# US electrician moving to NZ



## Oklahombear (Jan 24, 2021)

I’m 43 years old and have an Unlimited Electrical Contractors license. How will my certification transfer to New Zealand if it does? Would I need to start from scratch in the NZ electrical program?


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## escapedtonz (Apr 6, 2012)

Unlikely you'll have to start from scratch but what you'll need to do is apply to the EWRB (Electrical Workers Registration Board) in NZ and submit your qualifications and experience for assessment. You must be registered to work in that career here and the EWRB will let you know what you'll need to do in order to become registered here and how you'll be able to gain the certification. You will most certainly need a first aid course and likely you'll have to study here in NZ towards equivalent NZ qualifications since the electrical systems of both countries are different......this is nothing to do with Immigration, but all to do with being able to work as a spark here. 
You can work here unlicensed but you will need to be fully supervised. You may be able to gain a Limited licence where you can work but your work will have to be signed off by someone else who is registered/licensed..........in both of these scenarios you'll be on apprentice wages until you can work unsupervised with your own registration/license. There's certainly lots of opportunities here for a sparky.
Immigration is a separate issue where you'll need to find out if they recognize your qualifications (meaning they would be exempt from assessment) by looking on the appropriate document via the Immigration website or if not they'll have to be assessed by NZQA who will certify what equivalent level they achieve here so you know how many points you can claim for them on the visa application.


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## Oklahombear (Jan 24, 2021)

Thank you for the info. I will check into getting registered. Thanks again!


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