Fellowships may be NZOA Accredited, this is explained in further detail below with links to lists of available Fellowships. Please read the important information directly below prior to making a Fellowship application.
Occasionally there may be additional Fellowship posts on offer and these will be listed on this page whilst applications are open. If you are applying from within New Zealand, you apply as for any job with the relevant District Health Board. If you are applying from outside New Zealand, please contact the appropriate person for any Fellowship from the attached list that interests you. NZOA is unable to do this on your behalf as Fellowships are offered through the employer – the individual District Health Boards (DHBs), not through NZOA itself. Some of the DHBs will facilitate the application process for you and advise as to the best pathway to take to secure medical registration and a visa. The pathway followed for both registration and visa applications will depend on the origin of your medical degree, your postgraduate experience and which country you are applying from.
Applying from outside New Zealand
Once you have secured a Fellowship (the interview process is via telephone), you will need to secure medical registration and a work visa.
Registration
You will need to obtain Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) registration through the appropriate pathway. This link takes you to the MCNZ scopes of practice.
You must: be registered in your own country, to which you will return on completion of the training; be enrolled in a formal training programme in your own country; or have a formal post-graduate qualification which shows competence in the branch of medicine in which you will practice while in New Zealand; or have worked for at least 12 months in an institution with which a New Zealand hospital or medical school has an exchange programme, and have guaranteed continuing employment and training in that institution on completion of your training.
Processing time: assuming you provide all the required documentation at time of application, and that you meet all the requirements, MCNZ will typically grant registration within 20 working days.
For more information please check the Medical Council of New Zealand website
Within 2 days of arriving in New Zealand, Medical Council New Zealand staff will meet you face-to-face to validate your documentation and confirm your registration. Visa application: once you have a firm offer of a Fellowship position, you can usually apply for a work visa. However, in some instances you will need to be granted “Registration in Principle” by MCNZ before this can occur. The speed with which this is granted depends on which NZ Immigration office you apply to, for example London takes about 20 days.
For more information please check the Immigration New Zealand website
NZOA Accredited Fellowships
As per the NZOA Policy on Fellowship Accreditation approved by the NZOA Council on 17 October 2024, the accreditation process is a voluntary service to ensure the highest standard of training is available throughout New Zealand. It implies a reasonable exposure to the breadth of the sub specialty area as determined by the relevant sub specialty societies.
This is a new process, and Fellowships will be added to the list as and when they receive accreditation.
For the list of accredited fellowships, click here.
Other Fellowship Opportunities
There are a number of Fellowship positions on offer in New Zealand which have not undertaken the accreditation process at this stage.
A list and description of the Fellowships can be found here.
If you have any general enquiries regarding Fellowships in New Zealand that are not covered above, please contact Elaina at elaina@nzoa.org.nz