Jobs With No Green List Pathway to Residence
Lawyers, chartered accountants, real estate agents and Licensed Building Practitioners have no Green List occupation in either tier. Neither do most managers, marketers, hospitality roles or general office work. The Green List covers 201 occupations, 120 of them in health. Other residence routes remain open, but the Green List is not one of them.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail (as at August 2026) |
|---|---|
| Occupations on the list | 164 Tier 1 · 37 Tier 2 · 201 total — Appendix 13, effective 23 March 2026 |
| Lawyers | No Green List occupation |
| Chartered Accountants | No Green List occupation. External and Internal Auditor are Tier 1, but on a pay threshold, not CA ANZ membership |
| Real estate agents, salespersons, branch managers | No Green List occupation |
| Licensed Building Practitioners | No Green List occupation. Project Builder is Tier 1, but satisfied by qualification, not LBP licensing |
| Tier 1 composition | 120 of 164 (73%) are Health and Social Services |
| What remains open | Skilled Migrant Category; from 24 August 2026, the Skilled Work Experience and Trades and Technician pathways |
| What is not a residence pathway | The Appendix 14 tourism and hospitality list — that is a work visa setting |
Primary source: Appendix 13 — Green List, INZ Operational Manual, effective 23 March 2026, read on 20 August 2026.
The short answer
The Green List is not a list of jobs New Zealand wants. It is a list of 201 named occupations with a specific shortage designation, and three quarters of the larger tier is health.
If your occupation is not in Appendix 13, there is no partial credit, no adjacent category and no discretionary route within the Green List instructions. The question is binary. What changes is which other instruction you read next.
Lawyers
There is no Green List occupation for legal practice. Not in Tier 1, not in Tier 2, not under any title.
The New Zealand Law Society regulates lawyers and admission runs through the New Zealand Council of Legal Education. Both are real regulators of a real regulated profession — but neither is a Green List gatekeeper, because no legal occupation appears in Appendix 13 for them to gate.
This surprises people, and it should be said plainly rather than hedged. A large amount of migrant-facing content implies otherwise, usually by listing "professionals" generically or by pointing at the Skilled Migrant Category and letting the reader assume.
What remains open. The Skilled Migrant Category is occupation-agnostic in the sense that it does not require Green List membership. It requires six points, taken from a qualification, income or occupational registration, topped up by New Zealand skilled work experience. A lawyer with a Level 7 bachelor's degree claims 3 points and needs 3 years of New Zealand skilled work experience to reach 6. A master's is 5 points plus 1 year. A doctorate is 6 points on its own. See Skilled Migrant Category points.
Occupational registration is also a primary points claim in its own right, worth 3 to 6 points depending on the training and experience the registration requires. Which registrations attract which points sits in a schedule that should be confirmed with Immigration New Zealand.
Chartered accountants
Chartered Accountant is not a Green List occupation. Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand is not a Green List gatekeeper.
The confusion comes from two entries that do exist. External Auditor (221213) and Internal Auditor (221214) are on Tier 1 — the only two Business Professionals occupations on the whole list. But read what Appendix 13 actually asks of them:
Remuneration for the employment must be $45.50 per hour or above, or the equivalent annual salary ($94,640 per annum based on a 40 hour week).
That is the entire requirement. No qualification. No professional membership. A pay threshold, and nothing else. NZ$45.50 an hour is 1.3× the NZ$35.00 median wage in force from 9 March 2026.
So the accurate statement is: auditors have a Green List pathway; accountants do not, and the auditor pathway is gated by salary rather than by credential. Anyone told they need CA ANZ membership to use the Green List has been told something the instrument does not say.
What remains open. The Skilled Migrant Category, as above. And from 24 August 2026 there is a specific addition: accountants who are CPA Australia members and can perform Qualified Statutory Accountant work can claim 6 SMC points through the occupational registration route — enough on its own, with no New Zealand work experience top-up needed. That is a meaningful change for one specific group and it is worth confirming against Immigration New Zealand once the new instructions publish. See Skilled Migrant Category changes.
Real estate agents
No Green List occupation. Real estate salespersons, branch managers and agents are regulated by the Real Estate Authority, which licenses them to work in New Zealand — but licensing and immigration are separate systems, and none of these occupations appears in Appendix 13.
What remains open. The Skilled Migrant Category, subject to the same points test. Note also that from 24 August 2026 the two new SMC pathways carry a red list of occupations barred from them and an amber list requiring longer experience at higher pay. Retail managers appear on the published examples of the red list. The full lists were not published at the time of writing and must be confirmed on Immigration New Zealand's site — see SMC red list and amber list occupations.
Licensed Building Practitioners
No Green List occupation. The Licensed Building Practitioner scheme licenses carpentry, design, roofing, bricklaying, blocklaying, external plastering, foundations and site work. It is a building-regulation scheme, not an immigration one, and LBP licensing is not a Green List requirement anywhere in Appendix 13.
There is a nearby entry that gets mistaken for one. Project Builder (133112), which the instrument describes as "including Building Project Manager and Site Foreman", is Tier 1. But its requirement is a qualification — a bachelor's degree at NZQCF Level 7 or higher with at least 360 credits including the specified construction content, or one of the listed graduate diplomas or Level 6 diplomas. It is satisfied by study, not by an LBP licence.
Similarly, carpenters as such are not on the list. The construction occupations on Tier 1 are Construction Project Manager, Project Builder, Quantity Surveyor and Surveyor. Tier 2 adds Building Associate and the regulated services trades — Electrician, Plumber, Gasfitter, Drainlayer — plus the seven civil machinery operators.
What remains open. The Skilled Migrant Category, and from 24 August 2026 the new Trades and Technician pathway, which is the first SMC route open to sub-degree qualifications. It requires an eligible trades or technician occupation paid at the SMC wage threshold, a qualification at Level 4 or above, 2.5 years of relevant post-qualification experience within 10 years, and 1.5 years of New Zealand post-qualification skilled work. That pathway matters precisely because Levels 3 to 6 earn zero points under the existing points ladder, which starts at Level 7. See the Trades and Technician pathway.
The bigger pattern: what the list is not
The single most useful fact for anyone checking whether their job is on it:
| Tier 1 sector | Occupations | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Health and Social Services | 120 | 73% |
| Engineering | 23 | 14% |
| ICT, Electronics and Telecommunications | 12 | 7% |
| Construction | 4 | 2% |
| Other (Primary Industries, Science) | 3 | 2% |
| Business Professionals | 2 | 1% |
Outside health, engineering, a salary-gated slice of ICT, four construction occupations and two auditors, Tier 1 contains almost nothing. Tier 2 adds 17 trades, seven civil machinery operators, seven specialist education roles, a dairy farm manager, a halal slaughterer, a telecommunications technician and a corrections officer.
That means the following are not on the Green List, among many others: lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, Licensed Building Practitioners, chefs, café and restaurant managers, hotel managers, bakers, office managers, marketing and sales roles, HR, finance managers, retail managers, hairdressers, beauty therapists, truck drivers, bus drivers, general labourers, aged care workers and most ICT support roles.
Several of those have other routes. Aged care workers have a dedicated residence visa. Truck and bus drivers have legacy provisions inside the Transport pathway. Chefs and café managers appear on the SMC amber list from 24 August 2026, which means longer experience and higher pay rather than exclusion.
What actually remains open
The Skilled Migrant Category. The general skilled residence route. Six points from one primary claim — qualification, income, or occupational registration — topped up by up to 3 points of New Zealand skilled work experience. It requires a job with an accredited employer that is permanent or fixed-term for 12 months or more (or a contract of 6 months or more), at least 30 hours a week, at the relevant skill level. Cost from NZ$6,450; average processing 10 weeks. See the Skilled Migrant Category explained.
From 24 August 2026, two more SMC pathways. A Skilled Work Experience pathway (current job at ANZSCO skill level 1–3 paid at 1.1× the SMC threshold, 3 years of relevant experience within 10, and 2 years of New Zealand experience within 4) and a Trades and Technician pathway (Level 4+ qualification, 2.5 years of relevant experience, 1.5 years in New Zealand). Both carry the red and amber lists.
Work visas that are not residence. An Accredited Employer Work Visa is a temporary visa. It does not itself lead anywhere unless the person subsequently qualifies under a residence instruction. See AEWV to residence pathways for what does and does not connect.
Family and partnership routes. The Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa requires a genuine and stable relationship of at least 12 months with a New Zealand citizen or resident, and has no income test. It has nothing to do with occupation. See Partner of a New Zealander visa.
Investor routes. Active Investor Plus has no job-offer or occupation requirement at all, but the entry cost is NZ$5 million over 36 months (Growth) or NZ$10 million over 60 months (Balanced), plus a NZ$27,470 application total.
Residence without a job offer sets out which routes need employment and which do not.
A warning about lists that are not residence pathways
Appendix 14 of the Operational Manual carries a Tourism and Hospitality list of 27 occupations — hotel managers, travel consultants, tour guides, waiters, baristas, kitchenhands, bar attendants and similar.
That list exists for work visa settings. It is not a residence pathway, and no residence instruction turns on membership of it. Content presenting it as a route to residence is conflating two different instruments. Appendix 14 also carries the nine care workforce occupations, and those do have a residence visa — which is exactly why the distinction needs stating.
Where to get advice
This page describes what the published instructions cover and what they do not. It does not assess anyone's eligibility, because under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 that is licensed work — and the Act applies whether or not the advice is paid for.
If your occupation sits near a Green List entry, if your duties might map to a different ANZSCO code than your job title suggests, or if you are weighing routes after finding no pathway, that is a conversation for a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer. See how to find a licensed immigration adviser.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are lawyers on the New Zealand Green List?
No. There is no Green List occupation for legal practice in either tier. The New Zealand Law Society regulates lawyers but is not a Green List gatekeeper, because no legal occupation appears in Appendix 13.
Are accountants on the New Zealand Green List?
Chartered Accountant is not a Green List occupation. External Auditor and Internal Auditor are Tier 1, but their requirement is remuneration of NZ$45.50 an hour or above — a pay threshold, not CA ANZ membership.
Can accountants get New Zealand residence another way?
The Skilled Migrant Category remains open. From 24 August 2026, accountants who are CPA Australia members and can perform Qualified Statutory Accountant work can claim 6 SMC points through occupational registration. Confirm the detail with Immigration New Zealand once the new instructions publish.
Are real estate agents on the Green List?
No. Real estate salespersons, branch managers and agents have no Green List occupation. They are regulated by the Real Estate Authority, which is a licensing body rather than an immigration gate.
Are Licensed Building Practitioners on the Green List?
No. LBP licensing is not a Green List requirement. Project Builder (133112) is on Tier 1, but it is satisfied by a specified qualification rather than by an LBP licence.
Is my job on the Green List?
Find the ANZSCO code that matches the duties you actually perform, then search for it in Appendix 13. Job titles vary between employers; codes do not. If the code is not there, there is no Green List pathway for that occupation.
Are chefs on the Green List?
No. Chef is not a Green List occupation in either tier. From 24 August 2026 chefs appear among the published examples of the SMC amber list, which requires longer experience at higher pay rather than barring the occupation outright.
Are truck drivers or bus drivers on the Green List?
Not currently. Six transport occupations were removed on 7 April 2024. Legacy pay rates for bus driver and truck driver roles approved before that date survive inside the Transport Work to Residence instruction, and time worked in those roles may still count toward its 24-month test.
If my job is not on the list, is residence impossible?
No. The Green List is one instrument among several. The Skilled Migrant Category, partnership routes, investor categories and the Pacific quota schemes all operate independently of it, each with their own requirements.
