NZREX Clinical graduates
You can apply for registration through this pathway if you have passed Council's registration examination (NZREX Clinical) in the last five years.
Prerequisites
You can apply for registration through this pathway if you:
- have a primary medical degree from a school listed in the
- have completed your internship in Australia, and
- meet our "fitness for registration" requirements
You must also provide evidence of a job offer. We cannot consider your application if you do not have employment.
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The World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS) lists all of the medical schools in the world, with accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive information on each school.
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Any doctor applying for registration in New Zealand must be fit for registration and fit to practise medicine. It's a legal requirement on us to ensure they are. We determine this as part of our assessment of your application for registration.
Applying for registration
To apply for provisional general registration, you and your employer need to work together to complete your application using the REG1 application form and Checklist 3.
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Application for registration in New Zealand
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Passed NZREX Clinical
Part A: Checklist for registration in New Zealand
Primary source verification of documents
Please don't send us your application documents until you have sent the required documents for primary source verification through the EPIC system. The verification process can take time and we cannot process your application until we have received the verification at source.
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Doctors who hold overseas qualifications and who want to apply for registration in New Zealand must have key documents verified from their primary source.
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Special instructions and FAQs for applicants to the Medical Council of New Zealand
The registration interview
We will consider your application once it is complete and we have received primary source verification of your documents. We will then let you know the outcome of your application.
If your application is successful, we will send you an 'eligibility for registration' letter. This confirms for other agencies like Immigration New Zealand that you are able to be registered and will give you the details for your registration interview.
You do not need to provide references, but you must bring a complete work history, including a practice profile for all of the places you have worked.
Download: Checklist 5: Practice profile form [PDF, 514 KB]
If you have practised overseas within the five years prior to your start date in New Zealand, you need to provide a certificate of professional status from the overseas regulatory authority(s). These need to be dated within three months of your start dates. You also need to include explanations for any absence from medical practice of three months or more.
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All international medical graduates coming to New Zealand to practise medicine for the first time must attend a registration interview and be able to produce the information we've asked for.
Working under supervision and variations
When your registration is confirmed and your practising certificate issued, you can start working towards completing our two-year prevocational training programme. Your practising certificate includes an endorsement requiring you to work as an intern in accredited clinical attachments under the supervision of a Prevocational Educational Supervisor.
If you want to change to a different accredited training provider during PGY1, you need to apply for a variation to your scope of practice.
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You cannot work outside the requirements of your scope of practice and any requirements imposed by Council specific to you. If you are registered within a provisional (general or vocational) scope of practice or a special purpose scope, and your employment, supervision, position or location changes, you must apply for an amendment or variation to the endorsement on your scope of practice.
Progression to general scope and PGY2
Progression to postgraduate year 2 (PGY2) and registration within the General scope of practice is not automatic. You are able to apply after you:
- satisfactorily complete four accredited clinical attachments
- complete of a minimum of 10 weeks full-time equivalent in each attachment. Full time is equivalent to a minimum of 40 hours per week
- substantively attain the learning outcomes outlined in the NZCF (prior learning is taken into account)
- complete an advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) certification at New Zealand Resuscitation Council’s CORE Advanced level, which is less than 12 months old, and
- are recommended for registration in the General scope of practice by a Council-approved advisory panel.
You are also required to submit an acceptable professional development plan (PDP) for PGY2. Your plan will be reviewed by the advisory panel, and then endorsed if the panel recommends registration within the General scope of practice.
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All graduates of New Zealand and Australian accredited medical schools undertake prevocational medical training, also known as the intern training programme. It is also undertaken by doctors who have obtained registration based on a pass in the New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical). Training for interns spans two years across postgraduate year 1 and postgraduate year 2.
PGY2 requirements
When you are registered within the General scope, your practising certificate will include an endorsement that requires you to work towards meeting our PGY2 requirements. These include:
- completing four Council-accredited clinical attachments
- continuing to work towards achieving your PDP goals
At the end of PGY2, you can apply to have the endorsement removed. If your prevocational educational supervisor is satisfied you have met your training requirements, they will recommend the endorsement is removed.
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PGY2-OSER - Application for removal of PGY2 endorsement after completing PGY2 year overseas or when when referred to Council by Advisory Panel
Recertification requirements after PGY2
On removal of the endorsement you are no longer required to work under supervision. However, you must continue to meet the Council’s recertification requirements for doctors registered in the General scope. The Council requires this to maintain the high standards of competence and fitness to practise of doctors in New Zealand.
You can enrol in either:
- Inpractice, the Council-approved recertification programme run by bpacnz, or
- an accredited vocational training programme.
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This page sets out the recertification programme requirements for doctors registered in the General scope of practice only. The requirements will be different if you also have a vocational scope of practice.