as the applicant. There is a section in the application form for agents to enter their details as the authorised contact for the applicant. Click here for more information for agents (PDF, 108KB).

Requirements for your qualification to be assessed

For NZQA to assess your qualification, it must meet the following requirements:

Tertiary or vocational upper-secondary qualification – we only assess tertiary
and vocational upper-secondary qualifications (i.e. we do not assess academic
secondary/high school qualifications).

Complete programme of study – we can only assess programmes of study that
have been fully completed. For example, if you only partly completed a
programme that did not result in the awarding of a qualification, we cannot
assess it.

Awarded by a provider that is nationally recognised or accredited by the
responsible government or government-mandated authority in the country of
award, at the time of award. We recommend you check this with the relevant
authorities before applying.

A minimum of 400 notional learning hours (equivalent to approximately 10
weeks of full-time academic study) – programmes shorter than this cannot be
assessed.

Achievement of a set of learning outcomes through a formal programme of
instruction or learning.

Qualifications we cannot assess

Please note that we do not assess the following. If you submit one of these, we will not be able to assess it and you will incur an administration charge.

Certificates of attendance

Certificates of proficiency (if they do not include formal learning programmes)

Letters or certificates of work experience

Apprenticeships without formal training programmes

Professional or specialist training certificates (e.g. CISCO or Microsoft expert
awards)

Membership certificates issued by chartered bodies, unless they are formally
recognised by the relevant government or government mandated education
bodies in the country of award, at the time of award

If you are unsure whether you have a qualification that we can assess, please contact QRS.

Application Process

Please read the information below carefully before you apply.

Purpose of your IQA

To assess your qualification, we need to know the purpose of your assessment.

Click below to select the purpose of your IQA. You will then be provided with information on what add-ons to select (if any) during the application process.